At this point, I’m convinced that Mario and Sonic are destined to be forever at war. The last chapter of their friendly rivalry came in 2023 when Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Sonic Superstars launched within three days of one another. We’re getting a repeat of that this summer, as the hedgehog will try to outrace Mario Kart World on September 25 with Sonic Racing: Crossworlds, his latest kart racing game. That may sound like a raw deal for the blue blur, but after playing a new slice of Crossworlds at Summer Game Fest, I actually think that the guy has one big advantage over Mario’s latest game: customization.
Let’s take it back to the starting line. Sonic Racing: Crossworlds is a new racing game that takes plenty of clear inspiration from Mario Kart. After days of playing World nonstop, I was able to pick up the controller and know exactly what every button would do without a tutorial. There’s drifting, starting boosts, drafting, items that are Mario items but not, and more.
As similar as that might sounds, the actual feel of driving in Crossworlds is entirely different from Mario Kart. It’s all looser, with weightless cars flying through corners. It takes me some time to adjust, as it feels a bit unwieldy at first. That doesn’t stop me from eventually mastering its multi-stage drifting and ring collecting hook.
In our last preview during its beta, we praised Crossworlds for its creative multidimensional hook. It’s a feature where the track players race on seamlessly changes to another mid-race. That idea held up here, especially thanks to some excellent track design, but it’s no longer the signature feature for me. Instead, I am all-in on the way Crossworlds lets players customize their playstyle — a feature that’s sorely missing from Mario Kart World.
In that game, players don’t make a lot of decisions when starting a race. Characters don’t have stats and there’s a set list of pre-built cars to select, a departure from Mario Kart 8 with its full car customization. Sonic Crossworlds restores that layer of strategy to the genre in Mario Kart’s absence. Each character has base stats, and cars can be tinkered with for players that want to finely tune their cars. I had just as much fun making a perfect car for Shadow, right down to the paint job, as I have exploring Mario Kart’s open world.
That idea goes even deeper, though. Players can create a load out of passive bonuses, which can entirely alter their play style. A few perks can be equipped at once, and that opens the door for a lot of synergy potential. In my first Grand Prix, I made a set that was entirely built around raising my speed as high as possible. I got much more creative in my second race. I decided to focus on collecting rings, trying to stay constantly maxed out. I experimented with badges that would reduce the amount of rings I lost when getting hit, one that raised my max ring count, and others that would steal rings from my opponents. I customized my car to fit that, going all in on power with Knuckles behind the wheel. That load out gave me an entirely different way to play, as races became about smashing into enemies as much as possible rather than trying to stay away from them.
That feature is filling a void that Mario Kart’s more streamlined approach leaves open. I welcome the extra strategic layer on top of what’s still a fairly casual racing game. The driving may not be tuned to my tastes, and the items are truly just reskinned versions of Mario’s tools, but it feels like I can build something here. There’s plenty of unlockables to support that idea too, as the customization menus are full of items that I can buy with tickets. It’s a racing game for those who want to spend just as much time in the garage as they do on the track. I think I might be the former.
Sonic Racing: Crossworlds launches on September 25 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
