Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds

[Moonface]

So after your post in Last Game Played I ended up playing this right after I left my reply in that thread.
I went through the first three Grand Prix's on what I'll just call the 100cc speed because I'm not remembering the names of the actual speed choices, and I enjoyed my time with the game so far but man it's really hard to get out of the mindset of playing it like Transformed. Plane mode is the hardest one to transition from for me because it's the most different in how drifting works and the lack of doing any maneuvers with the right stick. Boat mode feels pretty similar except having the ability to build a boost at any time with R1 which I kept forgetting to use for the first few races that featured a boat section. I do wish the plane mode had air tricks like Transformed did because I think it encouraged flying close to things for a near miss boost, and it could've been a really high risk/reward system in this game since hitting any wall makes you lose rings.

My biggest gripe with the game is the "tutorial" you can watch when you first start the game. Firstly, I'd prefer it was a hands-on style tutorial instead of just videos, and secondly the tutorial is just really shit. It leaves out so many important details and I went into the first Grand Prix clueless as to what the red coins were, what purpose rings had, or how certain items could be used for defending. Had I never played a kart racer before, I wouldn't have even known how to throw items behind me which isn't covered in the opening tutorial either. At least the game does actually have tutorials on all that stuff in one of the menu's but it didn't cross my mind to go looking for them before starting any races because I'd expect the intro tutorial to have covered important things it didn't or if the developers wanted to save the player from too many videos then finish the intro tutorial with "More tutorials can be found here" so if you wanted to read up on anything else before playing you could.

[Mr EliteL]

I did have the game on today, the speeds are Normal Speed, High Speed, Sonic Speed, Super Sonic Speed and Mirror Sonic Speed. I'm only playing on Sonic Speed to achieve triple in-game trophies. I also tried to get red rings, and may end up going back down a speed level or two just to find them, there's one or a couple I'm missing in each Grand Prix so far. I know once you have all collected, you still get Donpan tickets every time you complete a race.

I also did try doing tricks in Flight mode like in Transformed. I do prefer Flight in Transformed, drifting isn't great in the air because you lose direction control until you release the boost. I don't always drift boost in Boat either, sometimes I forget too.

I've been adding the gadget that stops you losing Rings from hitting walls to one or two of my Gadget plates. Although I've not used it yet, it seems good you can switch Gadget Plates between races, as long as you've got them setup that is. I've also been giving myself two speed boosts at the start of the race too.

[Moonface]

Ah, High Speed is what I played on because I didn't want to blindly ricochet through tracks at faster speeds while I'm still trying to get used to the different systems from Transformed.

I think I managed to get all the red rings on one of the tracks in the second GP, and the rest I generally end up getting at least 3 or 4 first try. Air drifting I've not really used either, but I also didn't use it often in Transformed either. I've been using Tails only so far and found his handling to be decent enough where in wide areas I could attempt to drift while pulling the stick in the opposite direction to try and keep myself kinda straight to squeeze in some free boosts. Doing it anywhere near the transform rings is really good because the game will always force you towards them, so if you drift and/or boost a little off course the game will push you back on track without any punishment.

Gadget Plates are definitely a neat feature, and seem to be this games version of the slot machine bonus offered before races in Transformed. I've not experimented with it a lot yet because I feel some of the perks are probably better suited to certain tracks but I need to get past the blind playthrough stage to even begin figuring out if that applies or not.