Team Sonic Racing review (PS4 version)

Team Sonic Racing is an absolute blast, and so much fun to play. It’s the follow up to Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed from 2012, which was a great game on its own terms. This will be the only time I will make a comparison to Mario Kart, but the two come from similar DNA. In that both are relatively simple, arcade games that are easy to pick up, with very little complexity to them. Which is what I personally look for in a racing game.

As the title suggests, the game has one ace up his sleeve that makes it unique and different from its competition, and that is its focus on team dynamics. Each race will have four teams of three, and the aim is to still win by each member finishing as high as possible, thereby getting higher points at the end. But to do so you must work as a team by trading items and building up your ultimate meter, which gives you the best power up in the game. For example, instead of wasting a power up if you are in first place, you can offer it to another member of your team. The power ups are a bit dull to be honest, it is your typical boost and firing projectiles that you'll pick up. I wish they would have made the power ups more closely attributed to the characters themselves.

I was a bit sceptical of this new direction, but it works perfectly and adds tension to the races, as well as an element of tactical thought that is missing from other games of the genre. The team aspect of the game also works wonders in the online multiplayer races, it makes for an unpredictable and infuriating experience, but in a good way.

For those who want something more familiar, there is an option to play most modes as a solo racer. But be aware that the game is stripped of its chaotic fun and design nuance in the process.

There are twelve characters and twenty-one tracks in total. The characters are entirely taken from the Sonic franchise, so aside from Sonic and Tails, you have the lesser known Silver and Rogue, amongst others. The roster is a bit of disappointment to be honest, I find it baffling that characters from Sega’s large IP catalogue were not included. The racers are split into three different classes, speed, technique and power. Speed and technique are the easiest to use, with the slower power classes the hardest to master.

You can customise your vehicles with the credits you are rewarded with, you use these to open mod pods that give you random skins, paint palettes and car parts. These are basically loot boxes in all but name, but don't worry, there are no paid micro-transactions here. There is a lot to play around with, far more than I anticipated, so I pretty much redesigned every character's default vehicle at some point.   

The racetracks are good for the most part, they are multi layered with twists and loops, much like the levels in a modern Sonic game. With that said, although they are visually elegant, they do look reasonably similar to one another because there are a set of four tracks within the same locale. Much like the character roster, I think it would have been so much better if they had created tracks from other Sega IP, it feels like a bit of a missed opportunity.

Overall, there is a decent amount of content, the basic stuff you might expect from a racing game, with a grand prix mode with three difficulty levels, normal, hard and expert. The game is not difficult once you have a grasp of things, even on expert mode it’s not overly challenging, which is another minor negative that I have towards the game. There are time trials for each track, where you can try and beat your own best times and those that have already been set by the game. The multiplayer online mode has team racing as well as solo races, you can take part in both casual and ranked modes. As soon as you have joined a lobby you get the choice of picking from four tracks, whichever one is picked the most is chosen for the race.

Finally, there is the Team Adventure mode, which has a bare-bones story that is nothing to rave about. In the simplest terms, an alien called Dodon Pa asks Sonic and his friends to come and race on his tracks. It really isn't worth going into the details of the plot, but you will get to experience all the tracks and extra challenges on offer, most of which will have a timer attached to them. The mode is best used as a tutorial, I would recommend starting the game from here. The further you progress the more difficulty levels that you will unlock, and I found it more challenging than the grand prix mode.

Team Sonic Racing is a bundle of joy, and there is a layer of depth that you don’t often get with these types of games. But it is not an excellent game, which is a shame because it could have been with more ambition in its character roster and track designs. And while there is a decent amount of content for what you are paying for, it is nothing more than my minimal expectations. But this last point is just a minor gripe that I had. So in conclusion, I would certainly recommend buying this game, the engaging team mechanics and customisation extras are worth it alone.

Verdict:

7.5

Mortal Kombat 11 review (PS4 version)

Mortal Kombat 11 was not a game I planned on buying on the first day it was released, over the last year I have tried numerous fighting games to get my kicks from. This has especially been the case since my play time on For Honor has drastically declined in the last six months. Aside from a brief month or so with Dead or Alive 6, most have not held my attention for too long, for various reasons that I have written about in a past blog post.

So I went into Mortal Kombat 11 through sheer hope that it would be different, and I'm pleased to say that it's one of the best fighters I have ever played, and I think it's going to keep me pleased for quite some time yet. Before I get onto the main body of my review, I'd just like to say that aside from a brief moment on my brother's copy of MK9, I have not really played a game in the franchise since the second entry on the Sega Mega Drive. I played it round my baby sitter's house, and I liked it without the urge to want my own copy. The violence was a bit nice at the time, and the fatalities were clever (I could never pull them off). Although Tekken would eventually become my favourite fighting game, Mortal Kombat always stood out from the competition by having unique looking character designs that were realist but fantastical at the same time.

And this is still the case with the latest entry, MK11 certainly has one of the best character designs of any fighter that I have ever played, and to top it off, they each have a unique fighting style. The moment to moment combat is a simple, old fashioned 2D left to right gameplay that's not overly complex, with a relatively slow pace at its core. I like this because it makes the fights more streamlined and tactical, you are not just reacting to your opponents next move. For new players there is an extensive but easy to understand set of tutorials for each character, that I found extremely helpful. Basic combos and special moves are fairly easy to pull off, but pulling off a combo chain can be tricky, especially if you are playing on harder difficulties or against a decent online opponent. I struggled to use the D-pad initially, which you will have to use because of the game's 2D design.

Like all fighting games there are characters that could do with some balancing, as well as those that have cheap move sets. But on the whole, the game is one of the better balanced fighters that I have played in recent times. A newly introduced 'Fatal Flaw' feature has changed the dynamics of the combat in a small way, it's a move you can use if you are down to the last quarter of your health. It's like a mini version of a fatality, if you pull it off it you can take away about a quarter of your opponents health. There is a part of me that really likes this because it makes the fights more tense, especially when it's close. But there is the other half of me that hates it because it gives bad and cheap players a lifeline they do not deserve. It is also the only part of the combat that reminds me of other fighting games on the market.

The twenty five character roster is impressive, they all have similar control configurations for their special moves and combo chains, but they play vastly different from one another. All of whom have their own pros and cons. After a while, I get to the point in most fighting games where there is only a few characters that I actually like playing as. To my surprise I like using nearly every character in MK11, I do have my favourites of course, but it's been fun learning to master the entire roster.

Old favourites such as Raiden, Liu Kang and Scorpion return amongst others. With new characters Frost and Geras joining the lineup. There is a nice blend of fantastical comic book type fighters, as well as those that are more grounded, which in turn gives you some imaginative fight stages. The game is visually elegant in all departments, with no hit box flashing clogging up the screen.

There is plenty of content for a fighting game at launch, there is an elaborate story mode that does not feel tacked on, which is too often the case with other games of the genre. To give a brief summary of the plot, we begin in a future where the main characters of the franchise have turned evil. Raiden kills Shinnok to protect Earthrealm, so his mother Kronika, the keeper of time tries to change this by interfering with time. This then creates anomalies that bring young versions of the characters into the future where they have to take on their older, eviler selves. It's all schlock but rather entertaining. The story plays out like one big cinematic movie with different narratives intertwining between characters, and an occasional fight that you have to take part in.

Then you have the Konquest towers, where the meat of the content is. You have the classic arcade towers that you have to get through to reach the final boss, Kronika. But then there is the Towers of Time, these towers are a different kind of challenge, and provide the bulk of the game's reward and grind system. Your opponents will now have particular abilities that you have to overcome, for example some will have improved fireballs or a move that turns the whole screen black.

There are three kinds of currencies that you will be rewarded with when you complete these challenges. There are the gold Koins that are the most abundant, as well as Hearts and Soul fragments. All of these are used to open chest boxes of a varying kind in the Krypt. The Krypt is Shang Tsung's Island, every inch of it is full of these boxes to open. In these boxes are a range of random loot and cosmetics such as character skins, intros, augments, concept art, etc. The more expensive the box you open, the bigger the reward. I really like this idea but the execution is a bit flawed to say the least. It feels like a level within itself, with varying secrets to uncover by using items you have earned in the main game. There is also something slightly addictive about not knowing, but wanting to be rewarded with the currency you have grinded.

But there are just too many forms of currency, to have three feels convoluted and rather unnecessary, and it makes the progression feel like a mobile game. To be fair the game has been patched since its initial release, making the progression less egregious. But I still cannot help but think that it was designed in such a way to at least entice the player for monetary reasons.

Which brings me to the character customisation, where the execution is once again flawed and convoluted. You have your standard skins and abilities to toy with, but there are also augments that can be attached to your weapons, that give you specific upgrades. It's a great idea in theory because it provides an incentive to master one specific character at a time, but it just ends up feeling like busy work, and a tad superfluous. However, I can see why this might be different for players who want to play the game in the online ranked modes.

To sum up, Mortal Komabt 11 is an awesome fighting game that really took me by surprise, I have been having a blast with it. Aside from borrowing a few balancing issues that drag down most games of the genre, and a convoluted progression system. It is an absolute must buy for any fan of the genre, or someone who is looking for a competitive online experience.

Verdict:

8/10