I went into this game expecting it to be just like the last one with a few changes.
I was totally wrong, it takes what was good about the last and makes it better and added a massive new elements to make it a brand new game.

Again it is a true love letter to Sega fans with new characters to play with including (wreck it Ralph)from the excellent Disney movie,as well as other classic Sega characters that where not in the last game and cameos from others.

The new game play mechanics are a great change at points on the tracks your vehicle
will transform to a water type (I.e boat type ) and the mechanics will play as if your really racing in the water (if a wave shows up you can do tricks and get speed boost).Also at points your vehicle will transform into plane flying type and again the mechanics will feel like your flying a plane.

The game is challenging and is great for all ages. Gameplay is very fast and more like a racing game then a "Cart game"

The bonus edition comes with a downloadable code for metal sonic and Sega outrun
race track .(note the bonus edition seems to be the basic edition of the game and no extra cost) ,and the starting price of the game is pretty cheap for a new game.

I would highly recommend this to any one and would be a great gift.
Extremely fun pick this one up : )

XBOX 360 ARCADE DEMO AVAILABLE FOR FREE: Before my review, I wanted to make it clear that Xbox live Arcade has a free demo available for download that allows to to play a race, and another "boost" game mode on a different track as Sonic. Why read the reviews when you can give it a try yourself? (The final product's menu screens appear more polished looking in the final product. Also, there was one case in the demo I finished first on that hard setting and the next screen said I finished 2nd I have not seen such a glitch in the real game.)

FYI, BONUS CONTENT INCLUDES: Download code for: Outrun Bay track + Challenges and Time Trials, Metal Sonic & Transforming vehicle + Metal Sonic Mod Pack, Stickers for your in-game driver's license.

POSSIBLY RELEVANT BACKGROUND INFO: I discovered this game by chance - and upon discovery, was very excited being a former Mario Kart and Sonic player. I'm 27 years old, and my Mario Kart experience ended after N64 (with some Wii play at friends sporadically). After having seen the first Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing game was such a success, and couldn't find a single negative review on this game (except by some Nintendo magazinewhich was obviously biased), I immediately ordered two copies (one for a buddy/his wife). It's unfortunate I never knew the first game existed - and I wasn't willing to try it out considering it's priced higher currently (360 version) and this game is two years newer, and improved in nearly every way from what I could tell/read.

First, many seem to indicate that this game is geared towards kids (or give that impression) in there reviews. Do not be mislead - as stated in other reviews, this is a more challenging Kart racer good for ANY age. The controls are simple enough to be picked up and played with ease by anyone, yet difficult to perfect. They've really done a fantastic job of requiring skill to truly succeed with not only racing, but weapon use and defense. Drifting for boost can involve a careful balance of throttle, stunts require timing and aren't a simple gimmick like what I've seen in newer Mario Kart games where just jumping up and down randomly gets you a boost (stunts can actually fail if timed poorly, thus slowing you down in the game). Skill in planes also rewards you for risky maneuvers - barrel rolls and flips aren't only useful for evading weapons - but they encourage risky/cool flying because you get boosts for risky behavior.

CHARACTERS/KARTS: Of the negative points made in other reviews, characters are mentioned. They are not as familiar as Nintendo - and even to Sega fans, may not be familiar. They aren't to me - as I really only recall the Sonic type characters but I do not care what the characters look like. The "fresh" and "new-to-me" characters are welcome, whoever they are. Each character drives a different Kart, and each Kart has a unique handling style that isn't simply based on "weight" like the N64 Mario Kart days. Given the same Kart mods, there is still something unique in the way they handle and you will quickly develop favorites to choose for the various types of races depending on whether or not you need better handling for a flight challenge, speed for a timed lap race, or acceleration (among other attributes).

KART vs BOAT vs PLANE: Another point criticized in other reviews is the sense of lost speed for boats and planes. This may feel true at first when hopping into a boat, but as a boater myself a sense of speed typically is lost on water. When all you have is blue surrounding you and no road signs or pavement texture below you passing by, it's hard to gauge how fast you're going. Just like when you're in a plane.. so arguing that a sense of speed is lost is just perception. Additionally, boats do accelerate poorly in water as they do in this game compared to Karts so don't let your boat come to a stop (i.e. don't hit rocks). Additionally, waves play a roll - hit the waves properly, and choose gently turns to maintain speed. The boosts hit while boating or within a plane generate lots of speed - and if I were going any faster to begin with, some of the flying "ring" challenge modes would be near impossible to handle. I found the handling and control of each of these modes to be right on as well. Kart mode is awesome, boat is "fluid" and you get the sense of being tossed around if not adjusting properly - gentle turns and gradual direction changes are best for maintaining speed. Plane controls and feel works very well - left stick steers, right stick for barrel rolls and stunts truly one of those games where the Xbox controller works with you and not against you.

GAME MODES: Single player mode is really well thought out, and unique. The progression through the game is not linear, and involves a great variety of options. It's best not to get into too many details here - just know that nothing disappoints. Multiplayer modes include battle style racing, where players are eliminated as they lose their three lives given. To win.. not all players need to be eliminated - you could also cross the finish line first (alive). There are also racing modes that keep weapons out - pure racing. Nearly any game mode can be play split screen with a friend cooperatively. I do not have a whole lot of multiplayer experience yet, which leads me to one of the few negatives - this is not a very popular game online yet. I was not able to find a game to play in late at night when I first tried. I don't know if I needed more patience because I'm used to starting up Halo 4 and finding players immediately or what. Hopefully this will change as the game gains popularity.

BALANCE (vs Mario Kart): Most weapons shoot in a straight line, requiring skill to hit targets. When hit by a weapon, your Kart doesn't come to a dead stop, and the speed loss while there isn't devastating. It can make the difference in a race, but can also usually be avoided if skilled. All shots can be blocked (technically) if you are equipped to do so. There is no stupid blue shell. Mario Kart really abuses that thing it's sad that if you're racing a Mario Kart game and you're in first, the only way to avoid being hit is to drop out to second place (hoping they haven't launched the shell already while in first) - which jeopardizes you race since the pack may be close behind second place, and just isn't fun. It's stupid. There are two targeting like weapons in Sonic - one is somewhat rare and scrambles your controls (not much a problem if you just remember to reverse your steering), and the other a drone bot. This targets a vehicle in front of you - not first place automatically, and an indicator on your screen lets you know when it's near so if you have a boost item or drift boost just at the right time, you can avoid it. There is a weapon that targets the lead cars, however it places objects in front of them so skilled driving around them (bees..actually) overcomes that. These more balanced approaches make for a much more fun game in my opinion. You'll more consistently place where you deserve to - as there aren't as many devastating chains of bad luck that take you from first to last.

OTHER: Polished graphics, creative tracks (landscape often changes for each lap allowing different vehicle use), shortcuts are fun along with great variety of options in track paths (the arcade demo is relatively linear, and a bad representation of this). Transformations are cool and well thought out - unique look to each character's vehicle.

There are too many good things to list, which is why this review has focused primarily on contradicting the various cons I've seen in other reviews throughout the internet.

The previous game, Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, was nicely done but did seem like a clone of a more famous kart racer. This time around, Sega made a great game that stands on its own, and at a very reasonable price.

There are several features that differentiate this game from other kart racers:

1. Vehicles change between cars, boats, and planes at certain points in each course. Usually the course is altered in some way (the ground collapsing, barricades going up, etc.) so that your three laps are not identical. In addition to the different driving styles for these vehicles, there is also some strategy in trying to find shortcuts that get you into a faster vehicle (the plane) sooner. There are plenty of shortcuts to find.

2. The multiplayer is excellent. Unlike other racing games, even the career mode can be played in co-op. As long as one player meets the requirements for passing the race or challenge, both players get to move on--cooperation without frustration! It's also nice not to have to beat the career in single player before the multiplayer is worthwhile.

3. The career mode has different game types, which reminds me more of realistic racing games. There are drifting challenges, timed laps, battle races, and one delightful game type where you have to chase down and destroy a tank.

Overall, this is a great kart racer. Don't worry about this being too much of a kids' game, either, because to beat the various races on the highest challenge level takes a lot of skill and patience.

I loved the first rendition of this game. This game is worth getting over the first one, so many improvements. 4 player splitscreen which allows it to be co-op in the story mode (World Tour). Can also take yourself and 3 others into multiplayer. This game is much harder than the first, though, and it will start to show near the end of the World Tour. To continue to unlock people, you need a certain amount of stars. You get more the higher the difficulty it is that you are playing on. Now, Kart racers can be tough, but not unbeatable. To get S rank, you will need to know your drifts, but not only that, you also need a little bit of luck to get an All Star when you need it or to not get hit by something near the end of a race. When I get hit by something at the end, it just kills me that I go from 1st to 4th in the last 3 seconds, making me do it over and over again until I get a good combination of skill and luck with the items.

So, very good game; fair and balanced. But to get the most out of this game, prepare to play and practice and you never have in an other kart racer before to unlock all mods for every character as well as every character. Granted, you don't need every console mod or character to do well or have fun, but for completionists, it sucks when you are taking 30 minutes to beat one level to just get 1 more star. Online is fun and co-op is blast. Don't let the $40 price tag fool you, this is a top notch game which is great for ANY gamer, ANY age, once they get the hang of it.

At first, I was really hesitant about this game. Tons of comparisons between this and Mario Kart 7 were flying all over the place at the time. Regardless, the game is well made enough that a casual gamer can find a good time with this. Honestly, I prefer this over MK7, but really only if I do not have to control a the boat mode of the vehicles. Controlling your vehicle on water can be incredibly difficult because if you turn too sharply, you'll lose most of your momentum and ram into the wall.

I also experienced delayed actions countless times while playing. An example of this is I move the right thumbstick twice to have my character perform two tricks just after making a jump when on screen, the character doesn't respond until just before they hit the water again, and performing three flips when I had only wanted to do two. The physics in this game are better than the first, but they can still screw with your race and cost you a victory.

While I can appreciate wanting to increase replay value, certain challenges in World Tour simply do not belong. I don't normally swear more than once or twice in a sentence when agitated, but so many of these challenges had me throwing my controller over my shoulder and spouting so much profanity. Fortunately, no children were present at the time. Whoever thought traffic attack was a good idea needs to be flogged. Nuff said.

Sumo said the game would be more balanced, but I kind of disagree there. All the other characters go all star left and right while you're lucky to go all star yourself even once. Sure, going all star while in third place won me a few races, but I still feel that characters in 6th place should be getting it instead of someone in second.

As a whole, it's not a bad game. When it's fun, it's a blast. When it's difficult, it can be infuriating. Give it a shot and see what you think. At least the Sonic cast isn't plagued with 4kids anymore and their voice clips actually fit now.

My 6 yr old and my husband are constantly playing this game. They love the racing and it has lots of levels and it has rounds for each game. The only thing that bothers me about this game is that your hands will hurt at first until you can figure out how to hold the controls when you drive. Make sure your kids rest their hands in between games.

This game is very entertaining. You can play 4 player on on Xbox 360, in split screen. There might be a bit of screen degradation, to display 4 player split screen,but play back is still silky smooth. Very nice implementation of the Cryware Engine.

Maps are all inventive and colorful. My 7 y.o. loves playing it, and can play it without any problems and comes in first almost always on the easy setting, and can place first a lot of times on the medium setting, and can sometimes place in the top 3 on hard, so the difficulty settings are good for those with novice skills. I play with her quite often, and enjoy the heck out of the game. We have played at least 4 hours in the title, and just scratched the surface of the title, with plenty of characters to unlock and a bunch of maps,characters and modes left to unlock. (I think the game has 10 characters unlocked by default with 9 or 10 left to unlock in the game) I look forward to seeing what else this title has to offer. I think Sega is planning more DLC for it as well. Sega gifted Alex Kidd on Christmas day. I'd love to see Vanellope von Schweetz as a DLC character.

A couple of things of note for ease of access to the game. The controls for flying were very difficult for my 7 year old, and not too easy for me frankly. The game detects if you are having difficulty flying and offers to invert the controls, and offer flying aids, which makes it much more accessible for a younger gamer, and even myself, not to become to frustrated over sections of the game. Kudos to the developer for offering this. Also there are stages, that aren't racing against opponents but time challenges, and these are very difficult, in my opinion, but if you fail them (I think 3 times), the game lets you skip that portion of the career mode, and go on to the next track.

This game is a highly polished kid's racing game that parents will appreciate and have fun with too. Giving it 5 stars. Hopefully they won't price DLC too high. Graphics are fun, bright, imaginative and colorful. This is a very polished racer, and Sega should be proud.

I bought Sonic ASRT to have a multiplayer x-box game that didn't involve shooting people. Even the skeptics among my friends, who thought they'd hate it, have come to enjoy playing it for hours when I come over.

The maps are visually interesting and range from moderately challenging to very difficult. Besides straight racing maps, the career mode also throws in a variety of challenges to mix things up. Some of these challenges are actually more fun than the actual races (in my opinion of course). The transitions between cars, boats, and planes keep the game fresh, interesting, and challenging.

As for multiplayer abilities, the game lets you play up to 4 players through the entire career mode. Players can join in and drop out at will, and a level is passed as long as one player meets the race/challenge requirements. Also, you can do up to 4 players in circuit race, which pits the players against computers just like in career mode, except that this time each player (human and computer) is given points based on how they place in each of 4 or 5 races. The player with the most points at the end wins.

Now for the reason I only gave it 4 stars. As far as I can tell, the game doesn't have a "Team Circuit Race" option where 4 players could join up with a couple computers and share points while racing a circuit against another team of computers. This means that my multiplayer options are limited to career mode and circuit race. Circuit race isn't cooperative, and makes it feel like each player is doing their own thing. Career mode is cooperative, but since only the best racer matters, only one person is really benefiting the team, and a bad player might not feel like they're contributing.

Still, it's a fun little racer that my group of twenty-somethings enjoys wasting the occasional evening on.