Welcome to EXPlay, (Explain & Play) the review series where we care not for scores but tell it how it is when it comes to every game we get our hands on, whilst also taking the time to include some lengthy gameplay, to give you, the reader, the chance to shape your own impressions and views whilst watching and reading.
In this installment, we’re covering Sonic Racing CrossWorlds by developer Sonic Team.
Sonic the Hedgehog is no stranger to racing against his friends and enemies. He has been on foot and on hoverboards, but his most popular form of transport seems to be the good ol’ fashioned kart. In fact, I consider his second karting adventure, All-Stars Racing Transformed, to be one of the best games in the genre as its wide variety of characters and tracks from Sega’s key franchises made it a wonderful bit of nostalgia to complement the tight racing across land, sea, and sky. It’s a shame then that the next entry, Team Sonic Racing, stripped everything back to basics and – in the process – lost a lot of the charm and excitement too.
Fast forward six years, and Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds not only brings back the boats and planes, but also introduces a bold new gimmick aimed at keeping races fresh. When playing across one of the 24 available tracks, the leader of the first lap will choose one of two different portals to travel through, which sends everyone to a completely new track. These consist of unique tracks that are only available to play in the crossworld lap but, once you beat the game, you’ll also have the main tracks at your disposal too. Once this second lap in your new location is completed, another portal throws everyone back into the original track for a final remixed lap. It seems strange, but I found it really helped to eliminate racing fatigue and make me want to keep on playing.
What also helps is that the tracks you’re playing on are really good too. Most of them draw inspiration from 3D-era Sonic titles, and should easily bring a smile to any fan of the franchise. What I found most surprising though was that the tracks that appealed to me the most were the ones from the most recent games. Kronos Island, from Sonic Frontiers, feels a little out-of-place visually (but then so does the game it is based on!), but is an absolute joy to play. My second favourite though ended up being from one of my least favourite Sonic titles, Sonic Forces. They managed to turn a mediocre level into a really exciting track as you race down and around flowing rapids.
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds does an excellent job with the stage design, but I still can’t help but wish that they included stages from other Sega classics. Given that they’re revitalising quite a number of their franchises at the moment, it would have made sense to promote them here – even if they only appeared in the bonus grand prix. Still, given that the game has six upcoming crossover DLC packs, this issue will no doubt be rectified in due course.
Even though there aren’t any characters from other franchises (yet!), the game still has an impressive character and vehicle roster to choose from, and you’re free to mix and match as you choose. Each one has their own stat focus, meaning that you may need to think about the combinations carefully to ensure you have a character you like that also fits your playstyle. Admittedly I ignored that so I could use Metal Sonic on a hoverboard, but I appreciate that every character isn’t the same. It’s nice to be able to play to your strengths, so having a more boost-focused build ended up being a great choice for my playstyle!
To make customising your experience a little easier, the game also features a gadget system whereby you can unlock and equip special modifiers to give you a little boost as well as cosmetics to glam up your vehicles that you can purchase using in-game tickets acquired from winning races. Although I am not a big fan of the cosmetics, I did quite like the gadgets and my personal favourite is one that gave me extra rings whenever I used a boost. This synergised rather well with the gadget that increases your maximum coin limit and – as a result – your top speed. It’s a nice system and it encourages replayability as you try to earn new toys to play with.
Speaking of toys, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds features a number of items to collect and use against your foes. There are shields to block attacks, wisps to fly ahead, giant mines to plant behind you, and much, much more. For the most part they work similar to many of Mario Kart’s items, but with a strange lack of cohesive theming. Rather than focusing on just the wisps, instead you have a strange mish mash that seem rather out of place with one another. It’s not a huge deal, but one that no doubt will be noticeable to fans and even more so to non-fans who never even knew Sonic had a game set in the middle ages!
For the more competitive minded, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds also offers a couple of options to try and keep you invested. For those playing offline, there’s split-screen co-op as well as AI rivals that play a little bit better than the rest as they fight you for the top spot. These rivals have a difficulty level that can be altered separately to the general difficulty, but they’ll always outperform everyone else regardless. This can be broken if using a super easy rival on a higher difficulty, but when used as intended it’s a fun way to replicate having a human rival.For those who really want human players, online mode is available too and it works as seamlessly as you’d expect. At the moment, the game seems to be rather popular and matches are as easy to find as in Mario Kart, but we’ll see if it has the same level of staying power. If Sega play their cards right with post release content and replicate Mario Kart 8 levels of excitement with the extra track and character releases, I can see it definitely remaining this way for at least a couple of years or so.
All in all, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds hits the sweet spot many fans were hoping for. The signature Sonic flair is all here with its colourful tracks and fantastic remixes of classic songs, all wrapped up with a unique racing mechanic If you’re looking for a new kart racer that’s bereft of plumbers and turtles, then this may be the right game for you!
Game Specifications:
Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: SEGA
Platform: Nintendo Switch/Nintendo Switch 2
Category: Racing/Sports
No. of Players: 1-4Â player (Single System), 2-8 (Local Wireless), 2-12 (Online)
Release Date: September 25, 2025 (Worldwide)
Price: $59.99
File Size: 9.7 GB
Nintendo.com Listing
