At E3 last week, I managed to get my hands on the newest Sonic Racing title, Team Sonic Racing. While the upcoming title shifts the focus from Sega properties to only Sonic characters, the incredibly strong core mechanics of previous Sonic Racing titles are present and accounted for. From what I played at Sega’s E3 booth, Team Sonic Racing feels like a natural continuation of the Sonic Racing series, but with a greater focus on teamwork and cooperation. Anyone who has played a Kart racer can tell you that they aren’t exactly team-based racers, making the decision to focus on teamwork all the more fascinating.
Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Shadow, Rouge, and E-123 Omega were all playable in the demo, though the character select screen featured quite a few unfilled slots. I played as Omega, because robots are cool, and teamed up with his fellow Team Dark members. The available tracks were from various Sonic games, with the course I played on being based on Planet Wisp, a primary setting from Sonic Colors. I’m sure there will be lots of references to previous games in the other stages in the full game, as fanservice is the essence of any crossover title.
Team Sonic Racing controls like its predecessors. Turns and handling are nice and tight, while drifting feels as smooth as butter. Tighter drifts give you varying levels of boost that are instantly triggered when you stop drifting. New to Team Sonic Racing is the ability to create boost trails for your teammates to follow. If a character is behind one of their teammates for a moderate length of time, a golden trail is made; a trail that gives every following teammate a speed boost. This encourages different formations and coordination between teammates without providing anyone with an unfair advantage.
The other big team-based mechanic is item-trading. When a character picks up an item, they’re given the opportunity to give the item to one of their teammates. I really like this idea, as it can be used to either boost teammates who have fallen behind, or to help push the best teammate to victory. Item-trading adds a new layer of team-based strategy to a genre that is typically about cutthroat ruthlessness, which is a bold but exciting choice by Sumo.
I’ll definitely check out Team Sonic Racing upon its PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC release this Winter. Its commitment to team-based racing has certainly peaked my interest, and though I loathe to admit it, I’m a sucker for the Sonic franchise (especially its fantastic racers).
