Review for Team Sonic Racing. Game for Mac, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 21/05/2019
The engines roar, the drivers pause, the tracks are ready to welcome the cars of the participants, who will whiz by in a succession of thrilling overtaking, low blows and boosts capable of overturning the outcome of the challenge, crowning the new champion of the racing game of Sumo Digital.
È Team Sonic Racing the new stage in which the blue hedgehog performs, who returns to sit comfortably inside a cockpit after the brief interlude lived in Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing. The new competition will involve a succession of characters from the universe of video games dedicated to the very fast mascot SEGA, for once limited not to the accelerations born from its own commendable legs, but to those guaranteed by the disproportionate horses of the technological discoveries that we will be able to pilot during our mad ran.
The ambition of Team Sonic Racing pushes a title that stages frenetic races with an uncertain outcome, with positions that are suddenly subvertible and always poised thanks to the use of the power-ups obtainable along the way, in a mixture of light and color games that dominate the screen, constantly balancing screens with a chaotically dense but equally appreciable visual effect, despite a not exactly cutting-edge graphics. Using power ups allows you to tap into a dose of objects with effects that they know a little of already seen: perhaps something truly unique is missing that can give a touch of singularity to the crazy drifting of the characters.
The proposed roster features a single exclusive vehicle for each character: within the menu it will be possible customize the vehicle, improving road performance through component changes or simply playing with different aesthetic configurations, producing as a final result a four-wheeled vehicle as pleasing to the eye as it is deadly when tried in the track rodeo. To get new components you will have to spend the money earned at the end of the race - which will be proportional to the finish position and the difficulty of the game - in a special section where, randomly, we will get new mechanical objects to be mounted on our racing car or upgrades for one of the many power-ups in the game.
In its basic formula, Team Sonic Racing sees two main types of races: those in single and those in teams. While in the first we will compete in the most traditional of ways in an all-against-all, where only the first will be able to claim the title of winner, is in team competitions lies the beating heart of the experience. Here we will find the riders grid divided into groups of three components each: teammates will have to put aside adversity and unite their intentions to bring home a sweaty victory made of collaboration and understanding, aimed at hindering the opponents and earning the first positions. In a union of common intentions between teammates, it will be possible to make "group actions" such as the exploitation of wakes, the turbo generation caused by the close passage of two pilots e sharing objects among team mates, who can request a power-up in the possession of their companions - in case they need it - or donate it to others if not.
This dose of interactions adds a pinch of extra strategic component, fueled by the fact that, by taking a team action, you will help fill a common indicator which, once it reaches its maximum, will allow you to activate a limited time deadly boost capable of breaking down any obstacle on the course - including the opposing drivers - allowing us to climb positions in a sudden and unexpected way.
As already mentioned above, Team Sonic Racing offers competitors a good number of power-ups to use to increase their performance or, in a more fun and exciting way, to hinder our opponents. The pilots themselves chosen have different characteristics and are divided - according to their peculiar abilities - into three main groups: speed type riders, capable of destroying incoming shots directed towards them; technical pilotsunstoppable even on abstruse surfaces for the other characters; power type pilots, so powerful that they do not suffer slowdowns due to the impact with the obstacles in their path.
In addition to the classic racing game modes, which allow you to compete in single races or mini Grand Prix, in Team Sonic Racing there is a mode dedicated exclusively to single player: in this campaign you will have to advance level by level, completing races with different requirements in a board similar to that of the famous Super Mario Bros. 3. Competitions, in this case, they will not only be limited to races in which to position themselves in the top positions, but will also include some more varied competitions, in which maybe we will find ourselves drifting to earn points or collecting coins so as not to run out of time. Thanks to these you find, too the single-player campaign is very pleasant to run and it does not only act - as often happens - as a filler generated by the desire to satisfy even the most "solitary" players.
Team Sonic Racing definitely sees the strong point in multiplayer, possible both online and locally thanks to the split-screen: in this case we have noticed some graphic problems and above all a not quite solid frame rate, which seems to be particularly affected by the division of the screen in a diversified way depending on the track traveled. Nothing particularly problematic anyway, as long as you know how to withstand a few less fps in some particularly elaborate track or in chaotic moments of the race.
Just talking about tracks, Sumo Digital has developed a good variety of tracks: many of these are fun to ride and have an interesting structure, while others do not make a miracle by design but, overall, the variety on the side of the slopes is not lacking at all. The opposite is true for vehicles which, although customizable with unique components, they are limited to a single car per character, arousing the disappointment of those who - perhaps coming from the various Mario Karts - would have preferred to be able to vary the vehicle used by their favorite character.
Finally, we emphasize the excellent job done in dubbing, completely in Spanish, which - although you leave the time you find in a racing game - is pleasant, with some contextualized phrases that manage to snatch even a small smile.
Team Sonic Racing definitively transduces the blue porcupine into the world of four-wheeled cars, preserving its madness and chaotic moments typical of the main titles of the series, in a challenge to the last overtaking. The single player mode is pleasant and the multiplayer one, despite some technical flaws, still manages to entertain. Spending an afternoon in the company of Sonic could reveal pleasant surprises and, why not, Team Sonic Racing could be the progenitor of a large number of chapters that will tell the union between the SEGA mascot and the world of motors.
► Team Sonic Racing is a racing type game developed by Sumo Digital and published by Sega for Mac, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 21/05/2019
