Sonic's racing game history has been very mixed over the years, and that's being generous. You would think that for a franchise that focuses on a character that's faster than the average mascot platform, we would have better and more beloved racing games throughout the past couple of decades. I have not played every Sonic game on the planet, but whether it's Sonic Drift or the Sonic Rider series, Sonic racing games have always been seen as mixed or just OK at best, while overwhelmingly disliked and forgotten at worst. Plus, the less we talk about the Kinect game, the better. Therefore, I feel like I'll get a lot of pushback by saying that Sonic Racing CrossWorlds is hands-down the best racing game in the entire franchise. However, it might shock you to hear me say that it is probably one of the best racing games that I have played in the past decade.

One of the great things about Sonic Racing CrossWorlds is that it doesn't pretend to be anything more than what it advertises on the box. It has a lot of the typical bells and whistles that we would expect with this kind of package. We have vehicle customization, different types of vehicles that suit various styles, a large cast of characters to choose from, with even more highly anticipated ones just around the corner in DLC, and the game runs smoothly as butter. I was originally a little bit worried because I ran into some connection issues during its beta, but running this on PC feels like a dream. The load times barely last a few seconds, jumping into an online lobby with friends or strangers is incredibly fast, and the game runs at a fantastic sixty FPS. It's especially impressive with that last point because there can be times when there is so much happening on screen that it genuinely feels overstimulating.

Whether you're going up against the computer or versus other people online, the game can get overwhelmingly chaotic. I don't mean it gets overwhelming from a gameplay perspective because again, this is a standard cart racer. There's a drift system, so that you can get additional bursts of speed when you drift, you can collect rings in order to gradually increase your top speed over the course of the race, and there are items divided into separate categories. You have speed items, defensive items, hazard items, attack items, etc. You can bump into your opponents to make them drop rings so that they slow down, you can use some items to block others, you can perform tricks on ramps to get additional boosts, and you can even customize your vehicle with chips that augment your experience with additional perks. Maybe you want to make it easier to do tricks every time you jump off a ramp to gain an additional burst of speed? Maybe you want to start the race immediately with an item? Or maybe you want to be able to carry three items throughout the course of the race? Despite the simple and relatively routine setup, there are still dozens of options to explore.

If you thought Mario Kart was aggressive, you have not seen anything yet. Whether it's battle mode or with standard racing, online or against the computer, this game is out for blood. There is a difficulty curve, as every time you enter a Grand Prix, you're paired up against a rival, and it seems like the game gradually tries to gauge how difficult the races are going to be for you. If you're able to beat your rivals at a certain level, then the game will gradually increase the level of those rivals to make the overall races difficult. If you're able to beat your rival or come out on top, you get extra tickets that you can use to spend on more customization options. But man, you will get SMASHED if you are not prepared. You can get hit with so many items the minute a race starts, you can get knocked into a wall, or run over by a truck. It takes you a few seconds to recover, but those few seconds can be the difference between second place and tenth place. Sometimes it feels like the higher-ranked rivals are just naturally faster by default, but the game makes it possible for you to overtake them; you just need to bring your A game. If one set of skills doesn't work for me, then maybe I should try something else? Maybe I should go for a strength build instead of an acceleration build? Maybe I should focus less on tricks and more on items? Every option has pros and cons, but it really comes down to you making the best out of the game.

However, I think part of the reason why I don't get frustrated is the plethora of charm and attention to detail that this game has. There is no real story in Crossworlds, and it does feel like we're living in a world where stories for spin-off games are becoming rarer. But to make up for that, this game is filled with dozens upon dozens of individual character interactions. Ian Flynn returns to write lines for all the characters throughout the Grand Prix. However, what I appreciate is that Ian actually wrote specific dialogue interactions when certain characters are rivals to each other during those races. Some of them can come off pretty generic, but others surprisingly feel like little rewards for dedicated Sonic fans. We don't get anything as deep as what we got in Sonic Frontiers, but I was not expecting Cream the Rabbit to refer to how Vector has a crush on her mom. I wasn't expecting Sage to comment on how her father, Dr. Eggman, might invade Blaze's dimension after he takes over this world. Even in a racing game like this, it feels like the world of Sonic the Hedgehog is beginning to expand, and as a diehard fan, I appreciate all of that.

Voice acting for all of these deliveries is mostly solid, with some sounding exceptional. I really do like how Sage has sort of become a mainstay of the cast since her debut in Sonic Frontiers, and Ryan Bartley does a fantastic job of making her sound aggressive without losing monotone voice. I also think the new cast for some of the returning characters sounds spot on, like the Babylon Rogues, who haven't really made an appearance in a Sonic racing game in a long time, despite that being their thing. I think the only voice that sounded a little off was Amy's. It does feel like her delivery has lost a little bit of spunk over time, but it's hardly an issue. I'm also not a fan of the fact that some characters don't have voice lines or unique forms of interaction. This could be due to the nature of some of them as DLC characters, but the Warehog just straight up grunts and doesn't interact with any of the characters, even though he's just a different version of Sonic. With how much attention to detail this game has, it feels like some things are just...missing?

None of this is even getting into how phenomenal the soundtrack for this game is. There are remixes and recreations of songs throughout the entire Sonic franchise here. All of the items have extra crunchy sound effects, and the whole thing is a feast for the ears as much as it is for the eyes. In case I haven't made it clear, this game is amazing. Sonic has really been on a roll the past couple of years, and I wasn't expecting Crossworld to be another impressive step up in quality. It's hard to say how long the game's shelf life will be, especially without any real dedicated solo play content outside of just getting good at the game. But if they continue to roll out the charm and stick the landing with the upcoming DLC characters, with the different franchises being added, we would have a genuinely amazing game to enjoy for years to come.