E3 2012 – Geekscape Games Plays Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed!

A few years ago when Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing was released, what I had first blown off as a Mario Kart knock off ended up being way more entertainng than I could have ever expected. The game found a great balance of solid racing mixed in with sprinkles of nostalgia for fans whether you were on board for the Sega Master System or the Dreamcast. So when a sequel was announced, I wanted nothing more than to hit the track with some of my favorite Sega mascots, but damn was I surprised at who showed up to the races this time around.

Transformed is looking to take the Sega nostalgia act even farther with stages inspired by such forgotten classics as Golden Axe and the Panzer Dragoon series, each with a distinctive layout that is sure to please longtime fans. When it comes to the characters, while your usual Sonic suspects were all here, (including Tails, Dr. Eggman, Knuckles and Amy,) it’s who was new to the races that caught my eye. So far, Gilius, (the dwarf from Golden Axe,) Joe Musashi of Shinobi fame, and best of all, the sky pirate Vyse from Skies of Arcadia have been revealed. What other surprises can we expect? Unfortunately, Sega wasn’t ready to give more details at the time, but let’s just say Shenmue characters will be in if they expect to earn the fanboy sale.

But new characters and stages aren’t all that Transformed offers. As the title suggests, it’s not just kart racing anymore! Vehicles transform to planes, hovercrats and back again, and while this is far from an original idea, (Mario Kart 7 and Diddy Kong Racing already did it,) unlike the games this one borrows from, these sections feel like lengthy, meaningful additions to the course. Another interesting addition that I’m all for is the need to build up a star meter to unleash each racer’s All-Star ability.

See, the original followed the familiar formula of granting last place the best weapons, which almost always included these character specific attacks. This time around, players must earn it by pulling off stunts and racing well overall. So if you’re sick of crap like blue shells or Super Sonic coming from behind and stealing your lead, higher ranked players will have a fighting chance. So what are these abilities this time? Sadly, they weren’t in the E3 build. At least not yet.

So it seems like the development team at Sumo isn’t satisfied with keeping the same formula and decided to shake it up. I for one am excited to see what other surprises this game has in store for a Sega Genesis fan like myself, but we’ll have to wait until the fall to find out what those are.