Be Excellent To Each Other

I liked the last one (one of my rare Cheevo Maxes) so I bought this one for what I thought was cheapies (£19) until Lewie did a post about 8 nanoseconds after it arrived saying it was £13 somewhere.

Either way it's really good value. The Ltd edition (To be fair I think that's the only one you can get for the 360) comes with metal sonic (not that kind of metal) but also an Outrun track - where you get to drive round the first track on Outrun 2 but then you turn into a MOTHERFUCKING BOAT and get to take that on the watery bit next to the road and jump over yachts doing FLIPS AND SHIT.

That is worth £19 of anyone's money right there but the rest of the game is also marvellous. It's also hard (but in a good way) - even on medium you'll struggle to finish first every race and some of the time trial type events need a few goes before you can continue. It rarely feels unfair though and you don't have to start crying anymore when you hear "Tails has gone All Star" behind you as they've nerfed the whole All Star thing to make it less annoying.

You also get to drive (then fly) around Afterburner courses and Nights courses and oh there's too much.

If you like Sega then this is the sort of thing you'll like

178%

I've been playing it to death over the last couple of weeks, the game is a billion times improvement over the first, and really feels like a Sega racing game - the drifting now has a weight to it similar to Outrun 2.

Shame the roster is nowhere near as varied, Although they've added some awesome classic characters like Joe Musashi, Gillius, Vyse, and Nights, they've removed a load of characters from the first (Ryo, Opa Opa, Jacky/Akira, The Chus, Billy Hatcher, The HOTD zombies, Bonanza Bros) and ended up putting in second string characters that already have their franchise represented, like Reala, Pudding, Gum, and MeeMee.

I read a theory elsewhere in this here net that it was likely due to some kind of focus test result saying more females in the game, but why in hell couldn't they to pick characters from unrepresented franchises: Blaze Fielding? Alis Landale? Sarah Bryant? Honey?

Oh yeah, and then there's the blatant marketing tie-ins like Wreck it-Ralph and (dear god... WHY?) Danica Patrick.

It's still a brilliant game though, and totally worth destrying your sanity to achieve 165 stars for the final unlockable character.

I hovered over that spoiler for ages but eventually read it. I'm glad I did! I reckon I'll be playing this quite soon.

Every review has mentioned how much it sticks out yet they still did it anyway.

I wasn't going to click on the spoiler but then I remembered I AM WEAK so I did. /dribble.

Do I need a disc for this or can I purchase it digitally?

I need a game to play when AE Jnr is still bouncing around 'cause I sure as hell can't play Borderlands 2 when she's in the area.

I watched Kate's 9yr old bro play a bit of this over Xmas.

Kate is not a gamer, she is back up north to see her family in a month.

I ordered it today, Kate is going to practice for a month and then go kick his ass

I take it this means you need an actual physical disc?

Grrrrrr.

Indeed, I've just fired up the 360, no sign of it available for purchase.

WHY WON'T YOU TAKE MY FUCKING MONEY?

Hurrah for the digital revolution.

£19 from amazon. The £13 ones seem to have disappeared.

That's really not the point. Why the hell do I need a disc at all?

I don't want a disc, I want the game.

They'd better fix this shit for the next generation of consoles, 'cause they're looking positively fucking Luddite at the moment.

Moaning Manx Cunt. Get it bought

Shush you.

I'm busy trying to build myself into a frothing rage of righteous PC-nerdmageddon.

Starting the New Year as you mean to go on?

It's all I know.

I wasn't being unkind by the way - I enjoy your PC rages!

Were you getting errbody all wet?

I'll check the local GAME and HMV tomorrow, if they've not got it in, I'll Amazon it.

HMV - £28

GAME - £20 (reduced in the sale from £25)

AMAZON - £19

Grabbed it from GAME, brand new sealed copy, not a scummy pre-owned affair.

Will get it installed and have a bash later!

I'll let you know what I think of it when AE Jnr lets me get within a million miles of it.

I got as far as installing it and loading to the title screen.

Thereafter it was a hostile takeover and she's showing no signs of removing herself from my chair.

She looks well happy there AE. Did you get the Ltd edition? Did you put in the code? Did you try the Outrun Track? Did you? Did you?

I managed to beat the Expert Ghost on time trial on the first track last night and the announcer exclaimed "You beat Sumo!" but I was quite tired by that point so heard it as "You beat Subo". Which I thought was an instruction. So I did. The police are here now.

I went back and tried some 3 star events to see if I had become less shit since my first forays into the game and the extra mods and track knowledge meant that I snaffled a few extra stars by completing the challenges on hard so I'll definitely being going back to try and get that there secret character.

The only thing I don't like about it so far are the tank challenges. Tedious, overlong and not exactly taxing.

Yes. I don't think there's any other version.



Only a couple of laps as it was quite late by the time we'd got AE Jnr upstairs.

I had a race on the After Burner track too.

I am quite moist/erect at the thought of what Sega goodness may lie in wait for me.



Yes.



YES.

I wonder if he'd refuse to let me race as him.

WHAT I THINK:

So I have managed about 90 minutes on this game up to now, grabbed in short bursts when I'm able to tranquilise AE Jnr with tamazepam for occasional periods of time (also known as 'doing a Shannon').

I have focused mainly on the primary career mode, with a quick look at the OutRun track and other events.

GAME:

Fantastic, everything I want from a Sega racer. Great tracks, wonderful design, cool characters, and a surprisingly stiff challenge. Even on 'medium' a 1st place is hard won, bang it up to 'hard' difficulty and it's pretty ruthless.

The weapons system is well balanced and the AI doesn't feel too cheaty, although rubber-banding is in place it's not Burnout-esque.

Hugely imaginative track design on a wide variety of Sega themed raceways.

The drift mechanic is odd though, I don't see what was wrong with the OutRun2 model. In this game you need to hold down the brake to keep the drift going, which feels weird.

SOUND AND MUSIC:

Perfect, I almost did a little man-cry on the AfterBurner race, flying over aircraft carriers as Sonic whilst that anthemic rock soundtrack pounded out.

GRAPHICS:

Oh dear, the poor old 360 just isn't up to it these days. 30FPS (and an occasionally juddery 30FPS at that), some weird sort of smearing/shimmering/dappled effect so it doesn't have to render everything for every frame, it's all a bit shonky.

However, the style and imagination of the graphics just about saves it, plus it's all so cartoony and primary colours that it's still playable, despite everything turning into a bit of a mulch in the mid-distance.

But really, the XBox 720 just cannot come soon enough.

OVERALL:

Splendid stuff, when I can prise AE Jnr away from the 360 for long enough to actually play it.

No-one?

T-Pain?

Hurrah!

Nelly?

Worst thread tangent ever.

I blame Grim....

I did lay it all out in that first post to be fair.

For all the game is child friendly the first time I transformed into a boat I emitted a Pavlovian "I'm on a boat MOTHERFUCKER" within earshot of Trousergirl.

I "finished" career mode and now there's Expert stars available. They scare me.

Am I missing some kind of obvious online leaderboards in this game?

If I try to do anything 'multiplayer' it tells me that my XBox Live account doesn't have the required permissions, but I've never known a silver account not even be able to see leaderboards before.

I'm trying to find the inevitable unbeatable Trousers times.

The only leaderboards I've seen are on the Time Trials section (RB to bring them up)

My Expert beating time on the first track didn't upload. AM CRY. (still 1st on my Friends leaderboard though - all of 4 people on it which helps of course)

Down to £15 at play

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=111&p=734145#p734145

I played this over the weekend. It's brilliant!

Incoming on PC, I may take a look since the online leaderboards on the 360 aren't that interesting.

Mine will be arriving tomorrow (guaranteed, according to the 'Amazon Prime' trial). Do you folks play this online much?

13.50 from GreenManGaming (you'll just get a steam code for it still)

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/sonic-s ... ng-1441105

I haven't done yet but if there's enough people willing.. Then I'm game.

I have trouble during the week as I'm on a crappy 3g connection but of a weekend I'd deffo fancy a multiplayer session.

Enjoying this a lot! Took me a while to finish 1st in the first two (A-class) races, though! It's all those twisters and remote-controlled cars. I highly suspect it was only "going all-star" that put me far enough in the lead for that stuff not to matter on the Panzer Dragoon stage. At least you seem to get a chance to dodge the homing weapon in this...

Edit: hah, glad I read through the thread again. Never would have found that DLC code in the box. Ace!

Just unlocked the S-class races myself. After playing a couple of them, I'd recommend gunning for these over the As. They're only marginally different, and you'll get your stars for unlocking things a lot more quickly, obv.

I have it with me at the hotel, I also have my Xbox 360 with me, I have a flat sceeen TV in my room, it has a HDMI input, I was able to bypass the hospitality menu to get to the proper menu.

Only I still can't get to the AV options because that is only on the remote as per the manual I found on-line and the remote I've got is a munged hospitality remote.

So I can't fucking play anything.

When I can though I'll give some of the Expert ones a go as I'm currently on about 130 starts so still have a way to go to get to that final character.

Is it worth having a word with reception?

Aye I'm going to give it a go tonight - only got into hotel @ 10:00pm last night so definitely worth asking.

It's a 4:3 flatscreen TV. I didn't think they even made those if I'm honest. I've got a 22 inch LED monitor I could have brought but as I'm staying at a Premier Inn they are usually fine. Not this one. Gits.

If not is it worth picking up a cheap all4one type remote and grabbing the codes off the internet for it ?

I hate it when that happens, stupid hotels.

I remember when I was staying in hotels in Sofia for weeks on end I ended up moving out of the Raddison to another (and in the end much nicer hotel) as they steadfastly refused to allow me hook up my PS2 to their TV…even though we were paying an absolute fortune for a room. In the end it was for the best as I managed to negotiate a suite from the Crystal Palace for a block booking.

I did this cos it was half price in Sainsbury's on the way back. Now have ultra hd 480p o vision to entertain me.

I love a happy ending.

It's actually a decent remote as well which will make a good stand by in case my Harmony goes titsup at any point.

Playing Sonic & ASRT in 480p windowed on a tiny 4:3 telly is virtually impossible. I gave up on the races as I couldn't see what the fuck was going on so I had a go at the Time Trials instead and managed to get to 69th in the world on the Outrun track with plenty of scope to get better.

Glad I brought Borderlands with me as well now although some of the text on the menu screens is just a horrible blur.

This must be like what console gaming looks like to Atrocity Exhibition compared to PC gaming. I can almost empathise with him. But then I remember that he's a massive cunt and all is well.