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[Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed] Is it a...?
LBD_Nytetrayn
TorontoRegistered User regular
TorontoRegistered User regular
Woo-hoo! SEGA has announced a sequel to my favorite kart-racing game of all-time!
...sorry, Mario, but ASR just has so much less BS to deal with. Both in racing, and in unlocking things.
IGN, 1UP, and Destructoid all have previews, and here is the announcement trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDMuYz1uV2k
The obvious comparison is to Mario Kart 7, of course, and the developers know it. From IGN:
Fortunately, according to Destructoid:
IGN elaborates:
Among the new characters are Vyse from Skies of Arcadia and Gilius Thunderhead from Golden Axe. Plus, there's a track based on Panzer Dragoon, which is more air-oriented-- particularly after a creature destroys a wooden bridge you race across in the first lap.
Returns sighted so far are Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Eggman, Beat, BD Joe, and AiAi. Sadly, it looks like Eggman no longer has his monster truck.
In fact, I'm not sure if the different vehicle types will be returning, which is unfortunate-- I could really tear up the track as Shadow on his motorcycle.
1UP says of the items:
Frankly, I thought the weapons worked perfectly in the first, certainly when compared to Mario Kart as of late. Certainly nothing like blue shells, lightning bolts, etc. And you don't lose them at every little nudge or drop, either; allows for much more strategy.
All-Star moves are going to work on a meter of some kind, rather than being pick-ups, it would seem. The better you drive, the more it fills.
SEGA Miles are back as well, but it sounds like you'll be putting them into characters to improve them-- I hope that doesn't mean they'll take away your ability to buy new characters/tracks/songs/etc. with them. That was a huge improvement over Mario Kart, in my eyes (especially 7 and its need to be an expert to unlock anyone besides a Mii); I've never unlocked everything in an MK game, but ASR? I have everything.
I do love the first game, and it's a steal now for $19.99 on 360 and PS3. As for this one, it's coming to 360, PS3, Vita, 3DS, and PC as a download.
Wii U? No confirmation yet, but it sounds as though that could change.
Here's hoping that maybe Mario can be in on it this time; Avatars and Banjo (and DLC) are why I went 360 last time, but Mario could turn that all around on this one.
...sorry, Mario, but ASR just has so much less BS to deal with. Both in racing, and in unlocking things.
IGN, 1UP, and Destructoid all have previews, and here is the announcement trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDMuYz1uV2kThe obvious comparison is to Mario Kart 7, of course, and the developers know it. From IGN:
If the game was unlikely to escape Mario Kart comparisons in the first place, its new central mechanic makes it impossible not to discuss the similarities. As with Mario Kart 7, Transformed doesn't just restrict its vehicles to the track, instead sending them skidding across water and soaring into the sky. Sumo's game had already been conceived before Nintendo's E3 conference, and the developer watched in horror at the airborne and aquatic sequences in the trailer. SEGA had been all but gazumped by its former rival.
Fortunately, according to Destructoid:
Well, the "Transformed" in the subtitle actually has significant meaning. During each race, courses will change their structure after every lap. So, naturally, each character's vehicle morphs into the appropriate form.
IGN elaborates:
In practice, however, the two games play quite differently. In fact Transformed has the edge in one very obvious regard. In Mario Kart 7, plunging beneath the waves made little meaningful difference to how the game played; this was merely a cosmetic change. Similarly, gliding, while more involved than underwater racing, wasn't so much about flying as falling with style. Hit the water here, however, and you'll immediately notice tweaks to the handling – it's closer to something like Hydro Thunder Hurricane than a land-based arcade racer. And on the occasions you zoom above the track, there's a fully-fledged flight model, as you guide your now-winged vehicle through floating boost gates. Better still, there's a brief pause and satisfying mechanical whirrs and clunks as your kart morphs into its new form, in a manner reminiscent of a certain Hasbro toy franchise. Robotniks in disguise, anyone?
Among the new characters are Vyse from Skies of Arcadia and Gilius Thunderhead from Golden Axe. Plus, there's a track based on Panzer Dragoon, which is more air-oriented-- particularly after a creature destroys a wooden bridge you race across in the first lap.
Returns sighted so far are Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Eggman, Beat, BD Joe, and AiAi. Sadly, it looks like Eggman no longer has his monster truck.
In fact, I'm not sure if the different vehicle types will be returning, which is unfortunate-- I could really tear up the track as Shadow on his motorcycle.
1UP says of the items:
While the weapons we got to use in the demo were placeholders, Sumo's understanding of Mario Kart's recent follies allowed me to relax quite a bit. Haters of the Mario Kart's ever-growing reliance on rubber-banding nonsense and fickle weaponry can rest easy knowing that Sumo Digital shares in your disdain. Producer Joe Neate lamented the fact that the Mario Kart series continues to cater more to people who have never touched a video game controller and less to fans who have been power-sliding for the past two decades. He assured me that Transformed is a game that rewards skill and knowledge of your environment -- two things that have become less and less important in recent Mario Kart outings.
Frankly, I thought the weapons worked perfectly in the first, certainly when compared to Mario Kart as of late. Certainly nothing like blue shells, lightning bolts, etc. And you don't lose them at every little nudge or drop, either; allows for much more strategy.
All-Star moves are going to work on a meter of some kind, rather than being pick-ups, it would seem. The better you drive, the more it fills.
SEGA Miles are back as well, but it sounds like you'll be putting them into characters to improve them-- I hope that doesn't mean they'll take away your ability to buy new characters/tracks/songs/etc. with them. That was a huge improvement over Mario Kart, in my eyes (especially 7 and its need to be an expert to unlock anyone besides a Mii); I've never unlocked everything in an MK game, but ASR? I have everything.
I do love the first game, and it's a steal now for $19.99 on 360 and PS3. As for this one, it's coming to 360, PS3, Vita, 3DS, and PC as a download.
Wii U? No confirmation yet, but it sounds as though that could change.
Here's hoping that maybe Mario can be in on it this time; Avatars and Banjo (and DLC) are why I went 360 last time, but Mario could turn that all around on this one.
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LBD_Nytetrayn on
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And I'm sure a Wii U version is almost a no brainer.
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If they wanted to take it a step further, they could take a cue from Sonic R and place optional sidequests within each race, such as collecting the chaos emeralds.
I do like how, for the first time in quite a while, Sega and Nintendo are in direct competition again. And I fully believe Sega is going to put out a better Kart game than Nintendo this time.
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Awesome; which interview?
And yeah, I got a response from Steve Lycett telling me "don't worry, we're making it so unlocks can still be done by everyone!"
Also, it just occurred to me earlier: We need a Sonic CD Stardust Speedway track... one which has the first lap in the past, the second in the present, and the third in the future. Bonus if they add some little Back to the Future touches, like flaming tire tracks and the three sonic booms.
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Pretty much, except less frustratingly difficult.
Also I'm kind of stupdily excited for this game.
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The Panzer Dragoon level gives me hope we'll be able to race through more obscure Sega locales. A Fantasy Zone track is an absolute must. Nightopia would be awesome too. OH! And they need a Skies of Arcadia level set in Ixa'taka with a remix of the Horteka theme!
The transformation gimmick makes me worried about what will happen to all the different vehicles. Will motorcycles be included?
Sumo Digital has already said they're limiting the stage selection to one per IP. So only 1 sonic stage this time, for example. They've also revealed that this game's budget is massive. Intereviews about the prequel have shown that the game was originally just a Sonic version of Mario Kart, with Sega characters added late in development, which is why it was so Sonic Heavy. It was also built with a pretty tiny budget. That this game is being made first and foremost with Sega's history in mind, and that it has a huge budget behind it, and their self-imposed limit on stages from the same series, pretty much guarantees you a game with way, way more variety.
What game do I want to see included the most? Well, now that the Panzer Dragoon future is included, I'd honestly like either an Ecco the Dolphin level - set throughout various time periods (past, present, and perhaps good or bad future), or, provided they actually pay to use the license, Toejam & Earl version of Earth would be hilarious.
When you think about auxillary series that Sega owns the rights to - Gunstar Heroes, Dynamite Heddy, Alien Soldier, Guardian Heroes, Bayonetta, Mad World, Vanquish, Binary Domain - there is a lot of stuff they can do without even touching properties they themselves have developed.
Could they do something as crazy as Ecco as a racer, say a large fish tank on wheels :P
The one I'd most like to see return is Otogi. No one remembers Otogi. But I do. I'd pay TEXA$ to see Raikoh driving some kind of demon-propelled kart.
But they have so many home-grown IPs that I'm not expecting any auxiliary stuff.
They don't own the rights, or IP, for Otogi. They only published it (and the sequel). I still have both games on my shelf.
By contrast, Sega owns the IP and rights to all the games above. Treasure, for example, cannot create a new Gunstar Heroes game without Sega's permission. From Software could create Otogi 3 without asking Sega.
Sega, as a publisher, has a great record of keeping these joint ventures pretty pure, though. They would never release a Gunstar Heroes game without using treasure, for example. When Sega released the Treasure Box for the PS2, they even let Treasure include a beta version of Gunstar Heroes in the game.
I'm wondering as well; Eggman has already lost his monster truck, and I'm not big on the new vehicle-- I loved that we were actually using his eggpod. Knuckles' ride is a bit different, but neat.
I did ask about the vehicle types, and Lycett said it's "a bit early to really talk about it. We cover a lot of bases, but we are trying to ensure a certain footprint for fairness."
That... seems off, somehow. Didn't they already confirm that they were bringing back the Death Egg track? I mean, while I like it and all, I don't want that to be the ONLY Sonic track here (Stardust Speedway!)...
And just bringing this over from the Sonic thread, since I think it's interesting and fits better here:
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A question re the original game, we're the tracks on the wii and HD versions the same?
For the most part.
On the subject of the PC port, something I don't see anybody mentioning is that it wasn't the same game as the Xbox 360 or PS3 versions. While the tracks were the same, it was actually some weird hybrid of the Wii version and the HD version. Numerous textures in the game were pulled from the Wii version rather than the HD versions, and certain background objects were simplified or removed, like they were in the Wii version. By, contradictory enough, other textures and objects were exactly the same as the HD version, when they'd be different in the Wii version. The end result is that the PC version wound up being unlike any other version of the game, and certainly a big step below the 360 and PS3 version.
Considering sega's recent history with PC ports, I expect this game to be best on the PC. Hopefully we don't get another weird, half-port.
Already confirmed that the PC version is getting the full online treatment.
Kind of like the entirety of the Playstation All-Star game thread.
Presumably, that means one NEW course per IP.
I honestly don't mind that they used the same assets to make multiple courses in the first game, because they were all well-designed. It's just that the total number of different themes was too low.
I wish racing games would be frustratingly difficult again. Though, not "Mario Kart" frustrating. Diddy Kong Racing was perfect. It was "if I'd raced better I would have won", not "if I hadn't been hit by thirteen blue shells I would have won"
Not "the same NPC character will always win every race given the chance, so you need to win +50% of the races". Yeah, because that's how real world racing works, only two people ever win and the rest are just there to throw red shells in your ass.
Also I will be severely disappointed if his vehicle doesn't resemble the classic Chicken Leg mount:
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SST has to be the most underrated producers of video game music ever. The number of all-time greats they've put out throughout the years is outstanding. They basically created every single great piece of Sega music ever. The last game they worked on, Sonic Colors, features outstanding music. The entire soundtrack for this game could be nothing but SST remixes and it'd essentially cover the entire history of Sega.
The original SST was still the best. The one who made the soundtrack for everything from Afterburner to Outrun to Golden Axe to Daytona USA to Virtua Fighter and everything in between. What a godly band.
In this case, it's because a) Sonic cannot fly, b) Sonic cannot swim (without water wings, anyway), and c) it's a VEHICLE race.
Among other things.
Here's hoping.
And I didn't mind, given it was their first. Just look at Super Mario Kart, that one reused assets out the wazoo, and it probably would have been cheaper to make new ones then.
Indeed. ASR was good; I didn't always win, but I rarely (if ever) felt cheated by cheapness.
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Hmm, Shadow doesn't have his motorcycle... that's disappointing. But a tank? Hmm, that has potential...
* Unless it's another case like before, where the 360 gets all the good stuff.
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I'm a bit confused after reading the OP. So lap 1 is one of driving/flying/boating, lap 2 is another and 3 another? It doesn't just transform the vehicle as you reach the air/water part? Seems like that wouldn't be as good as just dynamically changing.
From the trailer at least it looks like the transformations are quick which is great, now it just needs a stable 30fps (on the vita) and I will insta-buy.
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I think it varies from course to course, so far as layout, but it sounds like it changes as the terrain demands. The given example is of a bridge in the Dragoon track that is there the first lap, but is destroyed when you come to it in the second, thus necessitating a transformation.
That is indeed what I've been told elsewhere. I wouldn't know otherwise.
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They announced a PC version previously, and they also said that it will have online play this time.
odd that it wasn't listed in that last trailer then
Which means she's a playable character.
I... don't think anyone was expecting that.
By the sounds of things, she's an extra character in the Banjo-Kazooie style, so she's not actually stealing any character slots. No confirmation as to whether she's driving the Daytona USA Hornet or not, though.
That's really odd.
Maybe she just really likes Sega.
well, except the Celica ST-205 from Sega Rally
That is so awesome I can only be dissapointed in what eventually materialises. Seriously, Sega can't not be seeing the obvious way to bring Daytona USA into the mix.
Here are some new screens and hands-on, btw.
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I think they'll probably be different enough from each other that the original will still be worth playing even after Transformed is out. It's a great game.
Buy it digitally (Xbox 360 Games on Demand or Steam, $20/$15 respectively) if you want to support Sega. Otherwise you can find it for <$20 in physical form as well.
Edit: There's no online play in the PC version, by the way, but it's fine other than that. I couldn't tell you about the Wii or DS versions.
Agreed. By the sound of it, the tracks and vehicles are going to be different for the most part, and it's still a great game.
Personally, I recommend the Xbox 360 version. That's the one I have, mainly as it features Banjo & Kazooie, your Avatar, and can download Ryo in a forklift, as well as Metal Sonic with a Death Egg course (with a cameo from Rystar).
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I may snap, however, so stay tuned.
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http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2012-sonic/731980
And I analyze it a little bit here, if anyone is interested.
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