Team Sonic Racing Review (PS4)

Hands down I’m a fan of everything there is about Sonic the Hedgehog, so when I got my hands on this title, I have to admit I was more than overjoyed.

The premise

While normally you’d think a racing game with Sonic would be a bit counter-intuitive, given that he can literally run faster than any car, the story of the game itself is one that just screams “we know he’s faster on foot, but we want him to drive  cars, so deal with it”. As such, Sonic and the gang  have been invited by a mysterious Tanuki named Dodon Pa to participate in what he calls the “Ultimate Test of Racing Skill”, and while most of Sonic’s friends think things seem a bit fishy, they just take it as it is and participate anyway.

The entire crew is here

As mentioned earlier, the entire cast of the Sonic franchise is here in-game, which you’ll first notice in the extremely well made cinematic, as well as during actual matches. You have Sonic (obviously), the clever Tails, the edgy Shadow and pretty much everyone else, both goodies and baddies, totaling 15 playable racers. The characters are voiced by what would seem to be their original voice cast, and their cars are also made to be easily recognizable, as well as a reflection of their own personality.

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A battle of roaring engines

All of the cars’ performances are dictated by five different stats, namely Acceleration, Boost, Defense, Handling and Speed. I have to admit when I first saw the stats I thought to myself “great, another racing game where the stats are just for show”, but the moment I played my second race with a different car, the controls seemed almost unrecognizable. This made me realize that the various stats the cars had actually meant something, and I admit I was more than overjoyed. Admittedly, some characters fit certain situations better than others, so forming a team where one strength compliments another team member’s weaknesses is the key to victory.

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Same same, but different, but still same

Down to the very basics, the game plays like Mario Kart. For example, you have your characters driving cars, they can get power-ups that either enhance themselves or mess with the enemy racer’s controls, pretty much all racing tracks are wacky, and the list of similarities goes on. The one thing that really spices things up for this little racing gem is the fact that now, you can play as a team.

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There is no “I” in “Team”

How do you play a racing game as a team more precisely? Well, cars will be grouped together in different teams, and their performance will be assessed at the end of the race, which means that even if you didn’t get 1st place as an individual, you may still win as a team. This team play also extends to how you interact with each other during the actual race, as you can help teammates get speed boosts easier and faster, and you can also rely on them to get disables off of you if you find yourself in trouble.

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Scores increase based on many elements, such as boosts acquired, enemies disabled, your ranking at the end of the match, how much you helped each other during a race etc. Ultimately, coordination is the key, because even the best solo player with two bad teammates will most probably lose against a team of equally average opponents that worked together.

A speed boost here, a dash of paint there

Since we are talking about a racing game, it goes without saying that you eventually get the chance to customize the cars you drive the way you like them. This includes both actual parts that increase your performance, but also cosmetic items, such as new colors and paint styles.

The problem with this system is that nothing comes for free, and unlocking new items will cast currency. Fortunately, we aren't talking about anything P2W, but a currency you acquire by playing the game, and the better you play, the more currency you get. Just so you can get an idea of how fast you can unlock stuff, imagine that a match where you don’t even rank 1st place will give you enough for one or maybe even two mods. Of course, this overabundance of cash is held back by the fact that mods are character-specific, and that acquiring them is the subject of RNG, so you never know what part for which character will drop next.

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Split-screen with friends

I love games that support split-screen, and Team Sonic Racing allows up to 4 people to play the game at once. I was also pleasantly surprised that despite being visually impressive, the game didn’t experience any FPS drops, even if all players activated their super boosts at the same time. The only element about playing with others that I didn’t like is that if multiple players choose the same character, Player 2, 3 and 4 don’t get a recolor by default, and it can get a bit confusing at times.

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion