The race track is nothing new for Sonic the Hedgehog, and Sonic Racing CrossWorlds is another tour on the road. Covering the title since its reveal and following Sonic’s racing efforts since Sonic Riders and Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing, it’s exciting seeing the two racing formats combine into one with CrossWorlds.
Does Sonic’s dimensional tour surpass the open worlds from other kart racers? Or does it slip on an incoming banana? After spending many hours mastering my racing skills, this racing adventure impresses and surpasses the elements that the competition offers.
Publisher/Developer: SEGA, Sonic Team
Price: $69.99 (Series X/PS5/Switch 2/PC), $59.99 (Switch 1)
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, Series X/S, Xbox One, PC
Release Date: September 25th, 2025 (Most Platforms), Winter 2025 (Switch 2)
Super Sonic Racing – Premise of Sonic Racing CrossWorlds
Taking place sometime after Sonic Frontiers, King Dodon Pa invites Sonic and friends to another racing event. This time, not only giving his super-fast cars a test-run, but also Extreme Gear from Sonic Riders. But the race is even more exciting with the introduction of the Travel Rings, sending racers all across the Sonic universe.
While it lacks a proper Story Mode, which was present in the Sonic Riders series and Team Sonic Racing, the cast trash-talking one another during races, and the Rival Mode mechanic do a lot to add context and fun references to prior Sonic adventures.
Gotta Go Fast – Car Racing
While one would be puzzled at the mere idea of Sonic the Hedgehog driving a car, the Blue Blur is an expert behind the wheel. Following a successful string of racing games in the Sonic & SEGA All-Stars series, Sonic and friends put the pedal to the metal.
Leveraging the arcade nature of SEGA’s most iconic racing games, the developers behind the Initial D series refined the racing formula from Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed. You frequently go from pulling off tight turns in cars, carefully timing boost jumps with boat racing on water, and soaring through the skies in a flying plane.
In a lot of ways, it’s like Diddy Kong Racing, but all three racing types are dynamically happening during the race. Depending on the mode, control over your vehicle changes. While driving in the car feels tight and responsive, it takes a few races to nail the loose feel of the boat and plane.
Adding to the dynamic race are the travel rings that appear mid-race. The leader of the pack decides which CrossWorld the Lap 2 takes place, always two options (a clear choice and a random pick). Making the right call when in first place can make or break a race, so this wrinkle to the racing chaos is one of CrossWorld’s biggest innovations.
And when the mechanic starts getting old, standard race courses are added to the pool of CrossWorlds, making every race exciting and fresh.
Extreme Racing – Extreme Gear Gameplay
Another innovation is the return of the Extreme Gear hoverboards from the Sonic Riders series. These hoverboards are faster ‘Boost’ vehicles, functioning similarly to the bikes in Mario Kart. They offer the tightest turns, best handling, and can be incredibly fast once you master the boost mechanic. However, they take the heaviest impact from items.
Between the standard cars and the Extreme Gear, I found myself using the latter more often. I loved the tighter drifts, and as a longtime Sonic fan, seeing the Riders series getting acknowledged again makes me happy. Overall, these were a fantastic inclusion as a vehicle option.
What a Gear Head – Gadget System
Alongside the Travel Rings and returning Extreme Gear, the Gadget System adds a lot of depth to Sonic Racing CrossWorlds. The Gadget System allows customization of how players dominate the track.
Do you want to create a defensive build? Want to give yourself three item slots and raise the chance of more offensive items? Want to give yourself a leg-up and equip a Wisp (Boost) or Monster Truck to dash ahead of the pack? Or do you want to increase the speed tricks are pulled off?
The options are endless, and it feels great to create the right loadout for your race style. And the game slowly eases you into this system, giving you a Gadget plate with one slot, and after several races, fully unlocks the remaining five.
One negative to this system is that, for online play, more aggressive builds can be annoying to deal with. But after enough races, you can figure out how to counteract that and crush your rivals online.
Turning into a Monster Truck – Item Balance
Rounding out the core gameplay mechanics are Sonic Racing CrossWorlds, items to help turn the tide of races. They range from items from Sonic & All Stars Racing (green boxing gloves and red rockets), Team Sonic Racing (the White, Cyan, Void, and Drill Wisps), and new items original to Sonic Racing CrossWorlds like King Boo Boo, Monster Trucks, and more.
In many ways, they mirror items seen in other kart racers like Crash Team Racing and Mario Kart, but the balance feels fair most of the time. Even when hit by more offensive weapons, the track design and CrossWorlds’ fast sense of speed overcome the frustrating losses.
And you can make the item mechanic play in your favor using Gadgets, by either increasing the type of item you receive, starting with one before the race, and more.
The World Tour – Single Player Modes in Sonic Racing CrossWorlds
Regarding the single-player offering for Sonic Racing CrossWorld, it’s deeper than it appears. Unlike other kart racers on the market, this strictly offers the traditional racing experience. The three main modes are Grand Prix, Time Trials, and Race Park.
Sonic Rivals – Grand Prix
Having a total of eight Grand Prix (with three being linked to the upcoming DLC racers included in the Season Pass), you race against a rival racer over the course of four races. The final race has you driving across all three of the main courses in the cup, using the CrossWorld mechanic differently than in standard racing.
What makes this mode replayable is that having a rival racer changes the tone of a cup. Unlike in other kart racers, where it feels like you are racing against everyone and it’s pure chaos, in Sonic Racing CrossWorlds, your rival is particularly aggressive against you.
They target you with the most items, and they typically lead most of the race. They even smack-talk you when getting the edge, having unlike dialogue for every Sonic character on the roster. And before the GP begins, you and your rival exchange some banter, either amping each other up or having a fun reference to a past Sonic adventure.
And if things get too difficult, you can leverage your tickets (currency you earn through races and other modes) to restart a race. Considering how other kart racers force you to restart a GP, this accessibility option is welcomed. Another way to balance the difficulty of racers is to set a level for your rival. If you’re confident in your skills, raise the level and have a greater challenge. Or lower it to make racers a little easier.
Overall, this mode has more content than I expected, encouraging me to play the Grand Prix more than other rival kart racers on the market.
Undefatable Records – Time Trial
The second major single-player mode is the time trials. Like other racing games, your goal is to get the best time, and you are given a letter rank upon completion. With Boost power-ups spread across the track and dash panels to be mindful of, a combination of great timing and skill is required to get the elusive A and S ranks.
Upon getting several A Ranks, you unlock music for the Jukebox mode. This mode replaces the game’s soundtrack with music across the entire Sonic series, from Sonic CD to recent games like Sonic Frontiers and Sonic Superstars.
The time trials offering an actual reward to go after are awesome and encourage mastery of the game’s main courses and CrossWorlds.
Facing Yourself – Race Park
The last major single-player mode is the Race Park. Using a modified version of the Team mechanic from Team Sonic Racing, players team up with up to four racers to compete in races. These can include standard races and ones with a set goal (collect the most rings, bump into your teammates for boosts, etc).
Winning against rival teams, composed of AI variants of the game’s core roster, unlocks new vehicles to race with. Similar to the Grand Prix, you can change the difficulty of the rival team.
Endless Possibilities – Online Racing
After getting your tires burning on the offline roads, players can race in two online modes for Sonic Racing CrossWorlds to explore.
The main mode is standard racing, where up to twelve players across all platforms vote between three tracks and a random course option. While waiting for the race, you can use emotes to chat with your other racers. After a few seconds, the course is selected and the race begins.
Races are similar to offline play, but everyone using their preferred gadget loadouts and skills makes matches engaging. One minute you could be dominating the race and then suddenly, have to scramble back to fourth place in seconds before the race concludes.
I love the chaotic, arcadey nature, and with the game’s high sense of speed, every race feels engaging. Completing enough races also earns you a letter Rank, unlocking new cosmetics (auras for your car and more) and gadgets to equip.
The highest rank is Legend, which takes many hours of racing to unlock. As of this writing, I’m currently C-Rank, and I have put several hours into the game so far.
Vamos a Carnaval! – Festival Mode
The other major mode for Online Play is the Festival Mode. This has players race in teams of four and complete races with goals in mind. It’s similar to the Race Park mode, but when the dynamic goals are implemented in online racing, it’s a lot of fun.
Participating in the Miku Festival during this review process, I had a blast collecting hundreds of rings and bumping against my teammates to earn points. And it didn’t take that long to unlock all the Collaboration Rewards in the Battle Pass-esc system CrossWorlds has in place, meaning it’s not as much of a grind compared to other online games.
When this review goes live, the Minecraft Festival will be live. And it features more aggressive-focused goals for races (use the most items and use the Drift Spin Gadget to hit foes). So while this mode offers variety for online play, it disables standard racing while the Festival is active. Meaning, you cannot continue progressing in leveling up your rank.
Hopefully, in the future, Sonic Team will allow both modes to be active in the future.
A Sonic Symphony – Music of Sonic Racing CrossWorlds
It wouldn’t be a Sonic game without an amazing soundtrack, and Sonic Racing CrossWorlds is no exception. Featuring a variety of artists contributing to the score, the game includes a wide mix of tracks to race to. From unique takes on iconic Sonic locations like Sonic Unleashed’s Apatos and Holoiska, a downright beautiful rendition of Sonic Frontiers’ Kronos Island, and catchy vocal-infused tracks for original locations, there is a lot on offer.
My favorite music tracks are Blizzard Valley and Aqua Forest; the former for its major Sonic Adventure vibes and the latter for its hype-inducing vocals kicking in at the right moments during a race.
Voice Acting
A major highlight is hearing the Sonic voice cast talk with one another. For the first time in a few years, the entire main cast and some supporting characters are talking with one another again, and the interactions carry over the quality seen from Sonic Frontiers and Shadow Generations.
While some voice deliveries could’ve been better, the cast did a great job offering fun banter on the race track.
Going Super Sonic – Presentation/Performance
As the first Sonic game running on Unreal Engine 5, the game is a visual standout. Featuring bright colors and SEGA’s iconic blue skies, every race course fits perfectly within the world of Sonic. It lacks some of the more realistic details in objects and textures seen in games like Mario Kart 8, but the strong art direction and well-animated cast create a great-looking experience.
A standout track is Sonic Frontiers Kronos Island, retaining the heavy atmosphere from the source material. Two other favorite tracks include the awesome Eggman Expo stage with all of the good doctor’s iconic machines being in the background, and the gorgeous nighttime skybox of Holoska from Sonic Unleashed.
Regarding performance, the PlayStation 5 version looks and runs great, hitting a stable 60FPS during my many hours of play. Sonic Racing CrossWorlds also runs well on PC (max resolution and frame rate) and is solid on Nintendo Switch (stable 30FPS), based on my experience playing the Open Network Test on those platforms.
Closing Thoughts on Sonic Racing CrossWorlds
After playing many racers in the Sonic series, this is by far one of the best ones yet. Melding widely different racing styles together almost effortlessly, alongside adding its own innovations with the CrossWorld and Gadget mechanic, Sonic Racing CrossWorlds celebrates the Sonic franchise, and rival kart racers look for bananas in their tailpipes. Even some limitations with online play modes can’t slow down this high-speed race.
Score: 9 out of 10
This game was provided by the publisher for this review.
Pros:
- Strong Presentation
- Runs fantastically on PlayStation 5
- Flexible difficulty options, welcoming all racers
- Sizable Single Player Offering
- Online Racing Fun and Dynamic
- Gadget System adds a lot of depth to races
Cons:
- Festival Mode disables Standard Online Racing when it’s running
