Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is better than Mario Kart World - this is why

There's something happening in every corner. My wins are never fully dominant. I'm never able to go from last to first in the space of one set of boxes if I find myself at the back early on either.

There are no straight stretches of road glumly ticking down the lap counter until you get to do just one lap of a track you've driven all that way to with little incident. And when you do get there, the field can be pretty spread out without too much action around that section as well.

These gripes I have with Mario Kart World are nowhere to be found with Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds though - it's the antidote I didn't know I needed.

This may sound like I really don't like Mario Kart World. That's not the case at all. I do still enjoy it and I'll put in hours and hours into it and have a good time doing so.

But Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds has reminded me what I enjoy the most about the genre of kart racing.

Air tricks give you a huge boost in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds / Sega

The controls in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds are very similar to what you'd expect from a kart racing game, especially Mario Kart games. There's a boost at the start, you can drift around corners to go faster, items can help with this and slow down others, rings replace coins which help you go faster, you can do tricks in midair to get a boost upon landing, there are flying and water sections, all that sort of thing.

Each racer has their own stats and there's a decent roster of characters from Sonic as well as crossovers such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Persona and more.

While each kart has different stats for speed, acceleration, handling, power and boost, complete with a numerical value as well to more easily compare the performance of each part, different parts of each kart can be changed giving different stats.

The front and rear of the car, as well as the wheels, can fine tune the balance of what you want. These karts are incredibly customisable too in that different colours, decals, horns and aura can be chosen.

There are four different speed options to race around. Rival racers emerge helping you to progress and unlock more rewards and characters.

Before hitting the track, gadgets can be picked for different boosts too, like quicker drift charge, being able to hold more items at one time and starting each race with more boosts. More gadgets can be chosen the more you progress too, leading to different combos emerging specifically for certain tracks.

There's a much more granular level of detail here than in Mario Kart World without losing the ability to feeling like it's easy to pick up and play.

There are extensive customisation options both in terms of cosmetics and performance in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds / Sega

On track, there are 12 racers instead of the 24 in Mario Kart World and this for me helps to keep races feeling more fun and fresh. Fields are much less spread out and you're guaranteed to get a much more powerful weapon if you're in a higher position.

Having said that, weapons do not feel overpowered which is important and if you've earned the right to be leading towards the end, you're more likely to be rewarded for it. Similarly, if you're more towards the back approaching the finish line, you can end up gaining a handful of positions but are highly unlikely to win.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds feels as though it more often than not rewards consistency rather than the luck of what's in a box.

Rings replace coins, with it being a Sonic game of course, and up to 100 of these can be earned. These genuinely have a noticeable impact on your car's power and collecting as many of these as you can is essential.

When choosing a circuit, you do one lap of the chosen circuit before the leader gets to pick the next track, which is either a predetermined one or a completely random one. A lap of this is raced around before a portal leads back to the original circuit. This is where the CrossWorlds aspect comes in.

There is no filler here. Constant circuit racing. Yes please. That's something I've always preferred instead of long tours to get to where I'm supposed to. And the different second lap, which can be completely random, keeps the races themselves naturally different for longer.

The tracks themselves feel so much more consistently vibrant and colourful too than in Mario Kart World - some in that can feel a little pale and dull whereas I never found this feeling in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds.

There are grand prix, race park and time trial modes. In race park, you race against AI teams to win their machines and characters. There are modes where if a team gets more rings, they get a power boost, you can run into teammates for a boost, that kind of thing. There are triple and double team modes.

This is where I found the most carnage but it never felt as though it was too much or unfair. It just kept making me feel more determined without ever getting frustrated which is an impressive balance to find and it was fun having the team aspect shine through.

This is where quick match, extreme match and custom match can be found as well - you can race only with heavy weapons for example and there are so many more possibilities to experiment with.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds does not have an open world - but I don't really want that in a kart game in all honesty.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is the antidote to Mario Kart World I didn't know I needed / Sega

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is pretty much everything I want in a kart racing game - a great roster of characters, the ability to tweak different performance parts of my kart and a grand prix mode with actual circuit racing.

It's something I can easily pick up and play, complete a few races and come away feeling like I've had a really fun experience without feeling any sense of frustration.

There is no open world to be found here or driving in a straight line for two of three 'laps' to get to a great circuit - only to have one lap with the field incredibly spaced out.

And for me, that's why Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is better than Mario Kart World and has connected with me more than I expected.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is releasing on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch and PC on 22 September in early access with the full release on 25 September.

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