I think you’ll agree he has done an awesome job and if you look closely, even the gnome gets a mention! Perhaps one day soon agentscarlet will actually be able to have some source material to create one for Episode 3.

A fitting tribute to a bygone age.

This however may very well be about to change; having watched this latest video from Bungee I may very well hang up my beloved mouse and keyboard for some considerable time.

The new weapons, the jetpacks, the new shields. The new game modes, the matchmaking, the way you can customise your Spartan and carry it from Campaign to Multiplayer; everything just looks so well thought out.

To be blunt it all looks frakking amazing.

I’m not going to waffle or spell out what’s coming, just watch the video below. Honestly if you’re an FPS gamer and this doesn’t excite you (regardless of your format preference) then you probably need to go and seek some kind of professional help! For the rest of you, I’ll see you in the Beta in 2 weeks time.

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Powered by Sega’s Lindbergh hardware and featuring an awesome servo-powered moving chair in its deluxe variation, Climax proved popular with fans and casual players alike. Since then fans have cried out for a home port and now 4 years on it’s here, available for download on both Xbox Live Arcade and the Playstation Network for 800MS points and £7.99 respectively.

The original After Burner (1987) became popular thanks to its fast and furious gameplay and at its core After Burner Climax is no different; fly your fighter at breakneck speed and take down the enemy waves with your guns and missiles before they turn you and your chosen plane into an expensive firework.

You fly as a member of the Brave Fangs Aero Team (part of the G.H.O.S.T squadron from Sega’s popular Lindbergh/Wii lightgun shooter Ghost Squad) with instructions to take down the rebels of the sky and preventing them from causing a nuclear inferno. Pretty generic stuff but with a game of this type we shouldn’t exactly expect an engaging narrative.

The new F15 Strike Eagle gets an easy ride on Stage One.

The F14 Tomcat from the original After Burner has been upgraded F14D Super Tomcat for Climax and in addition to this iconic fighter the player may also choose from an additional two jets; the F/A-18 E Super Hornet and the F-15E Strike Eagle.

Once you choose your fighter you can also choose from 4 different paint schemes although I’ve yet to actually notice if these make any performance difference; they seem more eye candy than anything else.

Control wise everything is simple and straight forward with a button each for your guns and missiles, the triggers control your planes speed whilst the left stick takes care of your fighters movement. If these are not to your liking there’s a variety of other configs available in the options menu.

Your fighters guns are used to take down enemies at close range with missiles intended for longer range targets. Much like Rez, you move a targeting reticule over enemies to ‘lock on’ and then release your missiles to take destroy them. Missiles are limited to fifty but do gradually replenish (at least in the standard game settings). The key difference though is you need to hit the missile button for each enemy you have targeted unlike Rez’s take them all down hail of fire.

As you shoot down enemies you fill your ‘Climax gauge’ and once full you can activate ‘Climax Mode’ by pressing the right collar button. During Climax mode your targeting reticule increases substantially in size and can be used to easily target multiple enemies.

Activate Climax Mode to increase your combo.

At the end of the, erm, Climax, your fighter automatically launches missiles and takes down all of the targeted enemies. Climax mode literally only lasts about a second or so but in a game this fast that’s more than enough time to target several enemies and potentially save your skin or help to rack up a huge combo.

The legendary barrel roll from After Burner is of course present here and is activated by quickly moving the stick from left to right. The move is easy to pull off although perhaps possibly too easy; I often found I was executing barrel rolls when I did not want to and this caused my untimely demise many times, much to my frustration.

Whether this is down to my own style of play or related to the sensitivity of the analogue sticks I don’t know but I certainly don’t recall having this issue with the arcade variant.

Graphically After Burner Climax is rather gorgeous and Sega takes full advantage of its environments to show this off.

Each stage presents a radically different environment and you’ll be flying through canyons, over volcanoes, through jungle and brightly lit night time skies. Again this isn’t a game about realism; it’s about indulgence and its lush and varied stages reflect this thinking.

Just one of the gorgeous After Burner Climax locales.

After Burner Climax is an ‘on rails’ shooter and as you’d expect you are pulled through the stages with little choice on direction. There are some chances along the way however to choose your path at the end of certain stages which adds to the replay value along with special stages which are activated by fulfilling certain mission conditions.

Because Climax is an arcade game through and through, tearing through all the stages to the games end will only take around 20 minutes. Even with the alternate routes it won’t take long for you to see everything the game has to offer and this is one thing to bear in mind if you are thinking of buying the game but are new to the After Burner series.

After Burner is and always has been about high scores gained from downing enemy waves at speed, and ultimately the only longevity you are likely to get from Climax is from the pursuit of these. Even the achievements and trophies are little help since acquiring them all will take the average player little more than an hour or two given the ‘EX’ options.

The EX options are based on a series of awards within the game for meeting certain conditions such as a high score or dying a certain amount of times. These open up options in the EX menu which allow you to change elements of the game such as target reticule size, reducing trails from missiles and even the amount of credits (continues) you can use.

In most respects these are a great idea and allow the player to customise their arcade experience to their hearts content and they are particularly practical for those players who may struggle at this type of game. However activating EX options does not veto the right to earn achievements so you can essentially make their acquisition extremely easy.

This is a shame as it removes one of the reasons other than score to come back and keep playing. Climax also suffers due to a lack of variety; there are no boss type enemies and this was to my mind always a missed opportunity on Sega’s part. I had hoped Sega might add something like this in for the home release but alas this wasn’t to be.

It looks as though no one at Sega heard of the volcanic ash flight ban.

After Burner Climax is a great (and long overdue) conversion of Sega’s coin-op; it’s keenly priced and offers some fun and frantic action that should fulfil your boyish Top Gun fantasies adequately. It does however lack variety and it does not have the depth and replayability of AM2’s other downloadable coin-op, Outrun Online.

If you’re a fan then it’s a must buy but for everyone else its perhaps one to think on. As a short lived adrenaline ride it’s a blast but just don’t expect to be coming back to it for months to come unless you are a score obsessive.

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Not the view you want when first leaving a safe room.

In case you’ve been stuck in a cloud of volcanic ash recently, ‘The Passing’ is a brand new campaign Valve have designed for Left 4 Dead 2 which chronicles the adventures of the Survivors between the Dead Center and Dark Carnival campaigns and will feature a meeting with the Survivors from the original Left 4 Dead.

The level is set in a small town in Georgia and we also know that one of the original Left 4 Dead Survivors will not be completing the campaign alive; speculation currently suggesting Bill is the most likely to be ‘taking one for the team’.

A new Infected called the ‘Fallen Survivor’ will also be making its debut as well as a new (and as yet unspecified) game mode. I’m hoping this new game mode in some way allows for all 8 Survivors to play together but I suspect this is probably just wishful thinking on my part.

The new Fallen Survivor.

You can view Valve’s announcement over at the Left 4 Dead blog which also announces the appearance of two Midnight Riders songs available to download for Rock Band which you can check out here.

Update: ‘The Passing’ will be released for both Xbox 360 and PC this Thursday April 22nd. The new game mode has been revealed as ‘Mutations’ which will be a series of different game types Valve will cycle in and out of the game on a weekly basis.

Even the Infected dress up for a party.

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But that’s exactly what some (lucky?) parents have experienced as this new video posted on YouTube shows.  The Gifford Children’s Choir are seen here performing Jonathan Coulton’s ‘Still Alive’; the cult ending song from Valve’s brain bending puzzler. 

I’d love to know how many parents in the audience were actually aware of the songs origins or even the songs context but there is certainly something wonderful hearing these young voices sing it even if it is at the same time slightly eerie too.

 I’ll try and find out more about how this came about (I would guess their teacher is a big Valve fan or maybe he is also their science teacher), but in the meantime enjoy the video.

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Clocking in at a paltry 69MB, the mod transforms Valve’s TF2 into a side scrolling platforming game similar in style to Canabalt.

You’ll start off as the Scout and as you progress access to the other classes become available with later levels requiring the use of all of them to finish.

There’s a great deal of thought and love gone into this mod so be sure to check it out and let us know what you think. Screenshots and launch trailer below.

Only a Scout could use trees as hurdles.

The Pyro finds his ideal holiday destination.

Voyeurism is a way of life for the Spy.

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I also suspect I’m not alone in the fact that I’m getting rather tired of the usual Sonic updates (although I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward with some anticipation to Sonic 4).

So come on SEGA, take your foot away from the gas of the Sonic gravy train for a bit and give us fans some of the games we really want! 

Listed below you’ll find my top ten but don’t forget to let me know what IP you’d like to see SEGA resurrect in the future.

10. Burning Rangers (Sonic Team, Sega Saturn, 1998)

Not to be confused with Blazing Saddles.

Launching towards the end of the Saturn’s short (Western) lifespan, Burning Rangers was largely overlooked by all but the die hard Sega fans.  This was a great shame since the game itself was a technical showpiece for the Saturn (it was one of the few Saturn games to use transparency effects) and it still remains one of Sonic Teams best games.

Set in the future where fire is one of humanity’s last real threats, the player takes control of two new recruits to the Burning Rangers elite fire fighting team who must save the Earth from a debris covered spacecraft hurtling towards the Earths atmosphere and threatening to cause catastrophic destruction.

Played in the third person, Burning Rangers is a fast paced action platformer that utilises some great ideas to create a tense game that will truly work the reflexes.

What I want:  A full blown sequel.
I’d settle for:  An HD downloadable remake.
Don’t go there:  Using motion control to extinguish the fires.

Trivial Pursuit:  Voice clips from a scrapped 2 player mode can be heard in the games unlockable sound test.

09. Space Channel 5: Part 2 (United Game Artists, Sega Dreamcast/PS2, 2002)

Ulala. Not hard to figure out how they came up with the name...

Style, or as I prefer think of it, Funky Style.  It’s the one aspect Sega’s games often have in abundance; a superlative signature that you never find crafted quite as well anywhere else.  And as far as Sega’s own games go, they don’t come anymore funky or stylish than the Space Channel 5 series.

At its heart Space Channel 5 is a simple music rhythm game, no more than a digital reimagining of Simon with a new lick of paint.

But quite unlike anything else before it Space Channel 5 excels because of the brilliance of its stylised world and characters; this is a game which succeeds just as much in its visual imagination as it does in its solid gameplay mechanics.

What I want:  A Wii sequel utilising motion control.
I’d settle for:  A downloadable re-release for the PSP.
Don’t go there:  A Sega Ages update. Please, God, No.

Trivial Pursuit:  Sega’s trippy rail shooter Rez features an unlockable Morolian evolution.

08. Alex Kidd (Sega, Sega Master System, 1986)

Alex Kidd: unlikely to ever need a hearing aid.

For approximately 5 years Alex Kidd was Sega’s official character mascot, having taken over the reigns from the now even more obscure Opa-Opa (the little spaceship from the Sega arcade shooter Fantasy Zone) before he was ousted in 1991 by the rather more familiar face of a certain blue hedgehog.

Alex starred in some fairly playable platform games back in the day, the last of which was released in 1990 (Alex Kidd in Shinobi World). 

Whilst no Alex game has ever been a certified classic, he is one of Sega’s most nostalgic characters, and in that sense alone I’d like to see him return in his own game again and not just as a cameo. He also holds strong early memories for many gamers due to the original games bundling with the Master System console (which was built-in many of them).

What I want:  A new 2D platformer for the NDS.
I’d settle for:  A Zelda-esque RPG with Janken elements.
Don’t go there:  Anything in 3D.

Trivial Pursuit:  Alex can be found in the Dreamcast game Segagaga.  Working in a video game store he recalls his battles with a *cough* rival mascot and his fall from grace due to Sonic the Hedgehog.

07.  Vectorman (BlueSky Software, Sega Megadrive, 1995)

Based on this canned PS2 version, maybe a sequel isn't such a good idea...

Vectorman was an ‘orbot‘ (a robot made up from orbs) who was part of an army of robots tasked with cleaning up the Earth’s waste and pollution whilst mankind searched for alternate planets to colonise.

When Vectorman returns from a routine waste dumping journey at The Sun, he finds that one of the other orbots has gone a tad insane and power hungry having become accidentally strapped to a nuclear missile.  Having declared himself Earth’s ruler, ‘Warhead‘ starts to plan for the destruction of any humans who may return to the Earth.

Now if that’s not a great plot for a wacked out platforming shooter, I don’t know what is.  Vectorman and its 1996 sequel were both superb to play and look at, pushing the Megadrive hardware to its limits.

A sequel was originally announced in 2003 for the Playstation 2 but was ultimately cancelled with many rumours claiming it was due to the criticism from fans about the proposed move to 3D.

What I want:  A new 2.5D platformer for the PSP.
I’d settle for:  Orbot Wars (think Advance Wars with the orbots on Earth).
Don’t go there:  That 3D game.

Trivial Pursuit:  Vectorman looked remarkably similar to Halo’s Master Chief in the artwork produced for the canned 3D sequel.

06.  Streets of Rage (Sega, Sega Megadrive, 1991)

May I have this dance?

The Streets of Rage trilogy of games (known as Bare Knuckle in Japan) were Sega’s premier offering in what was a hugely popular genre in the 1990’s – the side scrolling beat-em-up.

Popularised by gaming classics such as Tecmo’s Double Dragon and Capcom’s Final Fight, the genre has all but died out now, perhaps largely due to its simplistic nature.

Despite the obvious limitations, I still feel there’s potential for a Streets of Rage sequel.  Whilst Capcom clearly struggled to revive their own series with Final Fight: Streetwise, other devs have managed to capture the genres essence with some aplomb (Viewtiful Joe, The Warriors, God Hand).

What I want:  A fully realised 3D brawler taking some inspiration from Bayonetta.
I’d settle for:  A 2.5D re-imagining of the 2nd game in the series.
Don’t go there:  Streets of Rage Collection PSP (or some other overpriced re-release pap).

Trivial Pursuit:  Additional Streets of Rage sequels were originally planned including one that was developed by Core for the Sega Saturn. Sega pulled the plug during disagreements over porting the game to their rival’s formats and the game was eventually released as the game Fighting Force.

05.  Skies of Arcadia (Overworks, Sega Dreamcast, 2000)

With 2 girls on board, Vyse looks for the nearest Holiday Inn.

Skies of Arcadia is an original Sega RPG in which you take control of a young sky pirate called Vyse and his adventures in the land of Arcadia. 

Skies differed from other RPG’s of the time due to it’s ease of accessibility, the sheer wonderment of its Jules Verne styled world and in some ways just the sheer thrill of travelling in your floating Airship to travel between locales.

Brimming with ideas and a top notch (if predictable) story, Skies of Arcadia is undoubtedly one of Sega’s best RPG’s and a sequel today would for me be far more refreshing than yet another Final Fantasy.

What I want:  Skies of Arcadia 2.
I’d settle for:  A PSP version of the original game.
Don’t go there:  Skies of Arcadia Tactics.

Trivial Pursuit:  Vyse Inglebard and Aika Thompson appear as members of Squad 7 in Valkyria Chronicles.

04.  Space Harrier (AM2, Arcade, 1995)

Personally my Fantasy Zone looks a lot different to this one.

Space Harrier is at its most basic nothing more than a basic into the screen shooter but to think of it in that way would be missing the point. 

Like many Sega releases Space Harrier is full of style and vibrant colour, matched to hectic and challenging gameplay mechanics which were finely honed by none other than gaming legend Yu Suzuki.

The game did receive a sequel on the Megadrive in 1989 (which was essentially more of the same) and also a spin off in the shape of Amusement Visions arcade only Planet Harriers (2001), but the latter never managed to catch the imagination in quite the same way the original game did and thus Space Harrier remains one of Sega’s most untapped IP’s.

What I want:  Space Harrier III for the PSP.
I’d settle for:  A Planet Harriers port on XBLA or PSN.
Don’t go there:  Anything that changes the core gameplay too much.

Trivial Pursuit:  The original Space Harrier can be found and played in the Dreamcast game Shenmue.  It’s located at the back of the You Arcade in Dobuita.

03.  Panzer Dragoon Saga (Team Andromeda, Sega Saturn, 1998)

Dragons: great pets except for clearing the mess in the garden.

Released rather late in the Sega Saturn’s life Panzer Dragoon Saga only saw a rather limited print run in it’s Western (English) incarnation, and as such remains a reasonably expensive title to acquire on the second hand market.  It’s not difficult to find but it will set you back a fair few pennies (boxed copies have been known to hit the £100 mark).

It was the third in the Panzer Dragoon series of games for the Saturn but instead of a shooter, Panzer Dragoon Saga was a fully fledged RPG.  The game retained the aerial combat (which became a blend of real-time and turn-based combat) and its post-apocalyptic setting.

During the previous decade there were two RPG’s that really etched onto my memory.  One was Final Fantasy VII and the other was Panzer Dragoon Saga.  Panzer Dragoon Saga remains one of the most interesting and engrossing RPG’s I’ve ever played and if Sega ever wanted to hit the RPG genre with a bang, this would be the title to revive.

What I want:  A sequel set after the events of Panzer Dragoon Orta.
I’d settle for:  A re-release of the original on Xbox Live.
Don’t go there:  Anything which brightens the world up too much.

Trivial Pursuit:  Sega has apparently ‘lost’ the games original source code making a port of the game even more unlikely.

2.  Shenmue (AM2, Sega Dreamcast, 1999)

Ryo Hazuki: recently seen racing blue hedgehogs for money.

Yu Suzuki’s Shenmue was always envisaged as a trilogy of games and even though Sega has already produced two excellent and pioneering games in the series and produced an enormous amount of material for the third; it looks increasingly likely we may never conclude the adventure of the games protagonist Ryo Hazuki.

Shenmue was a truly ground breaking videogame and attempted to place the player into as close to a real world environment as possible.  It simulated day and night coupled to the players need to sleep; had real time variable weather effects and tried to make as much of the environment as interactive as possible. 

The original was panned by some as slow but the game had enormous scope for exploration and demonstrated ideas and graphics which were way ahead of its time.

Ultimately the games high production costs and the premature demise of the Dreamcast meant the story has never been concluded.  Extremely poor sales of the Xbox Shenmue II conversion did little to help the cause and despite the interest from fans, Shenmue III remains a distant dream.

What I want:  Shenmue Complete (the previous instalments plus the third as one modern release).
I’d settle for:  Sega (somehow) finishing the story.
Don’t go there:  Giving the game to an external developer.

Trivial Pursuit:  The development of Shenmue was originally started on the Sega Saturn and was planned as a cross between Virtua Fighter and an RPG.

01.  Jet Set Radio (Smilebit, Sega Dreamcast, 2000)

A local finds Beat's designs just too much to bear.

Jet Set Radio first surfaced in 1999 and became an instant videogaming milestone due to its pioneering use of cel shaded graphics (a technique which makes 3D computer graphics appear hand drawn). 

Playing as members of a graffiti loving skating gang, the player must ‘tag‘ various areas of each level of Tokyo-to (a futuristic Tokyo where freedom of expression is outlawed) to claim it as their own turf from rival gangs whilst avoiding the ever increasing attention of the local police.

Aside from the graphics the game was notable for its awesome soundtrack which featured some of the funkiest music in gaming combining the genres of J-pop, Hip-hop, funk, dance music and Acid Jazz with aplomb.  It remains to this day the only gaming soundtrack I have personally ever purchased and features the work of many artists that are far from mainstream.

A sequel  followed in 2002 for Microsoft’s Xbox (Jet Set Radio Future) which carried on the style of the first game wonderfully, but despite excellent reviews the game sold comparatively poorly and it was eventually bundled with Sega GT 2002 and given away free with the Xbox console.

To this day Jet Set Radio and its sequel remain as two of my all time favourite video games.  Their combination of style, artwork, music and gameplay remain unmatched by any other title and of all Sega’s IP, this is the one I’d like to see back more than any other.

Sega recently renewed the trademark for Jet Set Radio along with Chu Chu Rocket which has led to some speculation of a sequel or a PSN/XBL re-release,  but I sincerely hope its the former they are planning and they have not just renewed them for the characters recent appearance in Sonic & Sega’s All Star Racing.

What I want:  Jet Set Radio 3.
I’d settle for:  Absolutely nothing else.
Don’t go there:  Using the Wii with its balance board…

Trivial Pursuit:  Jet Set Radio was shown briefly in No Doubt’s music video “Hella Good”.

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The game is viewed from an overhead perspective and for those of you old enough to remember, it very much plays in the style of Atari classics such as Super Sprint and Badlands (the latter perhaps more so given the combat aspect).

Each track contains a variety of pickups (which are essential to winning each race) as well as boost pads which temporarily give your craft a boost of speed. The pickups are largely offensive items (bar the turbo boost and shield) such as missiles, lasers and bombs and these are designed primarily to slow down your competitors and send them off track.

The track design is extremely intelligent and integral to the way Super Laser Racer plays. Within the outer boundaries of the track (the white lines in the pictures) sits a second outline which acts as what’s best described as an energy draining force field.

It's important to stay within the inner track lines if you want to win.

Should your racer stray onto or out of these boundaries it will become more sluggish to control and your shield will start to deplete. Weapon strikes work in a similar manner with your crafts steering becoming heavier and your shield once again depleting. If your shield depletes entirely your craft is destroyed and you are out of the race.

On each track there are areas where you can recharge your shield; and generally (although not exclusively) this is a pit stop type area near the start of each track). Manoeuvring your craft over these areas does however slow your speed so it’s important to be strategic in their use.

The 'pit stop' (green area) will recharge your shield but cost you time.

There are 12 racing craft in total (although initially many of these are locked); each one with different handling, speed and durability characteristics. Some are sluggish but tough whilst others nippy and fragile.

The controls are implemented perfectly and you will never feel cheated by poor input registration. Joypad support is also included and I had no trouble using an Xbox 360 pad (although you will need to configure this in the re-define keys section).

This zoomed out view shows an exampleof the track design.

A track editor is also included in the game, a nice feature which I ‘m sure the more creative types will enjoy and I hope we will soon see some inspired designs emerging from the SLR’s players.

Super Laser Racer is very much a retro game but that doesn’t mean its not relevant today. The gameplay may be simplistic by today’s standards but it is extremely addictive.

The other racers feel genuine too, almost as though they are being controlled by another player who is also fighting for the lead and whoever wrote the behaviour patterns for them deserves a big pat on the back.

Track crossovers: so much potential for chaos.

This does lead me to one aspect which was a bitter disappointment and that is the lack of any online multiplayer.

This game screams for it’s inclusion, and whilst the single player is amazingly enjoyable you’ll find yourself constantly wishing you were playing against your pals. There are online leaderboards present for lap times but I suspect for many this feature won’t hold that much interest.

Super Laser Racer is a brilliantly realised game; it’s superbly tuned and offers some superb retro style gameplay. It retails at less than £3 on either Steam or directly from New Star Games and at that price you’d be crazy not to pick it up if you hold any interest at all in this type of game style.

Should New Star decide to add in multiplayer at a later date though, this game would become an instant classic and one which I’m sure would quickly achieve cult status as well as a perfect score from me.

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Nintendo has dominated the kart racing genre for over a decade with a fine range of games that perfectly balance gameplay mechanics, nostalgia and tight track design. Whilst there have been many wannabe pretenders to the throne over the years, none have been able to match Mario Kart’s winning blend of tight gameplay and it’s expansive character roster.

As an avid Jet Set Radio fan, Beat's car is naturally one of my favs.

Rather intelligently Sega passed on the development duties for this title to Sumo Digital, themselves no strangers to the racing genre having been responsible for the excellent home ports of Outrun 2.

Also among Sumo’s Sega development credits is Sega Superstars Tennis, a game which like All Star Racing required an extensive knowledge of Sega’s history and IP. This knowledge, the almost fan like appreciation Sumo appears to have for Sega, shines through in All Star Racing and if you are a fan of all things Sega, you will love the care and craft that has gone into this game.

The game features 20 playable racers if you exclude the avatar characters from the 360 and Wii versions, with the 360 also gaining a bonus character in the form of Banjo and Kazooie.

The characters range from the universally well known (Sonic, Doctor Eggman) right the way through to (as far as many younger gamers will be concerned) the almost obscure (Opa-Opa, Robo and Mobo). You may also notice a cameo from other characters, the most notable being NiGHTS who appears as the flagman on each track.

Amigo is gaining ground in this Samba styled track.

All of the characters are wonderfully designed and on the whole the vehicles they race capture their individual personalities and game styles extremely well. There are also some brilliant anomalies such as Jacky Bryant and Akira Yuki (Virtua Fighter) who race around in one of the cars from Outrun but it all just adds to the brilliant fan service Sumo has crafted.

One feature worthy of particular praise is the character animations, their really rather brilliant. As you drive around the tracks, the characters in the vehicles do not remain rigid but actually move around depending ion what’s happening in the game. I don’t want to spoil the fun but one favorite of mine was watching Robo and Mobo when you honk the horn of their car; just be prepared for onlookers to let out a little chuckle regardless of whether they know the characters or not.

The controls are responsive, tight and perfectly suited to the game. Drifting to obtain boost is largely the order of the day and the drifts are easily executed by a pull on the left trigger with tighter turns obtained by releasing and re-pressing the gas (right trigger).

The longer you hold the drift, the more boost you’ll build to release once you stop the drift. The boost obtained from drifting comes in 3 stages, each one increasing in power and duration. Drifts can also be chained if you’re quick enough which allows for a quick change in direction for the more twisty tracks.

Talking about tracks, Sumo has again come up trumps because the track design is largely brilliant. Taking themes from Sega IP such as Sonic, Jet Set Radio Future, Samba De Amigo, Super Monkey Ball and more, Sumo has crafted some wonderfully fun racing circuits that also reflect brilliantly the style of the games they represent.

Could you imagine AiAi in anything else?

Nearly all of the tracks are presented in a barrage of bright colour and each one absolutely oozes personality. If your familiar with any of the original games that their based on, you can’t help but race round with a wandering eye and a smile on your face. I just hope we see even more Sega IP exploited for further tracks in some future DLC.

As in Mario Kart, a variety of upgrades can be picked up as you zip around the tracks. These are largely just complete knock off’s from Mario’s game (rockets for shells, traffic cones for bananas etc) but this is no bad thing given Mario’s tried and tested formula.

Each character also has access to an All Star Move specific to them. For example Billy Hatchers car transforms into a giant rolling egg allowing him to lay waste to all in his path and Beat dons his skates to zoom up the field whilst taking out opponents with a spray can.

These moves are not given out a great deal and are typically given to trailing players, but once activated they are extremely powerful and can change the outcome of a race.

Gangway! Billy Hatcher unleashes his All Star Move.

The soundtrack is largely composed of music from the host games in question and I couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear when Jet Set Radio’s ‘Concept of Love’ played as I blasted round one of the Tokyo themed tracks.

As you race in the various modes, you gain points in the form of Sega Miles. These can be used to unlock some of the locked characters for modes in which they are not available (i.e.: multiplayer) along with additional tracks and music.

The game features numerous single and multiplayer modes and they are largely what you expect from any racer of this type (single player GP, time trial, on and offline multiplayer) although be warned that the PC version lacks an online mode due to the publishers piracy concerns combined with low predicted sales for the format. One of my favourite modes though is the mission mode, various trials which are completed against the clock.

From straight forward racing and elimination through to target popping and boss battles, the mission mode is highly addictive and has already caused me to play longer than intended at times due to its compulsive one more go factor.

I’m sure this review reflects my admiration for all things Sega and I’m not ashamed to admit that I can be somewhat of a Sega fan boy. All Star Racing really is a superb Sega homage and if you are a Sega fan you really owe it to yourself to buy this game.

But as excellent as the Sega heritage is, it’s not necessarily the games greatest triumph. Instead the games greatest triumph is Sumo have created a hugely playable kart racer that stands up on its own regardless of the excellent fan service on offer.

All Star Racing gets the thumbs up from me.

It’s tight, balanced and great fun both on and offline and if you don’t have access to Mario’s latest on your platform of choice, or are simply looking for something a little different, All Star Racing should be your first port of call.

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