I didn't expect much from this game. The last Sonic Racing title was fairly clunky, with a frame rate that chugged regularly. The items were weird and confusing and it just didn't feel right. I find this to be true, generally, about any non-Mario karting game But I buy most of them anyway, such as ModNation Racers (which I love despite the load times).

Reviews kept coming in for this game, though, that made me suck it up and pay the $40. I kept reading that it was the best kart racing game in years, that the frame rate was solid, that it felt right. And with some apprehension, I bought it for PS3.

It's worth the money. It is one of the best kart racing games in years, arguably ever. I don't think it knocks the best of the Mario Karts off of their pinnacle (for what it's worth, I loved Double Dash and MK Wii, but didn't care for MK7), but it's easily in the same league. Unlike Mario Kart, it has a LOT to do as well. There's plenty to unlock, the career mode is robust, the game is challenging without feeling cheap and the online functionality is solid (I had no problem finding matches). Doing well as a character unlocks "mods" that adjust the kart's stats, so there's a good amount of replayability.

The SEGA fan service is wonderful too. Ristar holds the flag starting off the race, all of the tracks feature little touches. The transforming concept is put to great use and it's far more successfully realized than Mario Kart 7 (which doesn't come close). The first time you run the After Burner track, drive off a battleship and transform into a plane while jets are dogfighting all around you Man. It's just awesome.

I'm sure many people have mixed feelings on DLC, but I generally welcome it for kart games. If you get the Bonus pack, you'll get the Outrun track and Metal Sonic to race with, both of which are great. I'm looking forward to maybe seeing more of these, if they're cheap enough. One of the biggest downers with Mario Kart was always that they'd generally release one game per system DLC tracks can easily make up for that lull. It'd be awesome to see some more obscure ones, maybe Wonder Boy?

All in all, this is a GREAT game and completely worth the $40.

This is sold as a "Bonus" edition with an extra track and racer, but it comes with a code you must redeem online, and the code expired on 11/30/2013. So you are buying a "Bonus" edition, but only getting a standard edition. The outside packaging even says it comes with a bonus track and racer, but it does not mention any expiration date to that claim.

This is not hyperbole. I have played every kart racer ever made. Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed is the best kart racer ever. This game has the best graphics, the tightest controls, and a sense of speed this genre has never seen. The transform dynamic really enhances the game-play. This game deserves a 10 out of 10.

After being bored/angered to tears by the bland F1 Race Stars I was weary about trying out another kart-racing game. Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed thankfully manages to transcend the kart sub-genre and feels like a genuine racing game in its own right.

The game features familiar Sonic characters as well as characters, tracks, and tunes from other famous Sega games such as Jet Set Radio, House of the Dead, Golden Axe, Crazy Taxi, Super Monkey Ball, Shinobi, and Alex Kidd. Even Wreck-It-Ralph makes an appearance. I am annoyed that Sega, once again, missed a trick by not including anything from Lava Reef Zone from Sonic & Knuckles, as it is the best Sonic tune of all. And if they were cool enough to include Golden Axe (with an awesome new remix of the Wilderness theme) then why not include Streets of Rage also (a franchise they have all but disowned)? The tracks themselves are wonderful and exciting, with lots of blue skies and sunshine as we have come to expect from Sonic games. This limited edition even features Outrun Bay, but the music is a remix of Splash Wave, instead of the much more memorable Magical Sound Shower.

After the first tournament of career mode the game becomes incredibly difficult, and is probably one of the hardest Platinum trophies out there, so I just quit before it started to drive me mad. It requires hundreds of hours of gameplay, which I am not willing to give it. There are 51 trophies in total, and I managed 21 of them, which I am happy with. It's a great game, but the sharp difficulty curve might put you off too. Another minor gripe would be the lack of clear information within the game. The instruction manual contains virtually nothing, so you've got to figure out what everything means during gameplay, which is kind of hard as it doesn't make it obvious or make much of an effort to orientate you.

Graphics A
Sound B+
Gameplay B
Lasting Appeal C+

Why is it Sonic? I don't know. Do you care? I don't. It's a racing game. It's nuts. Everything's happening. Danica Patrick? Booming sounds. Power ups. Now you're a boat! Now you're a plane!

Do you remember going to the arcade and seeing a kind of off-beat racing game, throwing a quarter in and having your mind blown with sounds and colors? That's really what this game is. It can be compared to the likes of Mario Kart, and while there are similarities this is a unique game all it's own. My biggest gripe is that unlocking all the maps, characters, and so on will take a lot of single-player action, so you run the risk of turning into "that person" who plays a lot on their own and just always has an edge on your friends when they come over the play.

As a long time fan of racing games in general I like to play both realistic and fun kart racers. Kart racers have been more than a little sour the past few years with the disappointing Little Big planet Karting, and the random blue shells of Mario Kart Wii. Then this gem of a game shows up. Wow great soundtrack, great graphics, but most of all GREAT gameplay.

Take the best parts of Sega & Sonic All star racing and blend them with Diddy Kong racing for N64 and you have a good idea of where this game is going. You have master all 3 forms (Car,Boat,Jet) because you will transform at certain checkpoints along the race and you need to be on your toes for the change since they all control differently. The power ups seem very well balanced as well no more infamous BLUE SHELL like weapons whew, instead the "Swarm" is the will move into first place make by trying to block 1st,2nd, and 3rd place. It can be out maneuvered and rarely seems like you get cheated since you can see it fly over head and prepare.

That comes to this finally point. I nearly always felt like skill stopped me from winning instead of luck. That's a feeling very few kart racers can give you. Kids to Adults will get a kick out of it, and I hope you do too!

Pros
-GAMEPLAY!!!!
-Soundtrack
-Graphics
-Tons of Old School sega characters!
-Online or local co-op!!!
-Budget priced!

Cons
-No Ps3 exclusive character (Wii U gets the Mii, and Xbox gets Avatar)
-A few characters from the first game are not playable (No Billy Hatcher and they add Pudding, really?)
-The World tour mode can get hard towards the end, which might be to hard for younger kids. You can turn the difficultly down if need be.

Fun game that the kids and I can play together, offers 4 player local co-op, which is something game companies seem to be shying away from. There is a good selection of vehicles/characters and even for younger players they should be able to progress a bit as it will let you skip some levels after a certain number of failed attempts. I do find that getting enough stars to unlock some characters is a bit tough, if my kids were playing by themselves, I don't know that they would be able to do it. The courses are also somewhat limited, thus four out of five stars.

It's been known that sega has made a turn around. It went from a company with many franchises fading into obscurity to one of the best developers around again. Sonic colors, sonic generations, Virtua fighter 5 FS, ETC. are all hits that put them back in the game. Now they are making another Kart racing game. But don't write this game off as a copy and paste Mario kart.

Gameplay(4/5): Sega has tried kart racing games plenty of times. From sonic drift to sonic riders zero gravity. But here's the thing. Allstars racing transformed takes a few pages from each and every sega kart racer and makes its own book in the process. The game is a simple kart racer but with 3 kinds of racing combined into one. It's due to the transformations your car has and uses mid-race. The 2 other racing modes besides regular on-road is boat and plane racing. Boat is a lot like it was in sonic riders zero gravity and works great. The waves and the ability to do tricks on them is great. Plane mode is also similar to SRZG but also air combat games. Unfortunately the controls are inverted in flight mode and it took some time to get use to.

Graphics(5/5): the game looks amazing. Easily better than Mario kart 7 and Wii.

Music(5/5): good tunes. All are from previous Sega games.

Content(2/5): this is where allstars racing transformed disappoints big time. Compared to allstars racing it's successor's roster is pretty lacking. Where is Akira or billy hatcher? There's a billy hatcher stage for crying out loud. But it's ok to have Pudding? I never played space channel 5 but that's just ridiculous! We don't need Amy rose. Also the career mode requires so much replaying its ridiculous. Sure the difficulty is fair but I don't wanna replay the exact same level 3 times.

Online(5/5): Online is great. Works very well.

Overall(26/30): While I'm not pleased with the roster this is a great game. Rather than living in Mario kart's shadow this game stands on its own.