Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is quickly approaching the finish line, scheduled to launch in September. I got the chance to play the kart racer for a second time recently, and my opinion of the game is largely unchanged from my verdict during Summer Game Fest: It’s dropping the best aspects of its predecessors to become something closer to Mario Kart. This second session, I spent a little more time with the game, getting a chance to race on additional tracks and play as the previously unavailable Hatsune Miku and Ichiban Kasuga.
CrossWorlds sees you jump into a kart or onto a hoverboard and compete against several other racers from Sega’s catalog of Sonic characters (plus a few guests from other franchises!). Each race across the 24 different tracks is three laps, with the second taking place in an entirely different world after the racers teleport through a travel ring. Whichever competitor is in the lead as the racers approach the second lap chooses which world everyone hops over to, with two options given at random from a total pool of 15 other worlds.