This time Sonic won’t be running on foot to reach high speeds, but he’ll be in a car, but SEGA is reluctant to reveal much more about the new project…
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds will be a cross-gen game, so despite the fact that it will be released at least five years after the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series (because it’s definitely not coming out in 2024…), it will still cater to players with 2013 consoles. Perhaps no major publisher has supported previous generation hardware for so long… has there been a cross-gen title of this caliber in 2018? We can’t really think of any.
The previous three Sonic Kart Racing games were developed by Sumo Digital, and they were all pretty well received. 2010’s Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing combined Sonic characters with other franchises from the Japanese publisher, including Space Channel 5, Shenmue, Super Monkey Ball, Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio. The Xbox 360 version also featured Banjo and Kazooie (as Rare was now owned by Microsoft).
The guest star saga continued in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, which also featured racer Ralph (Wreck-It Ralph), aka Danica Patrick. There’s a reason the game’s title has “Transformed” in it, as vehicles could transform into go-karts, boats, or airplanes, depending on the situation. Then, in 2019, came Sumo Digital’s Team Sonic Racing, a team-based racing game that used a similar engine to the All-Stars episodes, but this time featured characters from the Sonic franchise exclusively. It didn’t get such glowing reviews (partly because it didn’t feature SEGA’s other IPs).
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds will be released at some point for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PC (Steam, Epic Games Store), PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. It may also be in the works for the Switch’s yet-to-be-named successor.
Source: VGC
