More Sonic All-Stars Racing Stuff

It was a bad, bad day...but nevertheless, more Sega All-Stars Racing stuff!!!

HEAR SONIC & ALL-STARS RACING: TRANSFORMED IS TOO HARD

BUY IT ANYWAY

About the difficulty patch.  Well, I'm not upset.  If it makes the game more accessible to people then fine.  I know it's cool to think "boohoo, they're pandering to casuals" but any way they can get more people to buy the game is fine by me.

...you know what.  I didn't realize this until a week ago.  And that is the name of the game is NOT Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing: Transformed.  It's Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed.  They took the "Sega" part out of the title and I didn't even know it.  Whatever, I will still call it "Sega All-Stars Racing" since I'm sick and tired of this "it's a Sanic gaem" bulls***.  Sega made three racing games in recent history with nothing but Sonic characters in them.  It's called Sonic Riders.  So quit trying to apply the Sonic Cycle or some crap like that to Sega All-Stars Racing already, sheesus.

HOW TO DO A FAST START.  Basically, follow this diagram that looks like a .wav file in a sound editor.  Just as the announcer begins to say a number (and when the screen goes black), tap the gas pedal (to correspond with the colors).  The exhaust flames should go from red to purple to blue to signal you're doing it correctly.  Then simply slam on the gas when he says go.  It's not tricky like Daytona USA's boost start (hold the gas at 6500 rpm's) so this one can be learned after a couple of tries.  NOTE the fast start applies with all three vehicles.  Even if you're playing Sky Sanctuary or NiGHTS levels, you can still do the fast start as the plane is rolling ahead (though there's no fade to help with the timing).

I'll probably post more tips later...I'm trying to get as much stuff off my mind now.

And another thing and I'll go ahead and say this.  Thank GOD for Joystiq.  I mean it, this site is 1,000,000,000 times better than Kotaku which blows ass.  They post a favorable review of the game (4.5 of 5 stars) as well as a link to the DLC character petition thread.  Screw you Kotaku, go post another story about an old man who took his pants off at a Japanese arcade, or something.

Also, I'm reading Sumo Digital's "Ask me questions" thread and I accrued a bit of knowledge.  Stupid stuff but here's something.  Originally, the Ages character was meant to be more than just the Hornet/Afterburner Jet/Dreamcast controller combo.  The Hornet would be one of many land vehicles such as the bike from Super Hang-On (in other words, every time you transformed to a land vehicle, you would get a random vehicle).  But memory reasons took that out so they stuck with just the Hornet.  That would've sucked since I like the Hornet and want to play as it all the time (not knocking the Super Hang-On bike).

Also there was going to be Phantasy Star and Crazy Taxi tracks but because of the space and city themes already in place (Sonic Colors and Jet Set Radio), they were cut.  Kind of sucks since there's many Sega franchises that hardly got any representation (I don't count obscure holograms from Race of Ages) but what can you do about it.

BTW, Alex Kidd is in the game.  Set your console clocks to Dec. 25 or later and he instantly becomes playable.  Not making this up.  Free DLC, thanks Sumo!

One more thing.  If you check out the license stickers, they have different names.  One is called "Scud Racer."  Another is called "Power Edition!"  I take it those are referring to Scud Race and Daytona 2: Power Edition, respectively.  I swear, with all these Sega racing references peppered throughout these Sumo games, I'm being teased left and right.  If they go make a Daytona USA 3 game without me, I'm going to go home and lock myself in a dark closet and regret I wasn't born earlier.

COMPLAINING TIME!  That is not to say the game is bad (it's great), but here are some things about the game I don't get:

1. No speedometer in the game.  I asked S0L why this is and his response was it was distracting and hard to get a scale of the world you're in anyway.  Personally, I think a speedometer would've helped a lot in determining how fast boosts carry you and what's the optimal boost pattern but eh...not having one in a racing game kind of sucks for me.

2. I don't get these mirrored tracks.  I know backwards tracks are out since nearly all of them are impossible to do in reverse (anything with a cliff/ramp of sorts).  But the way the game treats mirrored tracks as their own course when they're the same exact thing but you turn left instead of right (and vice versa), c'mon man.  There's 21 tracks in this game, not 42.  Racing backwards would be a challenge but racing mirrored is just meant to annoy you and if I could, I would never do a mirrored race seriously.  Yeah, that's my opinion.  Mirrored tracks also irritated me in Daytona USA XBLA but the game's still great so no deduction to the review score.

3. Also on the topic of time trials, why can't you race any of the three laps on any track?  For instance, the first, second, and third laps of Burning Depths (now my favorite track since everyone but me sucks at it and I like the music) are completely different but you can only time trial the third lap.  I know the water level changes but I don't see how hard it would be to disable the trigger so you keep doing the first/second lap over and over again.  Also see the Skies of Arcadia, Sky Sanctuary, Jet Set Radio levels...can't choose which track variation you like!  Oh well, S0L said some stuff about fewer options in this game...because the menus get cluttered and they have to test them all for quality.  Understandable.

4. Wish the game had different music to choose from.  Hearing the same song on each track kind of sucks after a while.

5. Also don't really like the slot machine "Bonus Chance" thing.  I seldom win (about 30% of the time) and when I do, the reward is hardly worth it (start with a free item).  Understandable, but I don't like how the tracks are scattered with coins which are basically useless in the long run...they're there to tease you...to distract you from the current race you're on for what--a free ice cube at the start of the next race?  FYI, the max amount of coins you can have is 99 so once you've reached it, you might as well start using them.  They work for Grand Prix AND Online Races...

This thing's purpose: to teach kids the danger of gambling addiction.

6. Okay, sooooo...ONLINE PLAY!  At last, I get to show the world my skills (or lack thereof).  All I have to say is prepare for the s*** to hit the fan cause you're gonna get abused with ice cubes, tornadoes, and RC-XD's.  You thought playing against Expert CPU's was bad, here you're caught in a mosh.  Anyway, I'm playing as MeeMee (who sucks but I'm trying to level up all the characters) and collision physics get wonky at times...get hit by another guy and I get airborne in places you shouldn't.  Okay, I can live with that.  

But the ultimate WTF moment was when I was MeeMee on Roulette Road.  I handily completed my three laps about 15+ seconds ahead of the second place guy (I was pissed off and wanted to win).  However, I still kept driving.  Eventually the 30-second clock came on and time ran out.  The game said I DNF'ed and I lost 100 points off my rating.  Really now?

Also, two more funtastic moments as MeeMee, both on Graffiti City.  In the middle part of the track with the boosters on the ramps, well I got hit with a swarm just before the ramp and fell into a crack to my doom.  Okay, that sucks but it happens.  Anyway, I spawn in front of the boost ramp, hit it, but don't get enough speed to land the jump so I fall down AGAIN.  Sucks to be me!  Second part is on the downhill portion after the helicopter.  There's a swarm again and I hit one which is inevitable because the track is so narrow here.  I get stuck dangling on the pointy ledge as I floor it but can't move at all.  So guess what kids...time to commit suicide.  Back up into the pit, die, and respawn.  Wasted twelve seconds on this part too.  What a piece of s***.  I ALWAYS get in the flukiest wrecks too, I swear.

Other than that, to win you need to know the tracks inside and out (hence the numerous practice you got through World Tour mode), know how to use the items, and pray for a little luck while you're at it too.

7. Speaking of online play, the All-Star moves are a tad bit ridiculous.  There's some luck involved--if you happen to get one (and you seldom do) then you can get a nice boost.  But if you get one in second or third place, it can propel you into first with a cushy lead.  Kind of stupid, not as broken as the blue shells though.

8. I still don't get the Race of Ages track.  Is this what the inside of a Dreamcast looks like?  The land part is fairly "epic" as you're trying not to fall although there's no change in scenery there.  The air part of the track is way too vacant and straightforward, plus there's no Sega holograms there.  The water part is the coolest but I think the holograms are a cheap way to cover all of Sega's fan service bases.  Oh look, a statue of Ryo Hazuki.  Another statue of the Chu Chu's.  Another statue of Bonanza Bros. but all that does is make me sad they're not playable characters...  But that's just me.  I'm not feeling the level as much as others I guess.  Sonic Riders had some nostalgic stages like the Boulevard levels which do the old Sega vibe slightly better IMO. 

9. Menus are a tad bit slow to navigate through but w/e.  It can get annoying as it takes a few more seconds than usual to restart a failed mission...

10. Why is NiGHTS the car and not the driver???  Also, why doesn't Gilius's "car" have a steering wheel???

That's about it, game is fun, everyone please buy it if you haven't already.  Game sales are a bit underwhelming at the moment so go buy the damn game if you haven't already.  Wait for the Christmas rush to kick in--hope Sega is advertising the damn game.  Also those Model 2 fighting games we talked about earlier miraculously made their way state-side so that's good too, check 'em out if you need to beat the crap out of other polygonal players.

Damn, I'm still unemployed and I hate this NFL bulls***...I miss NASCAR.  Haters gonna hate...