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First Impressions of Sonic Racing: Cross Worlds! || Chatsu Shorts
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In this episode of first impressions, Satsunami shares his thoughts after playing the Open Network Test for Sonic Racing: Cross Worlds! But how does this game hold up against it's contemporaries in the racing game genre? Does it do enough to distinguish itself and take first place? Or does it still need a tune up? Hop into your favourite vehicles as we race to find out!
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Transcript
Introduction and Excitement for Sonic Racing Cross Worlds
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to Chattsunami.
00:00:18
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome to this very impromptu First Impressions episode of Chatsunami. My name's Satsunami and today I am racing at you at Supersonic speeds to talk about Sonic Racing Cross Worlds, which as of this episode has just opened their open network test from the 29th of August to the 1st of September. So if you're listening to this after this day, apologies.
00:00:44
Speaker
I tried to warn you, but today I'm going to be talking about what I thought of the game because I have to admit, I decided to play a little of and I think it's fantastic spoilers going into this quick review, but I think it's absolutely fantastic. Now a slight disclaimer going into this before I begin. I am not very good at racing games, okay? I would probably say it's one of my weaker genres of gaming, next to of course fighting games, but for racing games, I have to admit I've always stuck with the more party-esque type games, you know, your Mario Kart, Diddy Kong Racing, and so on and so forth, so I wouldn't say I'm competitive racing gamer. But you know what, I'm always up for a fun game. It's kind of weird because if I had a penny for every racing game that I've reviewed in Chatsunami, I would have two pennies, which isn't a lot, but It's weird this happened twice. The first game of course being the indie racing game Victory Heat Rally which ironically enough put a heavy emphasis on on drifting as well but you know what, we will come to that. Again, putting my cards on the table here, I didn't really have much of an interest when I heard about Sonic Racing Cross Worlds. I've got Sonic All-Stars and Sonic All-Star Racing Transformation and Knuckles, whatever it's called, in my
Initial Reluctance and Impressions
00:02:09
Speaker
backlog. And the only other game that I really remember racing-wise for Sonic playing was Sonic Riders back in 2006.
00:02:18
Speaker
Oh god, I feel old. I played the original, I never really kept up with the other ones because as I said, racing games, unless it's with friends or it's a very fun game, it's not really my cup of tea. So I saw that we're making the game, I saw that Nintendo were making Mario Kart and I thought, pop off guys, you do you. But the more I started to see of it, the more I thought, you know, this doesn't act look that bad. But of course, like a moth to flame when Sega and Sonic Team said, hey, come join our open network test, it's gonna be great. I thought, I'll give it a shot, I'll try it, and if I don't like it, then I'll try it, I'll put it to the side. I'm not here to down talk anyone who's gonna be enjoying this. But the more I played it, I'm gonna be honest, I am loving it so far. Would I say it does anything revolutionary though to the racing game genre? Well, let's talk about the main core mechanic and the selling point, which is of course the cross-worlds part of the title.
Cross-Worlds Feature Explanation
00:03:20
Speaker
So the cross-worlds part refers to during your races there is a point where you can get transported to a whole entirely different map. It honestly throws you through a loop because you could be doing absolutely fine and then when your least favourite map comes up you go, oh lord, I'm not ready, take me now Eggman in the sky.
00:03:41
Speaker
But I thought that was really good. It really shakes things up, it makes it feel fresh. My god as well, the graphics in this game are so good. They are so vibrant, it's so colourful. I don't know, I just love seeing a colourful game in this day and age. It just takes advantage of I wouldn't say how silly the Sonic Universe is, but maybe a little bit. It's the only game where you'll see an egg-shaped man riding a hoverboard, which is absolutely fantastic. And before any Sonic fans call me out for that, it's called Extreme Gear. Which is actually a really cool thing because I can't remember the last time, it must have been the 2010s that we got a Sonic Riders game. And Sonic Riders, for anyone who doesn't know, is one of the staples of the series, or at least the spin-offs of the series, where basically Sonic and friends got on a hoverboard, they based a bunch of birds on hoverboards, trust me it made sense in context, there was a genie at the end, I swear I'm not making up. the thing about Crossworlds is it doesn't shy away from the silliness of the series and especially the history of the series. You know, it takes elements from Sonic Riders and then it also takes all these different maps and levels from completely across the
Comparison with Mario Kart
00:04:58
Speaker
timeline. So you've got levels from Sonic Unleashed, you've got levels from Sonic and the Secret Rings, ones from Sonic Adventure 2, ones from Sonic Adventure or a kind of weird hybrid one. is a really strange one but you know, you've got all these different ones that just come together. As far as I saw, I don't think there's a green Green Hill Zone which I'm sure my very good friend and fellow co-host Wisteria Moth will be absolutely delighted at. I mean, I know in the first one there's hints with the floating islands but genuinely I find this a lot of fun to play.
00:05:30
Speaker
As I said at the very beginning, would I say this is a revolutionary racing game so far? Not really. Other than the crossworld thing, it keeps you on your toes and things and you know, you're really excited to see what comes next.
00:05:45
Speaker
Although I have to admit, I did have flashbacks when I had to go into Bingo Highway or it's not Bingo Highway, it's Roulette Highway or something like that. There's either a remix of, think it's Casino Park Bingo Highway from Sonic Heroes.
00:05:59
Speaker
And Yeah, I had flashbacks being trapped in that damn pinball machine. Beyond that aspect, you've got your power-ups that you can either use to help you go faster or help delay your opponents, which trust me, very infuriating, but that is not limited
Sonic Franchise Successes
00:06:15
Speaker
to this game. is definitely a universal thing for these types of racing games. As I said, there's the drifting aspect, which... hard to say that is implemented relatively well, but again, lots of other games have implemented that so it's nothing new. The only real difference in this game is it's pretty much, at least so far, you know, I'm not going to be that guy who's going to sit here and say, oh it's just Mario Kart with Sonic. I feel as if it's more Sonic's answer to Mario Kart, that can only be a good thing. And again, I hear the Nintendo fans getting their pitchforks, but I with me here because I feel like more of these types of racing games can only be a good thing. You know, these silly, over-the-top, bombastic, platformer mascot type racing games.
00:07:03
Speaker
Because let's face it, I feel as if Sonic Team and the other producers of this game of course have to let their hair down a bit, especially after the utterly good eating that Sonic fans have had so far. You know, we've had Sonic the Hedgehog 3 for the film, we've had Sonic Frontiers, we've had all the animations coming out, we've had Sonic X Shadow Generations which is utterly fantastic. I'll have to do a full
PC Controls and Recommendations
00:07:30
Speaker
episode review on that sometime. So to see Sega stick the landing with this one is honestly so refreshing and i didn't really know what to expect when I played this and I know there's a lot of features and things that have been locked behind certain accesses because obviously this is more of a beta right now than it is an actual full experience and obviously they are trying to build the hype for this game which i have to say they're doing an absolutely fantastic job. The only minor nitpick criticisms that I would probably levy against this other than the aforementioned oh it doesn't bring anything new bar the cross worlds aspect is the fact that I've been playing on PC and i foolishly decided to play mouse and keyboard just to get on quickly, see how it went. Yeah, it does not control as well as I hoped, but again, that could easily be fixed by me picking up a controller and you know, trying it that way. But as I said, you know, you've got your Grand Prix, you've got your Time Trial, you've got your items, your power-ups, things like that. So if you're looking for something that seems relatively familiar but has a Sonic coat of paint on it, absolutely go for this.
00:08:46
Speaker
definitely at least check out the Open Network test just now because i know they'll probably be wanting to get player feedback and see where they can iron out the creases and this game before launch. And if I remember
Release Date and DLC Characters
00:09:00
Speaker
correctly, there's not really long until this game comes out.
00:09:04
Speaker
It comes out on the 25th of September so you still have time to save up your pennies if you're wanting this game. As I said, if you're looking for a very good racing game that has a Sonic skin on it, then Yeah, you won't be disappointed by this. i will say that. And the other thing is, you'll get to look forward to a wide range of very... don't want to say questionable, but very interesting characters that they're going to be introducing as DLC, no doubt.
00:09:31
Speaker
I think they said they're going to have about 50 characters give or take and they're only releasing 24 on launch. So they have characters from Minecraft, they've got ones from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Avatar The Last Airbender of all things. oh My co-host Andrew is going to love that.
00:09:49
Speaker
and And even Yakuza Like a Dragon, the main character in that is in it. And also Joker from Persona, I don't know know why, well I know why but from a business perspective I know why but in a Sonic game, yeah I don't know. This is their Smash Bros moment. But you what?
00:10:06
Speaker
Definitely go check it out. For first impressions, I think this is a great game and who knows, hopefully that holds up when the full game releases because i have heard nothing but praise from other Sonic creators and things like that, so yeah. definitely we go check out.
00:10:23
Speaker
But as always, thank you so much for listening to this very impromptu First Impressions episode of Chatsunami.
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:10:30
Speaker
If you would like to listen to more episodes from myself about all things gaming, films, anime, and indeed general interests, then you can check us out at our website, chatsunami.com, as well as all good podcast apps.
00:10:42
Speaker
I also want to give a huge shout out to my Pandalorian patrons, Robotic Battle Toaster, Sonya, Ghostie and Cryptic1991. Thank you so so much for supporting the show. But if you would like early access to our content as well as exclusive episodes, commentary tracks and so much more, then for as little as £1 a month you can indeed support us over at patreon.com forward slash chat tsunami. But as always, thank you all so so much for stopping by. Stay safe, stay awesome,
00:11:12
Speaker
stay hydrated and win the Grand Prix.