A couple of years ago, Sega made a big splash with Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing, and even outperformed Mario Kart in some cases. Now they’re planning to do it again with Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed, featuring vehicles that can turn from cars into boats and planes. Now there are water and air races, too, with more variety of ever-changing tracks. So in this blog, we’ll go over the characters and some tracks in Transformed.

I will say that I don’t really like Transformed any BETTER than the first game; I just think they’re about the same. There are some things I like more about the first game, and some things I liked better in the second. For instance, I think the tracks are better in Transformed, but I liked the character roster more in the original game. But we’ll go over some of that in the blog. Now here are some brief impressions and my general opinions of each racer in Transformed.

Sonic

Those who know me well, they know that I’m not a big fan of Sonic as a character. But I guess he had to be in this game since his name is in the title, and he’s Sega’s mascot, after all. While I think they have too many Sonic characters in this racer, I’m sad they got rid of Big from the first game. I’m probably one of the only people in the world who actually liked Big the Cat.

Tails

Yeah! He’s my favorite Sonic character. I would say he should have his own game, but he did. Two actually, and one of them kinda sucked (Tails Sky Patrol). Sorry Tails. He’s my second most used character in Transformed.

Amy

Not a big Amy fan, but I do like her new car in Transformed. Looks like a pink VW bug.

Knuckles

He’s my brother Jeff’s favorite Sonic character. That is all.

Eggman

I’m still in the habit of calling him Dr. Robotnik. Him and Dr.Wily must’ve went to the same mad scientist school of evil planning. Dr. Wily’s plans of world conquest always consist of putting cute robots into garages that have weaknesses against one another, and Robotnik’s plans always involve stuffing animals into robots.

Shadow

I never liked Shadow. I know they wanted to give Sonic a rival, but he already had one in Metal Sonic, and he was way cooler than Shadow.

Metal Sonic

Speaking of which, if you get the Bonus Edition of Transformed, you get a code to download Metal Sonic and an OutRun track. I love how Metal Sonic’s car transforms in this racer.

AiAi

The first two Super Monkey Ball games on GameCube were phenomenal. Some of the best games on that system. The handheld ones were all right, but after that, the Monkey Ball series went downhill fast. Hopefully someday they’ll get the ball rolling so to speak. Maybe a good Wii U version is in order?

MeeMee

It’s just the girl monkey with the same banana car, just painted pink. Really, if they wanted to put another Monkey Ball character in here, they should’ve gone with Baby. I always picked him in the Monkey Ball games.

Amigo

Before Taiko Drum Master came along, Samba de Amigo was actually my favorite music game. Too bad the Wii version sucked, even though Ulala was in it. I love Amigo’s vehicle in Transformed. It’s a toy train that turns into a steamboat!

Beat

He’s from the Jet Set Radio games. My brother Jeff likes those games a lot.

Gum

I haven’t unlocked her yet. One of the problems I have with Transformed is that you have to earn stars to unlock characters by completing challenges, and they get really tough after a while. I liked it better in the first game, where you earned credits no matter what you did, and could spend them on characters in the shop. The other problem I have with Transformed is that they have multiple characters from the same games, and took out characters from other obscure Sega games like Opa Opa from Fantasy Zone and the Bonanza Bros.!

B.D. Joe

I always picked this guy in Crazy Taxi. He gets a flying taxi in Transformed and it reminds me of The Fifth Element. That was such a silly and juvenile movie, but I liked it anyway.

Gillius Thunderhead

I haven’t unlocked this Golden Axe character either. I kind of wish they went with Tyris Flare instead, but I guess the dwarf is cool, too. There is also a pretty neat Golden Axe race track.

Vyse

He’s from Skies of Arcadia. I never played that game, but I’d kind of like to. Unfortunately, I just don’t have time for too many RPGs anymore. There is a cool track from Transformed based on Skies of Arcadia, where you have to fly around a flying ship naval battle. There’s also a track from Panzer Dragoon, too.

Joe Musashi

He’s the ninja guy from Shinobi. I haven’t unlocked him yet. There is a neat Shinobi track with all sorts of Japanese settings. I like the detail in the sand on the off road parts, as it looks like a raked Zen garden.

Ulala

One thing I am glad about Transformed is they got rid of the annoying announcer. In the first Sega All-Stars racing game, he kept hitting on Ulala.  Ulala is my favorite racer in Transformed because I like the way she handles, and her car is awesome! It’s all sleek and futuristic and looks like a used bar of soap. And on night tracks and in tunnels, her car gets all neon-y and looks like Tron!

Pudding

As much as I like Ulala and Space Channel 5, I don’t really like Pudding much. She does have cool green hair, though, and her car is neat, too. I only wish they had a Space Channel 5 race track.

NiGHTS

All the folks who complained about NiGHTS not being in the first game, I was always all like, “Aw quit yer bellyaching, he at least waves the flag and tells racers when to start.” But now I know how they feel because the Sega character I really wanted as a racer in Transformed now just waves the flag, and that’s Ristar! Oh well, at least he’s in the game somewhere. So now NiGHTS is a racer in Transformed. Are you NiGHTS fans happy now?

Reala

He’s kind of the evil NiGHTS rival character. There is also a pretty cool NiGHTS race track, and they even warp to boss battle areas that recreate the actual fights pretty well as races.

Alex Kidd

I’ve never played a GOOD Alex Kidd game. If that’s what SEGA had to compete with Mario, it’s no wonder why Mario won out in the end.

AGES

I don’t know what this is, since I haven’t unlocked it yet, but I hear the car turns into things like a Dreamcast controller. AGES is just SEGA spelled backwards, in case you haven’t noticed yet.

Danica Patrick

Danica Patrick?!? What the heck? Anyway, my full time day job is selling stuff to mostly hospital gift shops, and I have a customer in Talladega, Alabama. One time when I was visiting my relatives in Alabama, I also visited my customer there at her hospital shop. Afterwards, my family went to the NASCAR museum and track in Talladega, and I noticed that there was a LOT of Danica Patrick merchandise in the gift shop. So guess she’s fairly popular. I think she’s also in those GoDaddy commercials, but considering how suggestive some of those ads are, I’m afraid to go to the Web site because I might see something I shouldn’t! Her car in Transformed doesn’t even look like a NASCAR vehicle (looks more like a F-1 racer), but it does have ads for GoDaddy and Hot Wheels all over it, so I can’t help but think of it as a bit of a sell-out. But oh well, we all have to make money somehow I guess.

Wreck-It Ralph

Didn’t he learn his lesson about game jumping in the movie? And shouldn’t Vanellope be a better choice for a kart racer cameo? Nah, I kid, I think he’s pretty cool in the game. I like how his car is a tow truck with a wrecking ball on the hook, and it turns into an 8-bit looking helicopter and boat from Niceland. He says some funny stuff, too. I’d use him more, but he’s a heavy character and I prefer the lighter ones.

Mii/Avatar

And if you have the Wii U or 360 versions of the game, supposedly you can race as your Mii or Avatar just like in the last game.

Tracks

While I like the character roster in the first All-Stars racing game more, I think the tracks are better in Transformed. They have a wider variety of tracks from various SEGA properties, not just a few. While there are lots of Sonic tracks, they’re all from different games, like Sonic Heroes, Sonic Colors, and even a track based on the 3-D version of Sky Sanctuary from Sonic Generations. Like I mentioned before, there are also neat tracks based on NiGHTS, Monkey Ball, Shinobi, OutRun, Skies of Arcadia, Panzer Dragoon, Burning Rangers, and more! I think one of my favorite tracks is the one based on After Burner. You race on the aircraft carriers and take off as a plane. There are even some water sections with the boat, too! I only wish there was a Space Channel 5 track. And I miss some characters from the first game, like Opa Opa, Big the Cat, and the Bonanza Bros. I wish characters like Ristar were playable, as well as others like Tyris Flare and Streets of Rage’s Blaze. In the comments section, let me know your favorite SEGA All-Stars racers and tracks, and what characters and locations you would’ve like to have seen. Later! –Cary

Tags: Game Reviews