Does anyone remember Billy Hatcher?
For anyone that doesn’t remember him, he was a Sega creation for the Nintendo Gamecube back in the day. Roaming around a platform filled with rails and runs, he had the “amazing” ability to turn into an egg at the drop of a chicken-head hat and you’d have to steer his careering humpty dumpty like frame around the place, smashing enemy dinosaurs and some other stuff that I don’t really remember. It wasn’t a great game, but I bought it randomly and struggled with it for a month or so until I completed the bad boy. I never thought I’d see his random quirkiness again, but Sonic and Sega All-Star Racing has just proved me wrong.
Following in the form of the classic, imitated, but never bettered, Mario Kart, Sonic and the Sega all-star racing brings together characters from the Sonic franchise and other Sega classic characters to race like maniacs. While the weapons are a little on the lacklustre side when compared to Mario Kart, or Diddy Kong Racing for that matter, but it’s definitely the best kart racer outside of world Nintendo, giving PS3 and Xboxers a decent option in the genre.
Playable characters include Sonic (obviously), Billy “bloody” Hatcher, Tales, Shadow and I’ll always call him Doctor Robotnik. Other genius entrants include the monkey from Super Monkey Ball, Amigo from Samba De Amigo and Alex Kidd. Banjo and Kazooie are Xbox 360 exclusive characters and then there’s Mii action of the Wii. Sadly ToeJam and Earl didn’t make it through the negotiations.
Easy to play, great for multi-player action and class for online racing, Sonic and Sega all-star racing is perfect for Mario Kart envy ridden PS3 & Xbox owners, but if you’ve got a Wii, it’ll come down to how deep your love us for the Sega characters of yore.
Sonic and Sega All-Star Racing review: 4/5
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