Shelcoof in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed

Panzer Dragoon
81

This is out on PC/Steam now. The configuration utility is hilariously bad (it looks awful and for some reason the 360 controller activates within it and it causes mouse cursor drift stopping you from selecting items if you don’t hold the left stick all the way down) but other than that the port seems solid with decent graphical options and good performance and visuals even on my aging PC (max settings and 720p I can still run it at over 30fps, medium settings with things like motion blur off it mostly remains at over 60).

My primary previous experience was with the iOS version of the first game which was a port of the DS version so this should seem even fresher and better to me but I’m not that excited in the end. It’s a solid game with great visuals but the racing isn’t exciting all the time, the tracks seem to have many boring stretches made to allow you to drift all the way, the items are pretty ordinary, the transforming vehicles don’t really feel all that great either (maybe my expectations were too high thinking racing would be like Mario Kart, speed boating like Hydro Thunder, etc), and it’s probably impossible to win with the characters I want to play as (Ulala!) because their speed stats suck so I just end up with Sonic for his speed, as usual. The sense of speed isn’t that great either, even when using multiple boost types at the same time (power up, drift, floor arrows, etc).

Did people here love it as much as the rest of the internet?

82

No, I don’t love this as much as some do.

I bought the Vita version. Sadly, a demo has only been released for the Vita just a few days ago. After watching several videos, I eventually took the jump… and regretted it.

First things first, I just don’t think there should’ve been weapons in this game. It’s completely at odds with the drifting and sense of speed you sometimes get.

Mario Kart is a sloooow racing game, so it gets away with it. But there’s nothing more frustrating than having a great time, zipping and drifting round corners like a pro, at top speed, when you’re shot down by another player.

The AI is unfair also. I’m not sure if there’s a rubber band affect in this game, but there are times where other racers are just so much faster than you. I’ve shot racers in front 3 times and they’re STILL in front of me, having almost lost no speed at all. And yet, if I get shot the once, expect me to lose a place or two

I dislike the online multiplayer, because you can’t chose the same racer as someone else. My favourite character is Tails, but it’s frustrating when the first 7 people pick the best characters, and you’re left with the crap roster.

Which leads me to another point - hacking. Last time I played, I was up against a hacker that raced around the track at unbelievable speeds. Impossible speed. He always played as Tails.
One match, I managed to choose Tails before him. But then, when the level loaded up, I was given Amy Rose instead?! He actually hacked it so he got the character instead of me! I haven’t bothered to play online since.

I don’t like these upgrading in this game. Why should I have to play terrible racers lord knows how many times in order to upgrade to the best? And as someone said, many of these characters, it’s impossible to beat certain challenges or races, so you’re basically losing so many games for the sake of trying to better your car, very slowly.

And the track designs are hit and miss also. But i can’t be bothered to write anymore.

In other words, I wouldn’t recommend this game. If they have a Vita, I recommend several other racers instead.

83

Well I know the Vita version is a port of the home console version (when the 3DS version is a different game), just with (very) cut down graphics so I guess most of that applies to those and the PC version too. Hopefully you can have some fun in local multiplayer (which makes any shit fun).

:frowning:

84

[quote=“Al3xand3r”]Well I know the Vita version is a port of the home console version (when the 3DS version is a different game), just with (very) cut down graphics so I guess most of that applies to those and the PC version too. Hopefully you can have some fun in local multiplayer (which makes any shit fun).

:([/quote]

heh, I wish I had some friends who had a Vita to play local with :frowning:

85

Does the PC version have leaderboards? Not listed.

86

It does.

87

I hope the next All Stars racing game allows us to play as Orta. And yeah, i saw the Shellcoof. :smiley: Solo Wing sounded like the Els-Enora.

88

this game is really awesome and nails it with their level designs. yes it’s hard but sega often make hard games. I like them