Genre: Kart Racing
Modes: Single-Player & Multiplayer
Developer: Sega & Hardlight
Publisher: Sega
Release Date: September 19th 2019
Available On: iOS, macOS, tvOS
Reviewed On: iOS
I have been vocal about my feelings toward the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise before on this website. I have played a handful of games featuring the blue blur, and while I have enjoyed several of them, I am not the biggest fan of the series as a whole, nor do I get particularly excited when a new entry is released. Nevertheless, upon hearing about Sonic Racing on Apple Arcade, I decided to give it a try. The game is not a port of Team Sonic Racing, which came out for home consoles in 2019; rather, it is a simplified version designed for Apple Arcade. That word highlights the problem with this game: simplified. Sonic Racing is a barebones kart racer that is fun for the first few hours, but its baffling lack of freedom or customisation makes the game feel monotonous. The game controls well on an iPhone, and the tracks themselves are decent enough with shortcuts. Still, the overall gameplay experience leaves much to be desired, especially for a kart racer.
Like Team Sonic Racing, Sonic Racing on Apple Arcade sees you playing in teams of three, and you control one character in that team. Every race is played online against another player, and you must win a race in order to gain experience points to level up the characters on your team, level up the wisp power-ups or unlock new playable characters. Everything here is standard territory for a kart racer. You can play a League match against another player, which is a two-lap race around a randomly selected track. There is a Time Trial mode where you race around a track as fast as possible and see how your lap time compares to other players around the world. Practice mode lets you drive around any track you like to learn the track, and there are two more online modes where you can race another player (similar to League) or take part in a 4-player race where you and the other players race for victory. There are plenty of modes in Sonic Racing, and I have to commend Sega and Hardlight for including this much in the game.
For the three hours I spent playing Sonic Racing for Apple Arcade, I mainly played in League mode, which is the standard mode for casual players. League is also the mode where you will spend most of your time, and it lets you get the hang of the game's controls. There are three different control options for the game: the first is Fixed mode, where you touch the right side of the screen to turn right and the left side to turn left; the second is Thumb Wheel mode, where you control an imaginary steering wheel with your finger on screen to turn the kart, and the third style is Thumbstick mode, where you control the screen like a controller joystick to move the kart around the track. Fixed mode was my preferred choice because it gave me the best control over the kart, and the controls were instantaneous.
The racing in Sonic Racing for Apple Arcade is enjoyable. The game is similar to Mario Kart and Crash Team Racing, with every track themed around locations from Sonic's past. The drifting mechanic resembles that of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Switch: the longer you turn into a corner, the more your boost fills up, and when you stop spinning, you unleash the boost. Like in Crash and Mario, each character has unique stats based on speed, technique, and power. Characters such as Sonic, Shadow, and Metal Sonic excel in the speed category but perform lower in the others. In contrast, Blaze and Knuckles are strong in technique but fall short in the other two categories, and characters like Tails have balanced stats across all categories. Classic Sonic was my main racer because he had a good speed stat and also fared well in technique, which allowed me to gain a decent number of boosts during a race. Fortunately, the more you race with a particular character, the more experience points you earn for that character, enhancing their stats. The same experience points also benefit other players on your team.
Arguably, the most important aspect of a kart racer is the gameplay experience, which is why classic games like Crash Team Racing, Mario Kart 64, and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed remain enjoyable today; they all feature smooth controls. Sonic Racing, at least in Fixed mode, handled quite well during my time with it. The controls were responsive, and each race was fast-paced, reminiscent of playing an arcade-style kart racer. Throughout each race, players collect projectiles resembling wisps from Sonic Colours. Each wisp serves a different purpose: the White Boost grants your character a significant speed boost for a few seconds, the Orange Rocket launches a projectile forward to strike the racer ahead of you, and the Blue Cube wisps release a cube-shaped obstacle behind you that enemy racers may collide with. You can equip up to five wisps simultaneously, with a total of 15 different unlockable wisps available in the game. Additionally, you can level up the wisps to increase their damage, extend their effects, or expand their attack radius. My favourite wisp was the White Boost, as it can greatly enhance your chances of winning a race, but you're free to experiment with which one fits your style best.
While the racing itself is exciting and fun, the game's frame rate tends to drop significantly, especially when multiple racers are on screen simultaneously. When this occurs, the game becomes unplayable for a few seconds, rendering the controls ineffective. The frame rate dropping to single digits is Sonic Racing's biggest drawback, but sadly, it is not the only flaw in the game. Another setback is the Redeem Prize option in the main menu. There is nothing wrong with the menu in concept; if you win a race, you earn Prize Tokens that you can use to level up your wisps further. The Redeem Prize option is where you spend your Tokens to upgrade the wisps. The first time I entered it, it worked perfectly, and I successfully used my Tokens. However, after that initial time, I was never able to access the Redeem Prize menu without the game crashing. Whenever I try to enter, the screen completely freezes, preventing me from upgrading or exiting the menu. The only solution I had was to close the game and restart it, but the option still crashed. As a result, I have accumulated a large number of Prize Tokens in the game, but I cannot spend them without experiencing glitches. This soft lock glitch was incredibly disappointing.
My last major critique of Sonic Racing on Apple Arcade is the lack of freedom the game provides, especially in League mode. There is no option to choose which track you want to race on in this mode, nor is there an option for the online competitor you are racing against. Instead, the game randomly selects a track. The lack of choice wouldn't be an issue, but the game often favours certain tracks, choosing a particular one multiple times in a row. Although there are numerous tracks in the game, each with varying levels of difficulty, the game fails to utilise this diversity. Instead, it removes the player's choice and picks a track for them. Consequently, as enjoyable as the tracks are, they tend to blur together, and none stand out from the rest. The repetition made the game exhausting, and after three hours, I lost all desire to continue playing.
SONIC RACING APPLE ARCADE REVIEW: VERDICT
Sonic Racing for Apple Arcade is an enjoyable kart racer that Sonic fans are likely to appreciate. The racing is entertaining, the wisp projectiles are fun to experiment with, and the diverse roster of characters helps you determine which racing style suits you best. Unfortunately, the game suffers from performance issues, and the main menu glitch can impede your progress. Furthermore, the lack of an option to freely use your track in League mode makes this kart racer fun on the surface, but it lacks reasons to return for the long term.
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