Early yesterday I was made aware that a demo for Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing appeared on Xbox Live. For some odd reason I’ve been waiting with anticipation for a chance to play this game. I really shouldn’t; there hasn’t been a decent company-theme racing game since the last Mario Kart, and I’m not a racing game fan in general (aside from the occasional afternoon spent with Burnout 3). I am however a closeted Sega fan.

From younger family members I have played and enjoyed Super Monkey Ball, Billy Hatcher, and Samba De Amigo. I also have a soft spot for Shenmue, Space Channel 5, and Jet Set Radio Future. All of these titles are accounted for in this game, including the major Sonic characters and, for some reason, Banjo and Kazooie. Along with the major fan-service given in this game, I was surprised to find the demo showed some promise.

The demo comes with a single and multiplayer race mode, two characters to choose from (Sonic and Banjo and Kazooie), and one Sonic-themed race course. The full game is set to have 22 characters, 26 courses, the usual racing modes and 64 missions (not sure what those are yet). Driving is your basic Mario Kart style, with tricks and expert drifting tactics netting you a quick five-second burst of speed.

Weapon pick-ups are just as you’d expect: shells, mushrooms and banana peels are replaced with missiles (that inexplicably bounce around like shells), running shoes and explosive traffic cones. There’s a remote-controlled missile that is pretty useless, bombs to throw and a shield item. All things you’ve seen before. There’s also a few items that cause screen effects; the rainbow causes an array of colors to blind you and the shooting star flips your screen upside-down.

A nice little addition is a special weapon that’s unique to each character. Banjo and Kazooie’s pick-up is Jumbo’s Magic Wand which puts your vehicle in a sort of super cruise control that steers your car through hidden areas and around curves better than you might be able to. Also Jiggys fall randomly around you as you drive, causing damage to those around you that hit them. Sonic uses his ability to go Super Sonic, upping your general speed, giving you an unlimited boost item and making you invisible. I’m rather interested in seeing what attacks are utilized by the other racers.

No one is expecting this game to revolutionize the racing genre. It certainly doesn’t; you’ve seen what this game has to offer many times before. The special powers are pretty cool and I enjoyed seeing many different characters from across the Sega-verse together. In the end, I’ll probably play the demo a few more times, forget about it, delete it in a few months in favor of Blind Melon Rock Band DLC, and buy the full game in a Gamestop for $15 because my grandmother doesn’t know what gift cards I like to use. I’m assuming many of you will do the same.

Before we get out of here, Sega, I’d like to speak directly to you for a moment. Please, for the love of God stop putting Sonic in cars. You’ve specifically stated, in the cartoons and games, that Sonic is one of the fastest things in the known universe, even going as far as to say he’s “the fastest thing alive”. You are doing him absolutely no favors by making him race people while sitting down. It didn’t work with either Sonic Drift title and it’s still stupid here. Stop it.