Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is fun, but it feels a little too much like other kart racers. The follow-up to Team Sonic Racing aims to combine its predecessor’s formula with the more competitive make-up of the Sonic Riders games, but the culmination lacks both the cooperative nature of the first game and thrilling sense of speed of Riders or Zero Gravity. All that’s left is a game that plays fine, but feels like a lesser version of arcade racer juggernaut Mario Kart. CrossWorlds might have been better off solely building on the teamwork focus of Team Sonic Racing (or, better yet, giving us a true follow-up to Zero Gravity that isn’t built around gimmicky motion controls).
If you have played any kart racer, you already have an idea as to how CrossWorlds works. Like its contemporaries, you pick a character and a kart for them to drive, and then after a brief countdown, do your best to drive around a track a set number of times while going over jumps, drifting around corners, and smashing into glowing boxes that reward you with an item to use to mess with other players. The first to finish the race wins.
CrossWorlds’ main gimmick is how each track can cross into another–when the player currently in first place finishes their first lap, they can choose to drive into one of two portals, each of which provides a clear view of a different track on another world. Whichever portal the player picks decides the outcome for everyone, and the second lap is then run on the new track. As lap three begins, the race returns to whatever the original track was.