Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed for the Nintendo Wii U is a step above all other console ports of the game, building on what was already widely considered to be a great game. However, despite the fact that it’s the best version of the game available from our point of view, it doesn’t entirely live up to the potential of the new Nintendo super console, leaving you slightly disappointed that it just fell short of being a classic.
The main culprit for the shortfall rests with the calibration of the motion control on the Wii U game pad. Ordinarily it’s pretty accurate, but with Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed it’s too far off kilter to give you the precision control you need. It isn’t too bad when you take control of either car or speed boat vehicle modes, but as soon as your character takes to the skies, adding tilt to the turn controls for moving up and down, they become almost impossible to manoeuvre. The simplest solution to this would have been to leave the tilt control to one of the analogue sticks, but unfortunately that’s not an option.
The good news though is that as soon as you get over this disappointment, and change the controls from the motion censors to the analogue sticks in the game pad, the game suddenly becomes an entertaining kart racer. The best comparison would be with Diddy Kong Racing on the Nintendo 64, where you took the Kong clan out on a racing adventure with cars, hovercrafts or planes. There’s a real thrill as your vehicle changes form around you as the landscape changes from land to water, air and any other combination.
The levels themselves are lushly styled with great attention to detail at high speed. Slick and enthralling, there are short cuts and a variety of barriers built into each level, giving the game a lot of playability. The tracks include levels inspired by the worlds of Sonic the Hedgehog, Panzer Dragoon, After Burner, Super Monkey Ball and blast from the past, Golden Axe, creating the ultimate racing kart game for Sega fans.
The main career mode is a sprawling series of race events that splits off in different directions dependant in your performance. You’ll need to earn stars to unlock new challenges, characters and game modes. As with the majority of Nintendo Wii U games, the genius is that you can take the gaming fun into hand held action with the Wii U game pad meaning that if your aunt Bessie needs to catch up on Cash in the Attick or whatever, and you’re about to lose control of the TV, you don’t need to stop playing.
The game pad is both the key down and the salvation of Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed on the Wii U. On the one hand the one hand the motion controls aren’t as perfect as they should have been, but on the other you get to play no matter what episode of Time Team is being demanded. The other stand-out feature of the game that’s only available with the Wii U is a 5 person split screen multiplayer with online gaming. While other console ports only allow four 4 player at the most, the Wii U game pad screen means you get 1 extra person in on the action. It also means that on a straight 2 person showdown, you each get your own screen.
While we can’t really get over the disappointment of the motion sensors, we can still appreciate a big fun karting game that does things differently. It’s fast paced and packed with challenges, making it a good addition to the Wii U and the best iteration of the game available.
Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed Nintendo Wii U review: 3.8/5
