Shortly after last fall’s release of the underwhelming Mario Kart 7,
we put together a list of six
lessons the series could learn
from other entries in the genre. Mario has resided in rarefied
atmosphere at the top of the mountain, and because of this, recent
installments have suffered from the kind of stagnation that stems from
a lack of competition. Well, in a serendipitous turn, it seems like the
folks at Sumo Digital were thinking of many of the same lessons. Sonic
& All-Stars Racing Transformed (which I will refer to as
Transformed for the sake of my own sanity), a followup to Sonic’s
2010 inaugural jaunt behind the
wheel, treads new ground in the genre by keeping a watchful eye on the
past.
For a long time, I’ve wanted
Mario Kart to take a Super Smash Bros.
approach and treat each installment as a tribute to all things
Nintendo. While this has yet to come to fruition, Transformed’s focus
is on being a complete and sincere love letter to all things Sega. From
the inclusion of fan-favorite characters like Vyse from Skies of Arcadia
to more obscure competitors like Gilius Thunderhead, the feisty little
dwarf from Golden
Axe, Sumo is rolling up its
sleeves and digging deep into the mine of Sega’s past. Sumo isn’t
pandering by filling the line-up with purely Sonic characters, but
instead giving those of us who grew up on the Genesis a healthy heap of
fan-service. While the wide variety to characters show off this idea of
tribute, it’s the tracks themselves that really bring this concept to
fruition.
