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Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed |OT| Everybody's Super Sonic Racing

d0c_zaius

Member
this may have been asked before, but boost race? getting owned (can barely get through 1 gate) and it's preventing my progress :(

digging the game a lot so far.
 

Goron2000

best junior ever
Does anyone know how to switch views from playing on the wii u gamepad to playing splitscreen during local 2 player matches? My fiancé and I are having the hardest time trying to figure this out. Tried swiping the screen multiple times and in all directions and nothing ever happens.

Unfortunately i don't think it's possible.
 
this may have been asked before, but boost race? getting owned (can barely get through 1 gate) and it's preventing my progress :(

digging the game a lot so far.

Are you on Wii U? It's a glitch. For now, lose the event 4 times purposely on C Class and it will let you skip. They are working on a fix.
 

Berordn

Member
How long does it take to unlock all the characters in this game, and is it easy to unlock them?

Managed to unlock all the characters at about... 20 hours in? Give or take a few. It's hard at first, getting used to the arcade racer mechanics in an unfamiliar setting, but once you learn the controls and courses, it definitely becomes manageable.

Even though I've unlocked all the characters, I've still got a bit more to go in World Tour, so that's going to be challenging to get the last bit.
 
The more I play graffiti city the more upset I become at how messy and inconsistent it can be, but damn do I love the visuals of it and the general idea.

Got 136 stars now after almost completing all of the first section of world tour with S ranks but I swear that Roulette Road boost challenge is impossible, I draw ever so closer to Reala and Ages.

Game crashed on me online after a race, not the first time i've been disconnected after a race but it's the first time I had to forcefully shut down the PS3, the race itself bugged me because I dropped from first due to a good old fashioned item blitz and then I then ended up boosting into the back of a spazzy Tails driver who was glitching out in front of me ping ponging left and right in erratic fashion, somehow this immediately canned my speed to nothing, I never saw first place again *pout*
 
Complaints

Drifting

Drifting is harder to do this time, and you have much less control over the vehicle while drifting compared to the last game. It kinda makes the drift challenges harder solely because of that, and because I can't keep the vehicle in place by holding the opposite direction like I could before. Now it seems the more you do that, the more it pushes you the side you don't want, but if you don't do anything you'll end up going to the other side anyways because that's the direction you are drifting in.[/INDENT]

I think the new drifting mechanics are an improvement, as it was far too easy to drift in the previous game. Hell, like I mentioned before, there was even a trick that allowed you to drift infinitely, even on straights.

Drifting takes actualy skill now, and requires you to learn the tracks, to determine which drift level boots you should go for on which corners. Between drifting being more demanding, and hitting a wall slowing you down a lot more than in the previous game, it's not always worth risking going for a better boost, but when you do pull it off, it's more rewarding (and more helpful, as the boosts in this game are more significant).
 
Game froze on me again :(

Oh and one thing that's really annoying about this game is that stupid announcer guy. Why does he have to say everything I press on and choose. No need for it and just annoying.
 

Berordn

Member
I think the new drifting mechanics are an improvement, as it was far too easy to drift in the previous game. Hell, like I mentioned before, there was even a trick that allowed you to drift infinitely, even on straights.

Drifting takes actualy skill now, and requires you to learn the tracks, to determine which drift level boots you should go for on which corners. Between drifting being more demanding, and hitting a wall slowing you down a lot more than in the previous game, it's not always worth risking going for a better boost, but when you do pull it off, it's more rewarding (and more helpful, as the boosts in this game are more significant).

I agree, but I think one of the game's biggest failings is that it doesn't teach what kind of game it is at the outset. It presents itself as a kart racer, and a direct sequel to another game, but has almost completely different mechanics and makes no attempt to teach you how to play. I was actually surprised when there wasn't a little tutorial on starting the game like there was in the previous one.

Game froze on me again :(

Oh and one thing that's really annoying about this game is that stupid announcer guy. Why does he have to say everything I press on and choose. No need for it and just annoying.

You can turn him off in options...
 
Game froze on me again :(

Oh and one thing that's really annoying about this game is that stupid announcer guy. Why does he have to say everything I press on and choose. No need for it and just annoying.
The best bit is leaving the game sitting on a menu screen and then after a certain amount of time he'll just blurt out instructions again, leave me alone announcer man, i'll select the mode when i'm damn ready!
 
I tried the Wii U version, and I really love the fact that you can have a whole screen to yourself on the gamepad to play on instead of sharing splitscreen with someone. The controls on it are comfort as well.

Anyway, I wished Vanellope from Wreck-it Ralph was included here with (or instead of) Ralph. She is a racer after all.
 
I agree, but I think one of the game's biggest failings is that it doesn't teach what kind of game it is at the outset. It presents itself as a kart racer, and a direct sequel to another game, but has almost completely different mechanics and makes no attempt to teach you how to play. I was actually surprised when there wasn't a little tutorial on starting the game like there was in the previous one.

Yeah, I definitely agree with you there; the first thing I did when starting the game up was look for a tutorial, and I was surprised there wasn't one. Considering that the previous game had one, yet there's a lot more to learn in this, it seems a strange move.


Item Balance

Items don't have the near perfect balance the last game had. Some weapons like the Firecracker sometimes just feel useless, but then there are items like the Hot Rod which is kind of ridiculous because it gives boost while sending your opponents flying and they lose all their speed with an AoE fire splash. Snowballs aren't as bad as the Hot Rod, but I think they're a bit much too. Now while I say this, I still think this game doesn't have things anywhere near as bad as Mario Kart does, however the last game was better in this regard where it seemed nearly all the items were useful in their own way, but not overpowered.​

I also disagree with this. Items in this game are a lot better. In the previous game, as soon as a player built up a large enough lead, they were untouchable, as the items didn't travel far enough. This was compounded by the fact that All-Star moves weren't useable online, meaning that items didn't help you much at all.

I think the items in this are just right; the weaker ones don't feel useless, and the stronger ones don't break the game.

I like that Sumo went out of their way to make a Boost mode too; it removes all items, and adds more boost markers to each stage. So it becomes just a matter of pure driving and drifting.
 
Managed to unlock all the characters at about... 20 hours in? Give or take a few. It's hard at first, getting used to the arcade racer mechanics in an unfamiliar setting, but once you learn the controls and courses, it definitely becomes manageable.

Even though I've unlocked all the characters, I've still got a bit more to go in World Tour, so that's going to be challenging to get the last bit.

Damn... I was hoping to unlock all the characters in like 3-4 hours so I can bring my game and cloud save over to my friends and just play it with everything unlocked.
 
So is this a lot better than the first one? Are the tracks better? I kind of wanted to see some of the better tracks return. Seeing some screens, looks like more DLC is planned.
 

tapedeck

Do I win a prize for talking about my penis on the Internet???
Im sure this has been asked before, but is there a consensus about the 360 and PS3 versions and which one looks better (are they pretty much the same)? I wanna pick this up after work today but have no idea which platform to get it for. I doubt I will play it online much so that really doesnt come into play.
 

Coxy

Member
Kokonoe, dont try to drift exactly the same as the first, I was doing that at first too and thought it was pretty annoying, but in this you dont always want to hold on for level 2 or 3 drifts, you want to chain level 1 drifts together where possible, once you get used to it it's actually really cool and makes you appreciate how well some of the tracks are laid out.
 
In general I find the weapons mainly useless. The only one so far I've really found a use for is the ice shot. Otherwise everything else is just kinda there. Nothing that causes me rage like the pesky blue shell (Even though I'm used to it by now). I do hate the darn bees though. I'm really sick of that darn fireworks bouncing back into my face, I expected that darn thing to hone it on people, not bounce around like a green shell. I really liked it how you could upgrade your weapons in CTR and I kinda hoped for the same thing here.
 

mollipen

Member
Drifting is harder to do this time, and you have much less control over the vehicle while drifting compared to the last game. It kinda makes the drift challenges harder solely because of that, and because I can't keep the vehicle in place by holding the opposite direction like I could before. Now it seems the more you do that, the more it pushes you the side you don't want, but if you don't do anything you'll end up going to the other side anyways because that's the direction you are drifting in.

I've never played this series before a few days ago, but my office mate (Josh Harmon from EGM) has been playing it non-stop to do his review. He was having some trouble with one of the challenges where a lot of drifting was involved, and I wanted to give it a shot. Having not played the game at all at that point, I beat the race in about three tries. As somebody who comes from playing a lot of Ridge Racer, it literally took me 20 seconds to get a perfect handle on the drifting in this game. From what little I played, I thought it felt buttery smooth.


AI is too difficult

Keep in mind before I say this that I've played practically every single Kart Racer that you can imagine and more so besides Crash Team Racing. What is cumbersome about the AI in this game is that they just don't let up no matter what, like they are kept in place because the game deems they should stay there. Kart Racers are known for this, but I think they need to tone it down with this one, it makes it hard to try to surpass the immovable first place AIs. I think for most people who are new to this game, this will be the key thing that may or may not break the game.

I asked Josh about this, and he vehemently disagrees with you. He's continually said while playing how impressed he is with the difficulty in the game when compared to other kart racers, and how nicely balanced Transformed has been. He's currently at Expert level, and he says up until this level the game has definitely felt more about being good than about the game just having the other racers be ridiculously hard to overcome.
 
I just noticed the first one has 24 tracks compared to 21 in Transformed. I'm sure there will be DLC.

But Transformed looks like there's more tracks because of the variety and terra-forming/transforming karts. The first one did feel the same.
 

zeeaykay

Member
Just picked up the final copy from Target-- before the official release date. Hopefully this means it's selling really well. I'm also interested in seeing many first run copies there are for the "bonus edition".
 
Can someone explain what the bonus edition offers and if they actually plan to produce copies that aren't "Bonus Editions" and do we know the prices of the bonus content if you have to pay for it.

Also, will the Steam version have a bonus edition? I know a lot of people might not know the answers to these questions, but I'm curious about when I need to pick this up!
 

zeeaykay

Member
Can someone explain what the bonus edition offers and if they actually plan to produce copies that aren't "Bonus Editions" and do we know the prices of the bonus content if you have to pay for it.

Also, will the Steam version have a bonus edition? I know a lot of people might not know the answers to these questions, but I'm curious about when I need to pick this up!

Bonus edition has the Outrun track and Metal Sonic as a playable racer. Also "in-game stickers", but idk what that is. The Bonus Edition is supposed to be just the first press of the game. Not sure on the prices, also not sure on Steam.
 
I just noticed the first one has 24 tracks compared to 21 in Transformed. I'm sure there will be DLC.

But Transformed looks like there's more tracks because of the variety and terra-forming/transforming karts. The first one did feel the same.

Remember that 4 of the tracks are returning ones from the first game. So there are actually only 17 new tracks (counting OutRun Bay).

But like you said, the fact that these tracks have so much variety, and a lot of them change from one lap to the next (and the fact that they're just simply better-designed) more than makes up for it. I think it's safe to say that these 17 tracks took a lot longer to design than the 21 in the first game.

That said, I would certainly like to see more DLC tracks, and I'd pay whatever price they set.

I might be reading into things too much, but I'm optimistic about real DLC support for this game (unlike the first game) for two reasons:

1) It was released at a budget price. That might have been Sumo/Sega's way of getting as many copies of the game out there as possible, increasing the market for DLC, which is where they'll start to make more of that money back.

2) The OutRun Bay stage is under an option called "Downloaded Tracks" (as opposed to just being there underneath the others).
 
Got the game today from Amazon, been playing only a little bit because work and other things to do when I came home. I unlocked only Amigo and the second world pretty much.

Since I replayed the first game before to hype myself up a bit, a few things I noticed that are much different that I don't like...

Drifting feels much less natural in this game - not saying it should be stupidly easy like in the first one, but it feels much clunkier, and while the game displays the Drift Level 2 and 3 on the screen, I'm missing the bright orange/red flames that indicated that I had a boost stored. Oh and overall the game feels a bit heavier and clunkier too, despite the fact it's actually much faster, but that's not a big complaint.

I'm sad they reskinned the items they recycled - at least the sprint shoe and the lightning shield had some Sega-relevance, the items used now are generic. Meh. Some of the new items are pretty dumb like the bees, but they're mostly OK.

Most importantly, it feels like the AI is much cheaper than in the first game. Yes, the first game wasn't much of a challenge, but at least the AI wasn't that dumb. Maybe it is because I only played a few races so far, but getting exploded when in 9th place 2 seconds into the race is pretty bullshit - not even Mario Kart is that unfair to you. That said, I've been sniped from miles ahead and for some reason as soon as I get hit by someone's ice or blowfish (of all things), 500 people catch up and I end up in 5th or 6th for just that one random moment I didn't have a glove or an item to shoot behind me.

Anyway, a lot of that might get better after I get used to the courses and cars and such. Metal Sonic so far is my favorite btw.

I might be reading into things too much, but I'm optimistic about real DLC support for this game (unlike the first game) for two reasons:

I think Sumo putting out a DLC character poll is a third reason to heavily support the future DLC support option.

Additionally, they did cut quite a few of the fan favorites like Alex Kidd or Ryo Hamazaki, so those would make sense to come in as DLC.

Also, I approve of your nickname because it reminds me of F-Zero GX. <3
 

Backflip

Junior Member
Well, Segata has over a thousand signatures so that's good.

Ryo Hazuki is nearing 600. I hope his petition will pick up some steam soon.
 

Berordn

Member
I just noticed the first one has 24 tracks compared to 21 in Transformed. I'm sure there will be DLC.

But Transformed looks like there's more tracks because of the variety and terra-forming/transforming karts. The first one did feel the same.

The first one had 3 Ocean Palace levels, 3 Final Fortress levels, 3 Casino Park levels, (that right there is 9 levels based on Sonic Heroes...) 3 House of the Dead levels, 2 Blizzard Castle levels, 1 Dino Mountain level, 3 Tokyo-to levels, 3 Carnivaland levels and 3 Super Monkey Ball levels. Of those, only the SMB levels had any significant style variation between them, even though the courses were all unique. Then Egg Hangar came out as DLC and was amazing but there were no other follow-ups.

In contrast, the 17 new tracks in Transformed are all in unique locales and could have very well been several tracks, had they done it like the first game (Graveyard Gig in particular feels like they mixed all three Curien Mansion tracks from the original into one, so that was pretty cool too). Everything about them is just... better. It makes the classic cup look kind of pathetic by comparison (outside of Egg Hanger, because Egg Hanger is amazing).

If they do make more DLC tracks and they're the quality of the ones included, they have my money for sure. I just wish they'd let us play them in matchmaking. I love OutRun Bay, but having to do a single race because I have no friends is kind of depressing.
 
Remember that 4 of the tracks are returning ones from the first game. So there are actually only 17 new tracks (counting OutRun Bay).

That said, I would certainly like to see more DLC tracks, and I'd pay whatever price they set.

I might be reading into things too much, but I'm optimistic about real DLC support for this game (unlike the first game) for two reasons:

1) It was released at a budget price. That might have been Sumo/Sega's way of getting as many copies of the game out there as possible, increasing the market for DLC, which is where they'll start to make more of that money back.

2) The OutRun Bay stage is under an option called "Downloaded Tracks" (as opposed to just being there underneath the others).

If they do make more DLC tracks and they're the quality of the ones included, they have my money for sure. I just wish they'd let us play them in matchmaking. I love OutRun Bay, but having to do a single race because I have no friends is kind of depressing.
Yeah, the first one's dlc support was disappointing. I'd like to see the DLC tracks for Transformed added as more cups, so at least one or two more cup which would include Outrun, so three more tracks for the first + Outrun, and a final four tracks for the last cup.

Seeing how there are 4 returning tracks, maybe they can re-release some of the older ones with the transforming karts added in.
 
Yep, first place is untouchable a lot of times...give me a blue shell equivalent.
Swarm is the Blue Shell equivalent and aside from a few hiccups where they can spawn on your face or in a plain nasty layout it does a decent job without shifting into the unfair territory that people bemoan the Blue Shell for, oddly enough i've never been that bothered by the winged death machine but I just figure it's a kart racer.

The S rank cups in this don't actually seem too hard, the winning CPU opponents aren't like the bozos from MK64 that will never remove themselves from the top 4 no matter what happens so even if you don't race to perfection there's still a chance.
Even so the AI still seems a bit weird at times, I smoked them on Seasonal Shrines as if the game was trying to say "no shenanigans here" but witnessed various non boosting low speed characters keep right next to me as I zip around flipping and drifting with marvellous superboosts.
On the other hand much like the previously mentioned MK64 it at least keeps you on your toes.
 
Anyone else think that Transformed is the best kart racer of this gen even better than what Mario Kart offered? I thought Mario Kart 7 played it too safe and was a bit disappointed. Sumo went all out with Transformed. Transformed seems to take more risks and feels much more imaginative than other kart racers.
 

Ein Bear

Member
Anyone else think that Transformed is the best kart racer of this gen even better than what Mario Kart offered? I thought Mario Kart 7 played it too safe and was a bit disappointed. Sumo went all out with Transformed. Transformed seems to take more risks and feels much more imaginative than other kart racers.

Nintendo seem to have been playing it a bit too safe with Mario Kart ever since Double Dash - the best one - got a mixed reception. I haven't got Transformed yet (waiting for the Wii U version), but the original S&SAR is already better than any Mario Kart of the past decade.
 
Anyone else think that Transformed is the best kart racer of this gen even better than what Mario Kart offered? I thought Mario Kart 7 played it too safe and was a bit disappointed. Sumo went all out with Transformed.

There's not a lot of actual flaws I can throw at MK7 outside of its plain baffling lack of single race, ever increasing coin grind for parts and no missions. The racing gameplay itself is the DS and Wii style refined to its best and the tracks are a great new batch with some great retro choices as well.
But even with those points it does play it too safe, the style needs a switch up in the next entry for sure, though having found a winning formula that the mass market loves I doubt they'll be quick to drop it.
Having thoroughly mastered that style of gameplay to a degree MK7 was just too much of a walk in the park, now while i'd say for various reasons Transformed isn't as quite as polished and a bit flawed at times it's certainly a lot more fun to me.
So basically even with the minor gripes that occasionally creep up in this game i'd certainly give it the nod over MK7 right now, it's strength to me lies in the fact that it splices the kart racer with a more arcade like approach and feels more gripping an enthralling for it.
Maybe not so good for the more casual gamer who'll possibly feel in over their head at all the crumbling shifting tracks, the amount of visual assault on screen and trickier to master controls but for me this is just what the doctor ordered.

So basically this is a long way for me to say that both games are great for the people they're aimed at but i'm finding transformed to be my personal pick, it may be up there with the original Mario Kart DS which I place at the top of the karting pile.

I thought Mario Kart 64 was like...darn easy to be honest. And we started on 150 CC as kids.

The CPU's rampant cheating makes it a luck of the draw sometimes, not really difficult in technical terms but it's hardly uncommon to be driving towards the finish line only for Super Toad to just speed past you for no actual reason, MK64 is an often hilarious game where you can outright witness the CPU making a mockery of the game, knock a top 3 CPU racer down the pack and watch how fast they return to the high positions using the map/position indicator that goes around the screen, it's great.
 

blackflag

Member
Really fun game. Early impressions:

- Afterburner track is awesome
- Boats seem really slow
- Boost event is really freaking hard and I'm stuck :)
 

Berordn

Member
I've had Transformed's version of We Are Burning Rangers on loop for about 45 minutes now. sogood.gif

Anyone else think that Transformed is the best kart racer of this gen even better than what Mario Kart offered? I thought Mario Kart 7 played it too safe and was a bit disappointed. Sumo went all out with Transformed. Transformed seems to take more risks and feels much more imaginative than other kart racers.

It's missing some of the polish that I typically expect from Mario Kart, but it does have a lot of fun ideas that Mario Kart could take into consideration for its next iteration. I would be a bit disappointed if the next Mario Kart deviated too differently from the classic formula though, I still like my traditional kart racers and Mario Kart seems like the last bastion now. I'd actually like to see Transformed continue as a separate series if they can keep it going strong.

I thought Mario Kart 64 was like...darn easy to be honest. And we started on 150 CC as kids.

You're some kind of freak :mad:
 
T

thepotatoman

Unconfirmed Member
Which version are you playing? I hear that the boost challenges are glitched in the Wii U version. Apparently, the checkpoints that are supposed to be there don't show up.

EDIT: Ah, I see it's already been mentioned in this thread.

Lol i guess they literally are impossible, not just seem impossible.

I should have known after doing a complete lap on C class in the Super Monkey Ball level. I was retrying a whooole lot too.
 
I've had Transformed's version of We Are Burning Rangers on loop for about 45 minutes now. sogood.gif



It's missing some of the polish that I typically expect from Mario Kart, but it does have a lot of fun ideas that Mario Kart could take a page from in its next iteration. I would be a bit disappointed if the next Mario Kart deviated too differently from the formula though, I still like my traditional kart racers and Mario Kart seems like the last bastion now.



You're some kind of freak :mad:

I mean we weren't masters like overnight or anything but it didn't take us very long at all to get the hang of it and own everything. We often played 2 player grand prix and once I got the lead, it was over. My brother was usually either in second or sucking and causing mayhem for the rest of us but still.

Okay maybe technically we weren't kids...I think I was a preteen or in my teen years. But STILL.
 
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