In a lot of ways, it always seemed like Sega was always chasing the magic that Nintendo was so frequently able to capture.
A lot of developers, publishers and general gaming related companies have gotten themselves into trouble with the "because Nintendo did it" mentality. The offending parties quickly learn that just copying the big N isn't enough, if you aren't taking the same care with the games you are building. That usually wasn't a problem with Sega. Sure, they copied their rivals more than I think they should have, but they usually did a pretty good job of doing so. It almost seems like they've gotten better at it than they were when the two companies were actually competing. Even still, it's a little frustrating to see them do it at all, unlike some of the other inferior game companies out there Sega didn't need to try to match their competition move for move. But hey, if you are going to do it, at least do it well. Sega has tried to give Sonic the Mario Kart treatment numerous times, to varying degrees of success. The first time the did it was back in the 90's and that...didn't go well. Believe me, we will be getting to that at some point, but it won't be today. Instead, we will discuss the much more recent Sonic Team Racing.
Let's get started with the graphics, which are excellent. As a PS4/XBONE game it had better look excellent, but TSR looks good even when compared to other modern games. I'm not usually a huge framerate junkie, in fact it's one of those things I usually don't care about at all, but it's extremely important in a racing game and its very smooth here. One of the things I've started to notice about modern games is that they always seem to make everything so small. It's nice that they can get so many details into such a small area, but sometimes you need to see what's going on in-game and I found that to be a problem here. I found it difficult to see other racers and attacks coming at me, but at least it all looked good. I definitely liked the sound as well; it was very fitting for a Sonic game and gave a sense of urgency to the races. The character voices were all very good, although the race announcer was a bit annoying. Really, I can't complain too much about anything here, the presentation was a little simple and scaled back, but I kind of like that in a racing game. The menus, HUD and everything still look nice, tell you exactly what you need to know and don't take up too much real estate.
Characters in TSR are divided into three classes, Speed, technique and power. Speed characters are fast (obviously) technique characters have better turning and acceleration and power characters can bully other racers around the track. You have 15 characters to choose from and they give you a pretty solid selection from throughout the franchise's history. Sonic is there of course, along with classic characters like Tails, Knuckles, Dr. Robotnik/Eggman and Amy. You also have the Sonic Adventure era characters like Shadow, Rogue and Big the Cat. My personal favorite is the Chao squad and I think its awesome they decided to include them here. You can also make changes to the vehicles themselves, although this wasn't something I did very much. I do wish the cars played a little more differently, I could definitely feel the difference between the power characters and the other two, but not so much between technique and speed. I think part of this was due to the track design, which didn't really do much to help the skillet of the technique characters.
That being said, the track design was excellent as a whole. I do wish they found ways to include some of the more classic Sonic locations into the tracks, the casino level was the only really obvious callback, but they were still well done with plenty of unique challenges and branching paths. There's just enough boosters to make them a factor while not too many that they warp the game. The item boxes are well placed and there are an appropriate amount for the power level of the weapons. The hazards are all challenging to avoid but fair and there are few spots where you can fall off the track. Even when you do, you get back on immediately so doing so isn't the death sentence it is in other racing titles. I liked that they made an effort to include some legitimately challenging twists and turns, but also plenty of straightaways to give players a bit of a break. I should also mention the courses look great, there is always a ton going on in the background and it was hard to keep your eyes on the race sometimes. Overall, I can't complain at all about the tracks and there are more than 20, which provides plenty of variety and replayability.
There are tons of game modes here, from the standard racing game fare like grand prix and time trial to a full on adventure mode, which offers a story to go along with the racing. It's not the best, but it's a really cool to see in a genre where these things aren't done often. I also have to give them credit for not requiring to do stupid crap to advance in races, you have to do things like "win the race" or "have each of your teammates finish in the top 10" and not stuff like "finish first, without using a weapon, in under 30 seconds while driving backwards and not using the brake." I've already gone too far without mentioning the team modes, which are a major part of the game. Almost all of the different modes can be played in team fashion, with up to 5 teams of 3 competing together. This is especially fun in grand prix mode, where finish points are combined for a total score. There are a few points where it was a bit frustrating to have to rely so much on the A.I., but overall it really changed the dynamic of the game and was something new for a racing game. Helping your teammates by passing them items, helping them drift or providing them with boosts fills your team super gage. Activating that will give your squad super speed and invincibility, so it's best to try and activate it as much as possible. I really like the team gameplay modes, I guess I should have expected a game called Team Sonic Racing to have good team mechanics.
I will say the weapon set is a little bit underpowered. Collecting item boxes will yield Wisps, each of which serves as a traditional kart racer weapon. You have missiles, boosts and bombs, as well as some more unique attacks like the drill. Some of these are pretty powerful, but most are underwhelming and don't set enemy racers back too much. In team modes, sometimes its better just to pass items so you can build your super meter because the weapons just don't have that big an effect. Fortunately, I found drifting and power sliding to be more effective and easier than in other kart racers, so there is that. And in a way, it also makes the power characters more viable because their ability to bump other racers out of the way becomes much more useful. I like that they at least tried to include some variety instead of just copying Mario Kart, but I wish the weapons did more.
That's actually kind of the story with TSR in general. They did a pretty good job of not just copying the usual suspects, but I still wish it did a little more. That doesn't mean it's bad though, not at all. STR isn't a bad game that could have been good, it's more of a really good game that could have been great. Honestly, it's still probably borderline great. It looks and sounds awesome, has some outstanding track design and provides the sense of speed I always felt was a requirement for a great racing game. The team options and adventure mode also give it tons of replayability. I definitely think a little something is missing, but TSR is still an excellent game for racing enthusiast, Sonic fans and gamers both casual and serious.
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