Sunday, November 18, 2012

Sega All-Stars Racing Demo & F1 Races

Oh man, I'm having a hard time making posts that follow up the Hornet.  BUT, we gotta keep talking about stuff!  Let's do it!

I should mention that the petitions that I mentioned last post are still legit as far as I'm concerned.  I mean, I know that these Internet "patishuns" for stuff like "Sega please let Yu Suzuki make Shenmue 3" that fail so no one bothers to sign.  But this petition will supposedly be read by Sumo Digital themselves.  And if DarthS0L is playing us, okay fine, so let's reach 1000 signatures for Ryo and Segata and show him the fans can get it done and make him eat crow.  So go sign now!  Sheesus...

Also, it's worth mentioning that people are using the abbreviation "SART" to describe this game.  Okay, Sega All-Stars: Transformed?  Plus the word "SART" rhymes with another bodily function I try not to talk about.  Thanks guys!

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But first, Formula 1 Grand Prix in Texas going on right now!!!  I'm proud to be an American!!!  It's good because for once, the race airs during the day rather than 3 am or some time when I should be sleeping (but am not thanks to the Internet).


The track looks vaguely like a gun.  In Texas, they should just go all out and make a track in the shape of a revolver.  Or a shotgun.  Or a horse.  Or a bull.  Or a cowboy hat.  Or f*** it--how about the Dallas Cowboys star--Houston Texans fans would be pissed but they aren't the most valuable NFL franchise so they have no say, I'm sorry.

Also last race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season today and then there will be no more NASCAR for three months... :(

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But now for what everyone is here for and that's Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing: Transformed DEMO opinions.  There's also a Need for Speed: Most Wanted -- A Criterion Game demo too that I downloaded as well for masochistic reasons.  So here I have a good game and a bad game.  Which one should I play first?  I got a radical idea.  Let's play Sega All-Stars Racing and uninstall Need for Speed!  It's a win-win!

Demo only has Sonic and the Panzer Dragoon and Golden Axe tracks.  Personally I'm not too fond of either because they're too dreary for my tastes but they're not "happy" franchises so it's to be expected.  But each track is quite massive.  Like Split-Second (oh geez), the tracks change each lap.  First lap of Panzer Dragoon was all land.  Second lap is land and water.  Third lap is land and air.  I'm surprised by how much room you have to maneuver in the air parts so you don't feel confined in the planes.

The game runs fast especially in the car while doing drifts.  The 30 FPS does hurt a bit but maybe it's because I haven't played a non-60 FPS game in a long time.  BTW, I should mention that while I tear up the road parts (just like the first Sega All-Stars Racing), the water and air parts are a big WTF.  I know you can drift in those parts but it's much harder to gauge where you'll end up.  All I can say is stop trying to drift in a straight in these parts.  I've always been a land guy so this is new.

There's two career mode races: the first is a traditional race at Panzer Dragoon.  You can finish it with one, two, or three stars--three stars being the hardest.  Took me a few tries to win trying to figure out the tracks.  Then the Golden Axe boost challenge comes up (go through boosts before time runs out) and all I have to say is that one's annoying as s***.  I hear to unlock the Hornet, you need to get 165 stars.  All I have to say is that only the pros will unlock the Hornet.  Funny they call it the Ages car...because it takes AGES to unlock.  I'm hoping there's an "unlock all things" DLC cause as cheap as it is, I'd rather play through the career as the Hornet from the start.

BTW, you can pick "tuning setups" for each of the characters and for Sonic, the default one has high top speed but low handling.  So I'm trying to win in the "expert" car from the start.  It's like driving the Phantom or the McLaren F1 on your first run.  So if navigating through the air/water is so hard then I'll have to pick another character or setup!

That's it.  Somehow, the purist in me wishes I was just playing a 60 FPS land-only game but that takes nothing away from this game.  Review-wise, an 8 or better is justified IMO.  Let's get the game in the mail and play the hell out of it...while I wait for job offers to come through the e-mail.  Yeah, later....

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