(-TN-) LADYHAWK
Laura Harrison   California, United States
 
 
Interests: PC Gaming (duh); creating music and art; writing; wildlife; parrots; paleontology;

Ladyhawk's Lair [www.ladyhawkslair.com]
Currently Offline
Review Showcase
The short of it?

This is a great game! If you like kart racers, it's a must-buy.

The slowdown issue from the first Sonic racing game has been fixed (at least on my machine). The game runs really smoothly with all graphic options enabled and it looks really sweet. For the record, I have an Intel i7 2600K overclocked to 4.1 GHz, an XFX Radeon HD 6950 and 8 GB RAM. It's a shame the first Sonic kart game has slowdown issues or I'd recommend it, too. From what I've read, it mostly affects ATi video cards, but you don't know how much of an issue it's going to be until you buy the game. I have a fairly good system, so it's not a game breaker for me, but it can still be annoying.

For Sonic Racing, I recommend the XBOX Controller for Windows, which gives you good control and vibration feedback. If you don't already have it and can afford it, I recommend you buy it even if you don't buy the racing game. It's wonderful for the Batman games, Sonic Generations and the first Sonic kart game. I'm sure it would be awesome for a lot of other games as well. You can get a lot of console ports that look and play better on a computer with a decent computer monitor.

New in Racing Transformed PC:

1. Online multiplayer. I don't know how well this works because I haven't been able to try it. If you have this game, please challenge me so I can round out this review.

2. Four different ways to do stunts.

3. Coins for a slot machine that gives you extra goodies with which to start a race.

4. New triple boost method to start races

5. Racing on water and in the air!. This is a huge deal. It adds so much more to the game. It's fun to catch a wave, do a stunt and get a boost out of it.

6. Risk boosts. While flying, flip out of the way of objects just in time to receive a boost.

7. Much better AI. I'd say "easy" in the new game roughly equates to "hard" in the old game. Right now I'm only good enough to complete in B class (medium) and A class if it doesn't involve boats and flying. Those two elements are new and it's taking me awhile to master them.

8. All New Weapons. IMO, they should have kept the old ones and added a few new ones.

Other Cool Stuff.


Re-playability counts for a lot when it comes to video games and Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed scores high in that department. My mind is spinning already. Lots of new things to learn. Lots of new characters to unlock. Lots of new driving styles to unlock per character. Nicely done, Sega.

In the PC version, Team Fortress takes up one character slot. Pyro is the road man, Heavy is the boat man and Spy is the pilot. Sega used different voice actors than the ones we're used to, which, as I play more and more, is annoying as hell. It's even more annoying when I hear snatches that sound like the original actors. I'm so confused. Still, it's fun seeing our old friends racing. Maybe someone will come up with a way to use snatches of audio from Team Fortress to replace the sounds in Sonic Racing. One can hope, I suppose.

Football Manager and Shogun are also unique to PC version

What I miss from the first game:

1. Special character stunts. I wish they had kept the the 4-way directional flips and rolls for the second joystick and assigned a button for a special character stunt. They should have made it take as long as two rolls and given you a stage 2 boost (or something similar).

2. The horn. I imagine the horn could be annoying in multiplayer games, but I liked honking it to make characters do silly animations. I kind of miss the animations of both the special character stunts and horn honking.

3. Motorcycles. Seriously, Sega, why did you get rid of Shadow's cool ride? I miss it, man.

4. Pole position. In Grand Prix mode, your starting place in the field no longer depends on your placement in earlier races. You are always, ALWAYS at the back of the field. ACK! You made the game hard enough, Sega. Why make it harder? Was it laziness? Too hard to program a person's position in accordance with the average placement in races? You managed it in the first game. Why not in the second?

Ladyhawk's Rating: 7.25 out of 10 stars

What other critics had to say about Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed:

Shogun - "Owie!!!"

Scout - "Man, this game sucks! And I'm not saying that because I'm not in it. Really."

Heavy - "Ees always good day to drive leetle boat...and eat sandvich."

William Shakespeare - "Brains...gurgle gurgle...BRAINS!!!"

Sigmund Freud - "Sometimes a fireworks rocket is just a fireworks rocket."

LOLCATS - "I can haz kart racer?"

PC Gaming Magazine - "Visit this site for information on downloading Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed for free."
Jロメロのケツで圧死 11 Feb, 2014 @ 5:24pm 
99666999999666999999666999666 69996699999996699666996699 996699999999699999999666699669 9666699666996699666996699 996669999999999999996666669999 6666699666996699666996699 996666699999999999966666666996 6666699666996699666996699 996666666999999996666666666996 6666699666996699666996699 996666666669999666666666666996 6666699666996699666996666 996666666666996666666666666996 6666699999996699999996699

1 Highlight the text^

2 Press Ctrl+F

3 Press 9 ( without holding the Ctrl and F) =3
Jロメロのケツで圧死 17 Nov, 2013 @ 10:14pm 
Yep, I sell propane and propane accessories, I'll tell ya what.
(-TN-) LADYHAWK 16 Nov, 2013 @ 10:41pm 
Propane? Do you sell propane and propane accessories?
Jロメロのケツで圧死 13 Nov, 2013 @ 10:10pm 
█▀█░█▀█░█▀█░█▀█░█▀█░█▄░█░█▀▀░░
█▀▀░█▀▄░█░█░█▀▀░█▀█░█▀██░█▀░░░
▀░░░▀░▀░▀▀▀░▀░░░▀░▀░▀░░▀░▀▀▀░▀
Highball!!! 24 Jul, 2013 @ 6:56pm 
Your a awesome team player thank you for the back up!
B3 31 Mar, 2013 @ 2:07pm 
*********@--@--@
*******@------------@
*****@-----------------@
****@Happy Easter@
***@--------2013--------@
***@--(\(\-----------/)/)--@
***@--(=':')-------(':'=)---@
***@---(,(")(")..(")("),)---@
****@----------------------@
§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§
---§§(_)(_)(_)(_)(_)(_)(_)§§
-----§§(_)(_)(_)(_)(_)(_)§§
-------§§(_)(_)(_)(_)(_)§§
---------§§(_)(_)(_)(_)§§
---------§§(_)(_)(_)(_)§§

•·.·´¯`·.·• ✌(-‿-)✌ •·.·´¯`·.·•
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥