Review: Sonic Racing CrossWorlds

Sonic Racing CrossWorlds has been out for a hot minute, but with the release of the Mega Man downloadable content pack upon us, I wanted to take a moment to take a look at the base game ahead of its arrival, so people whose interest is piqued for that reason (or others) will know what to expect if they’re only now planning on grabbing the game. After all, a bit has changed since it first arrived back in September 2025.

It’s been a hot minute since the last Sonic racing game: 2019, to be precise. Unfortunately, while I rather enjoyed the new mechanics, Team Sonic Racing did not light the world on fire as its predecessors, Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, did in prior generations. All three came from Sumo Digital, but that’s not the case for Sonic Racing CrossWorlds.

Perhaps Team Sonic Racing left a bad taste in SEGA’s mouth for reasons we can only guess at (various sources report it selling well, and even outpacing its predecessors), and that’s why they decided that for this go-around, they would bring it in-house. In fact, Sonic Racing CrossWorlds is not just developed by SEGA, but Sonic Team themselves. This arguably has its ups and downs.

Lap 1

The biggest downside for me is that they’ve changed the controls from how they were previously mapped to something more akin to Mario Kart, where acceleration is on a face button, rather than a shoulder trigger. This would be fine if there were an option to switch (I always preferred the Sonic way to Mario‘s), but alas, there isn’t. Curiously, players from the online beta have testified that this was not always the case, and both ways were available during that trial.

I don’t know why they would remove such an option, but alas, they did. Fortunately, I’m no stranger to Mario Kart — I just find the other way more comfortable. Nevertheless, it didn’t take me long to get used to the new layout and even start dominating some races.

The game welcomes veterans and newcomers alike by effectively corralling you all into a Grand Prix race on the first set of tracks before you can do almost anything else, shy of visiting the options menu. As a result, you’re basically taught how to play the game by doing; as much a tutorial as it is learning on your feet — er, wheels, I suppose. Each track in the cup teaches you new things, including how the flight and watercraft mechanics work, so you can learn the ropes for driving, flying, and boating before they cut you loose.

Funny thing, though: Despite the controls seemingly trying to be more like Mario Kart than before, the way you get a boost is decidedly different. Rather than gunning it at a certain mark of the countdown timer, you have to keep the needle on a gauge within a certain parameter when the countdown finishes to receive the boost.

You’ll also find that there are (as is the norm in these games) different difficulty/speed levels you can choose from. That said, one thing I didn’t much like is that unlike other entries in the genre, the rank you get when you cross the finish line in one race has no bearing on the next. That is, you’re always having to come up from last place, every single time.

Another new element added to Sonic Racing CrossWorlds is interaction with other racers. In particular, each race presents you with a rival, who is basically the guy to beat in the race to increase your level. You can choose between two each time you begin a cup, with one being at your current level, and the other being a little higher to present you with an extra challenge (you can also just adjust a rival’s level manually). The rivals also provide banter, with certain pairings providing more unique interactions from the rest.

Alternatively, you can also give tickets you earn in the game to other racers in order to curry their favor, building bonds and earning rewards for your own use.

Ah, yes, the tickets. Completing races, beating challenges, and hitting certain milestones earns you Donpa Tickets, which can be used to purchase decals, parts, auras, costumes, and more. You can also spend them to redo a race, if you’re not pleased with your performance.

Interestingly, while you can choose from any of the core set of racers to start with, not all of their cars are. So if you’re like me and want to race as Blaze the Cat, you’re still going to have to grind it out for a little bit to be able to race as Blaze the Cat in the Royal Chariot, her personal vehicle.

And it makes a certain amount of sense, because the amount of customization with everything you can buy here is absolutely crazy. While I like to use Blaze, I don’t use her car as much. Rather, I usually have her in the Road Dragoon, which I’ve personally customized further in a color scheme of black with gold highlights. You can also swap out the front and back of each vehicle for another of a similar type (Speed, Handling, Power, Acceleration, and Boost), change the wheels, add decals, and more. So while unlocking cars and things can be a little bit of a grind, it’s all worthwhile once you’ve got your ideal ride decked out just the way you like it.

On the other hand, if you want everything? You’re going to be busy for quite a while. Just the horns alone require a lot of tickets.

While you need to keep car parts within the same type, you can mix the finished vehicle with a racer of a different type. Prefer your speedy sports car, but could use a little more grip on the track? Maybe a driver from the “Handling” pool is for you.

If I have any real gripe about customization, it’s that while I believe all vehicles use the same basic options (Color 1, Color 2, aura, etc.), it doesn’t allow you to save a customization for use beyond a single vehicle. So while I like my chosen setup, I have to basically remember everything and enter it over and over again for every new vehicle I want to use it on. It’s a bit tedious, to be frank, and I hope they update it sometime in the future so you can just save your preferred customization as a template, and then apply it to whichever vehicle you please.

Man, that’s a lot, isn’t it? And we’ve barely even talked about the actual racing! So let’s fix that.

Lap 2

While the core setup is fairly basic for a game of this type (choose a cup, go through four races and try to get first in as many as you can), there’s a lot of detail to how you go about it in this game.

First you choose a cup, or “Grand Prix” (there are ten to start, with more available as DLC). As noted, each cup consists of four races of three laps each, but unlike most games of this type, they aren’t spread across four different tracks, but three. During each of the first three races, when you come up on the second lap, whoever is in the lead will get to choose from one of two portals to a new location. One is shown to you, the other is a mystery. Once that’s chosen, everyone goes on to the new location for the second lap, and then back to the original location for the third. Then in the fourth race, each lap takes place on the main course of each of the previous races.

During the races, one thing that makes this feel more Sonic-y than other racers of this type — even from Sonic’s own — is the ring system. Like in Mario Kart, getting more rings helps you move faster, but getting hit will cause you to lose a bunch of them, too. But in true Sonic fashion, you can still pick up some of them on the rebound so that it’s not a total loss.

Items range from the familiar to the new. Many have some sort of equivalent in you-know-what (because if it works, it works), but there are a few new and unique inclusions as well. These range from the buzzsaws that will slice your car clear in half (temporarily), giant spiked balls you can launch ahead or behind you as obstacles, protective tornadoes, giant weights that crush opponents, and the one with perhaps the most Sonic synergy of all (particularly as it pertains to the movies), the Warp Ring, which allows you to teleport above the nearest enemy and smash them.

There’s also a nice balance of offensive and defensive items, and the game makes them easy to use. Not to say that other games are harder, but this one will sometimes tell you when the best time is to use an item, or even bring up a targeting reticle if you have an opponent in range for a projectile. That way, you have a better sense of when to let loose, rather than just randomly firing at an angle and hoping for a bank shot off the wall or something.

Each vehicle has three forms, as noted before: Car, plane, and boat. Or at least, something close enough to each to traverse land, sea, and air. These were first seen in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, but are a little different here. Transformations aren’t as mechanically intricate as before, but considering the customization options, this is understandable. They also handle a bit differently, as drifting in the air can help you with vertical movement, while in the water, it builds up a charge for higher jumps, which really come in handy.

The exception to this is the Extreme Gear hoverboards from Sonic Riders, as they operate on land, sea, and air all in their base form. That said, if you’re expecting Sonic Riders gameplay, I’m not as familiar with that series, but my understanding is that you won’t find it here. These Extreme Gear operate more like the other vehicles in the game, just with a different sense of style.

You can also further enhance your abilities by unlocking and equipping Gadgets. These aren’t aesthetic, but can affect your performance in various ways. You can start with a Monster Truck power-up, gain rings in various ways, perform tricks faster, fill your drift gauge faster, and other cool stuff.

Lap 3

In terms of courses, there’s a nice mix of old and new Sonic fare here, probably a more interesting mix than we’ve seen in a while. Well, save for Transformed since that brought in a bunch of other SEGA properties as well, but this does share that sort of charm… kind of.

23 tracks span the course of Sonic‘s history, ranging from Sonic & Knuckles to Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Unleashed, and Shadow Generations (the White Space, in case you were wondering), just to name a few. On top of that, there are returning courses from the previous Racing games, and a whopping 14 original locations. That’s a lot of variety.

However, it also doesn’t really do as much to deliver on the “CrossWorlds” theme as one might hope. That is, these are all Sonic courses, so there’s really not much crossover going on… at least, until you get to the downloadable content. SEGA has been rolling out free DLC for various other franchises they own, ranging from Persona 5 to Like a Dragon, Hatsune Miku, and more. But while these added characters have their own rides and such, they don’t come with any new tracks.

So for an actual crossover experience (aside from a CrossWorld track based on Galaxy Force 2, that is), you’re going to have to shell out some money. Minecraft, Pac-Man, SpongeBob SquarePants, Avatar Legends, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, and of course, Mega Man each have a course of their own, and each one is paid content, whether individually or through a season pass. So in a way, it almost feels like you’re paying more for what is implicitly the game’s core gimmick to be fully realized.

That said, as of this writing, I was able to experience one of these courses through playing online (Minecraft World), and I was thoroughly impressed by it. It provided three different laps of its own, starting with the overworld, then taking a portal to the underworld, and upon returning to the overworld, Creepers detonate and blow apart the track, leading to a stronghold race to the finish.

Between the track and everything else you get with the pack (racers, cart, music, and more), it seems like a good deal for $5.99 USD. And it makes me eager to see what else the rest of the DLC brings. It may very well be worth the money spent in the long run, and if they keep it going, could elevate this game and keep it fresh for years to come. The only downside is that it seems DLC characters (free or otherwise) are usually lacking voices, which is unfortunate.

In terms of nuts and bolts, the game has played well for me on the Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2. In the case of the latter two, the OG Switch version took a bit longer to load and looked alright, but otherwise performed well, while Switch 2 loaded faster and seemed to use different assets in some cases. In some cases, I wasn’t even sure if they were “better” so much as “different”.

Online features crossplay, which is perfect for a game with “cross” in the title. And getting a match online with a lobby full of players was easy when I tried it.

The Winner’s Circle

Whew!

As you can see, there’s quite a bit going on with Sonic Racing CrossWorlds, and it’s only continuing to grow. If you’re a fan of racing games, particularly of the type born of Mario Kart-styled chaos, then this is definitely one to check out — arguably more than Mario Kart itself! At least where Mario Kart World is concerned (still waiting on new costumes for DK and Pauline, Nintendo!).

This is especially true if you’re into any of the characters involved — or ideally, multiple. Me, I like Sonic… but I also like Mega Man (duh), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Avatar, Pac-Man, and more involved. So if you’re similarly invested in as much of this as I am, it really stands to elevate the entire package to another level entirely.

The game has also gone on sale (it’s currently 40% off on Steam, and there’s even a free demo), which should make this one a no-brainer. If you like this kind of game, then I think you’ll love this game.

And in case you missed it, here’s Nadia and I playing it back when it was released on “Nadia & David Ruin Video Games“:

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Thanks for reading!

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