I Played the Sonic Racing Crossworlds Open Network Test, Here are my thoughts.

I was recently able to play the Sonic Racing Crossworlds open network test, essentially an online free demo available for a few days and I decided to sum up my thoughts after playing the game for 3 days.

Having pre-ordered the game, I was eager to take part in the test to see if the game is as good as it appeared to be and whether it would offer a good alternative to both Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Mario Kart World.

So, what’s the game like?

Well, where Mario Kart World has tried expanding into open world exploration, Crossworlds has stuck to traditional kart racing, i.e.: racing on tracks and competing through GPs. The network test had three gameplay options, Grand Prix, Time Trial and Online. Since online gameplay is kind of the lifeblood of games now, I focussed my attention there.

In short, it’s very good. Whilst the Grand Prix only let you play the first GP, online did allow you to race on some other tracks, so the game didn't feel too repetitive, though through trailers and promotional videos we are aware of other tracks that are in the game.

So, what’s the racing like?

Just like Mario Kart 8, you have 12 racers and you can hold 2 items at a time. But before you start a race in Grand Prix you are presented with a rival racer, this doesn’t change much but you do get some interesting dialogue between your character and your rival. Otherwise, it’s all standard kart racer, but there are differences.

For example, should you get hit by an item, you just lose a lot of your speed rather than get stopped in your tracks, should you fall off the track, once your back on track, you’re automatically moving again. When going off ramps and jumps you can move the control stick in different directions to perform tricks to then get a boost when back on the road.

These aren’t anything new, these mechanics were around back in Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing, but that’s a good thing, since that (in my view) is possibly the best kart racer out there.

In the last race of a GP you race around the previous 3 tracks (1 lap each) which does feel a bit of a cop out but 1st place gets 18 points instead of 15 which is an interesting idea and on the pit straight there are dash plates to give you a final boost to the finish.

Crossworlds main gimmick is that on lap two you travel to a different location through a Travel Ring, not all locations were included in the network test but enough for it to not get repetitive, the mechanic is interesting, building off Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s Tour tracks changing each lap. Some were more fun than others, Kraken Bay was the least fun since it's nearly all water and there are large kraken tentacles to avoid.

Having played the ultimately disappointing Team Sonic Racing I was glad that this game has plenty of new locations both from previous Sonic games (Metal Harbour & Apotos to name but two) and completely original locations like E-Stadium and Colourful Mall, I was able to play nearly all the tracks available and the only one I didn’t like was Water Palace, not that it was bad but the water section just felt dull.

Now, what about the characters and vehicles?

Only 13 characters were playable: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Dr. Eggman, Cream & Cheese, Jet, Wave, Storm, E-123 Omega & Zazz along with Joker from Persona 5 who was made playable on Sunday. However, we do know that Silver, Blaze, Rouge, Vector, Espio, Charmy, Big, Egg Pawn, Sage, Zavok, Metal Sonic & Sonic the Werehog as well as SEGA guest characters Hatsune Miku & Ichiban are also joined by other guest characters including Pac-Man & Spongebob in the full game.

Characters are broken up into types: Speed, Handling, Acceleration & Power. The vehicles which include not only customisable karts but also the extreme gear hoverboards from Sonic Riders are also broken up into types, with the extreme gear classed as Boost. Stats are ranked out of 100 from the types previously listed encouraging the player to mix Character and vehicle types  just like Mario Kart 8. What’s more, you can purchase different parts to customize the vehicles to alter stats though the options given in the test were limited so I stuck to the stock vehicles available, you earn tickets through racing which you then use to buy new parts.

The best picks I found were Jet with his Type-S Iota extreme gear which had decent stats and great boosts from drifting but got slowed down more by items making it a high risk-high reward choice, I noticed a lot of online players went with Power types as those machines/characters lose less speed from items though I also used Tails with Shadow's Dark Reaper, and it’s good mix of speed, power and acceleration proved more reliable than the extreme gear.

A neat feature is that when you win a GP, your presented with a little victory dance animation and jingle, which was a nice touch, Jet & Knuckles have the best in my view. It's not much but it shows the developers clearly put effort into something ultimately insignificant, so they must have put a lot of effort into the areas that matter.

A new mechanic added to this game is Gadgets, essentially, these are upgrades that allow you to say perform tricks quicker, start with a certain item or the ability to hold 3 items at once. All of these are worth between 1-3 slots on your gadget page which starts with 1 slot, but can be built up to 6 through racing on or offline. This is similar to the Support Spirit system from Super Smash Bros Ultimate and encourages lots of customisation and optimisation depending on character and vehicle choice.

Overall, I have been very impressed with what I’ve played in the open network test. A proper demo will be available in a couple of weeks with the full game out at the end of the month, and my main hopes are for plenty of single player content such as alternative race modes or a Mario Kart style battle mode and maybe a story mode with some proper cutscenes. But the big question is, will it be as good if not better than Mario Kart?

I’d say, potentially.

I went back to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the day the test went live and comparing it Sonic, I’d say Sonic has the better difficulty in normal races and more consistent graphics; as some of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s DLC tracks reused tracks from the mobile game which made them stick out graphically compared to the base game tracks. But I’d still say Mario Kart has better items. As I haven’t played Mario Kart World, I can’t comment, but from what I have seen, Sonic could make a good alternative to those who are perhaps frustrated with the new direction Mario Kart World has gone in.

Overall rankings in the 4 most important categories

Gameplay 7/10

Graphics: 9/10

Sound: 6/10

Replayability: 8/10

Total: 30/40