Putting it all on blue with the open network test for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Open Network Test first impressions (2025, Sonic Team, PC, PS, XB, NS) 

The network test is running on Steam this weekend as of writing, I don’t know about anywhere else.

Right, so my Mario Kart World review wasn’t enthusiastic, I can say that much, but this is a follow-up to the op-ed bit of that piece where I talk about where to look for a game that’s more like Mario Kart 8 - traditionally track-based, with some gimmicks. I talked about The Karters 2: Turbo Charged briefly in that, and I’ll get to that shortly, but I also want to flag up a game I completely neglected to mention in that piece - Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. There’s been a network test running this weekend, and though I initially tried it on Thursday and got this -

- I’ve managed to get a couple of hours in now. The chances of me getting a full review out very soon after it releases in September are slim, as it’s a $70 game and I don’t have that in me at this time. We’ll get there! Please subscribe to the mailing list!

In the meantime, I do have some thoughts now; what’s here is a very arcadey kart racer - the driving is incredibly loose, to the point where I sometimes feel like I’m fighting the controller for control - I’m crashing into walls (yes, while still braking during drifts, thanks), or finding that the controls are actively resisting me in the boat and airplane sections. The vehicle transformation portions of the tracks in these games have never been my favourite, and the feeling of being out of control was also an issue for me in Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed, which I played a fair bit of again recently, so it’s a shame that they haven’t made it nicer to control.

The drifting is okay. It’s in the tradition of Crash Team Racing’s charge bars, which has never been my favourite kind of drifting in a kart racer. I like how in Mario Kart 8, braking sharper around corners mid-drift is what charges the boost faster. Unless I entirely made that up, but it feels like that’s what happens.

There’s another transformation gimmick this time - the CrossWorlds thing, where you can often choose, mid-track, between another track (or a random one) to be transported to via a Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart-tier portal. It’s neat, but the network test only has one Grand Prix (meaning three tracks, because the fourth track is racing across all of those three), so I think that the impact of that will be felt when it actually comes out in September. The tracks themselves are okay, it’s a bit ‘here’s the Waluigi’s Pinball one’, ‘here’s the Bowser’s Castle one’, and a bit uninspired in that way, but they’re well made.

Another interesting system is that, aside from just trying to get first place in a Grand Prix, you’re often trying to beat out a CPU that’s been randomly chosen to be your rival for the duration. I want to like this more, and I do like. in theory, that you can level up the difficulty of your rivals, but in practice this just seems to increase how much they rubber-band - or cheat to catch up with you whilst out of view - and I’m not feeling much of a challenge. 

The best part about this system is the bespoke, fully-voiced trash-talk written for specific characters. I played as Eggman most of the time and then Wave for a couple, and it’s good that characters directly address each other. Your rivals will often chat back at you when either of you hit each other with items or reach the CrossWorlds selection section of a track first. That’s really when it shines - not because of the difficulty. 

The actual network play works well - though right now it just seems to be unranked casual games for network testing purposes, which is fair enough, considering that’s the pitch right now. I played one match after my first Grand Prix and came second, so maybe I’m complaining about the controls too much when they don’t really seem to be getting in the way that much in practice, but I maintain that it’s just not all that precise, and so not all that fun, to control.

Before it came out that this was going to be $70, I was going to buy this. Then when the price came out it was a maybe, having enjoyed Transformed just enough in the preceding thirteen years (my Gosh) that it could still be a laugh, but now - although I have had a good time, I’m hesitant, though I may just need to persevere with it a bit more. It’s a very well made game, it’s just that the handling - the most important thing in a kart racing game - could be more definite.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is a kart racer in the Mario Kart 8 vein, and I do appreciate that a company with a stable of characters to rival Nintendo’s is having a crack at it (there are also plans to bring Spongebob and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters, plus Pac-Man, which is neat) but Mario Kart 8 still plays better. Having played Mario Kart 8 Deluxe obsessively since it came out in 2017 (I did not own a Wii U), and having recently been to Versus, an arcade bar in Downtown Boston, to play it with a fellow Raccoon (as recounted in our August 2025 newsletter), I think I can qualify that. CrossWorlds isn’t out yet, but I doubt they’re going to fix the handling in the span of three weeks. If you’re without Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, then you’ll be well served and I suspect that much more impressed by it.

In summary then oh no. It’s good fun, but it might not be great. I am going to play it more, and these aren’t final thoughts, because the game isn’t final, and two hours is barely scratching the surface, really, but there we are for now.

The Karters 2: Turbo-Charged first impressions (Pixel Edge Games, 2025, Steam Early Access)

I wrote this, separately, the other week, but I discussed it in my Mario Kart World review and now I’m putting my money where my mouth is. So this is past me, just to be entirely up front about it.

I’m three hours ‘into’ Karters 2: Turbo-Charged, a Steam Early Access, heavily Crash Team Racing-inspired kart racer that’s surprisingly full of modes and features already, including single and multiplayer, solo and team-based grand prix’, battle mode and time trials, plus, excitingly, modding support. I can play as [redacted], driving a [redacted], on custom tracks from [redacted], and I’m quite charmed by this right now. I suspect the novelty might wear off - although time trial ghost support extends to custom tracks, so the game could end up being a huge time sink. That there’s already “1000+” mods (according to the game’s Steam store page), all using the Steam Workshop is thanks to the game having been through a protracted private playtest pre-release, and though the quality does vary, I can’t exactly pin this on the developers.

They’ll hopefully pick up that mod integration is slightly confusing and buggy in the UI right now, (the game occasionally reports that no mods exist, and you have to apply character mods as cosmetic skins in a specific menu, which isn’t explained), although I appreciate the decision to go with the Steam Workshop.

What I can credit Pixel Edge Games with is that the actual handling and the racing is very good. Because of the CTR lineage, there’s more of an emphasis on skill than item luck (Mario Kart, you are dear to me, but this is a fair criticism) - though items can still pack a punch and set you back if you’re not prepared with defensive items of your own. I’m still figuring out what all of them do - which I think is probably down to being less familiar with non-Nintendo kart racers in general.

That said, I’m enjoying this alternative breed. I’m mostly going through the single player challenges (there’s online multiplayer, but I would be stomped, and I haven’t managed to get into any local matches yet) and when I do well, or even poorly, I feel like it’s down to me, rather than any of that aforementioned luck (or lack thereof), which is keeping me going.

The game could be better optimised - though the game description mentions Steam Deck, it’s not officially Verified, and initially I thought this would be just because the game has only just come out, but I have to manually limit the frame rate to 45FPS to get something stable, given that the options menu doesn’t have a lot to it and so I don’t feel as though I have much control. There’s a resolution toggle, but I also noticed that, despite the toggle claiming to be outputting at 800p (native on the Steam Deck), the game would actually be running at less than that in the same screen - confirmed by the fact that I could activate SteamOS’ FSR 1 implementation. It’s odd to me that this menu also has the developers advocate for its use - I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game do that. FSR 1 has largely been superseded by other versions of itself and upscaling implementations anyway, so it’s odd, maybe (as far as I can see, it doesn’t cost anything to licence), that one or more of those isn’t available in game. That could be the plan, I don’t know.

I was already looking forward to Karters 2, more than a little bit because Steam needs a decent kart racer that isn’t Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed (2012) [Editor's Note: past me was on the money but forgot that CrossWorlds existed], and slightly less than that little bit because Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fuelled (2019), and the 1999 original at all, never came to the personal computermabob at all. But it turns out that I didn’t have to concoct reasons to want to like it, because it’s already very likable. I’ve discussed on here before that I used to balk at the idea of buying into Early Access and games potentially going unfinished, but, right now, I don’t think I need to worry about that with Karters 2. It’s not there yet (bugs and performance aside, a story mode and in-game track editor is on the way before the end of 2025 and the Early Access period), but it’s still worth playing, and I believe that the developers can ‘get there’. I want them to - it’s great fun. 

The note on the state of kart racing and game prices in 2025

Future me again. I’ll point out that Karters 2 is $30/£25 (although I got it for $27 on introductory offer), Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is $70, and again that Mario Kart World is $80, or $499 if you get the console bundle, which is probably what most people are doing because thew game itself works out that much cheaper - don’t ask me to do the quick maths on it.

I’m sad that these three games are the best kart racers to come out this year not because of their merit (although they all have some), but because, to my knowledge, they’re the only kart racers released, or set to be released, this year. More kart racers should exist. They’re good fun! Two of the three aren’t even fully released yet, but based on the amount of fun I’ve had with each so far I am going to say that Karters 2  is my favourite to actually drive in, (and with modding support will always win out on sheer character rosters), and it’s affordable, but Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds has some interesting systems going on that I’m more inclined to return to just to interact with and grit my teeth through the handling. Mario Kart World is an experiment, but it’s Nintendo innovating just to justify a new entry, not because that’s what’s best for a new entry, and it’s absolutely not worth $80.

Disney Speedstorm would genuinely be better not existing, but I have some more coming up on that in this month’s newsletter. If that appeals to you, subscribe to the mailing list and stay tuned!