This is one of those games that I liked when I tried it out, but never really saw it as a “must-have”. Recently I picked up a copy and I’ve quite enjoyed it. It’s very similar to Mario Kart in places (drifting in particular), but it has some differences that make it worth trying.

As the title suggests, this isn’t just a Sonic racing game. There are courses from a diverse range of Sega titles, including Burning Rangers, NiGHTS and Skies of Arcadia. I love all three of those games and it’s nice to see they haven’t been forgotten completely.

The “transformed” part of the game is a nice twist on the standard kart racer. Vehicles morph between a car, boat, or plane depending on the course. On some stages this doesn’t really improve much, but others really make the most of it. The Panzer Dragoon course in particular uses all three vehicles well, with parts of the road crumbling and forcing you to take flight near the final lap.

The power-ups aren’t anything out of the ordinary. I do really like that the “swarm” attack can be dodged though. It’s much less frustrating to be hit by it than Mario Kart’s blue shell.

Career mode is pretty solid and has a variety of challenges to complement the standard races. Character and course unlocks require a set amount of stars, and each level level awards up to three stars depending on the difficulty chosen. The expert difficulty can be quite tough at times, but it never feels unfair.

Music is by Richard Jacques and suitably upbeat. It also has some nice callbacks to his work on Sonic R which is always a good thing.

I’m not a huge fan of kart racers, but I’m enjoying this so far.