TL;DR
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds isn’t a Mario Kart clone wearing blue shoes; it’s a spicy, team‑forward racer with a dimension‑hopping twist. Solo cups keep you honest, Race Park makes a night of it, and online is lively with full cross‑play, though a few modifiers are currently restricted while SEGA sands down the netcode edges.
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Review (PS5)
At first glance, I braced for a knockoff. Mario Kart is still the living room’s default “Chaos Engine”, and Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds could have phoned it in. It doesn’t. The DNA is recognisably kart‑racer—drifts into boosts, item scrums, rubber‑band tension—but the flavour is its own. The SEGA‑wide cast (with more guests arriving over time) and the CrossWorld mechanic gives the racing its identity, while the handling feels tuned for flow rather than forensic time‑trial hair‑splitting.
I opened on Solo Grand Prix and pushed until the game basically looked me in the eye and suggested I turn those Rival flames down a notch. It’s a cheeky way of saying the AI won’t gift you wins: first to last can happen in a blink when the item weather turns, and you need to read the pack, not just the apex. That’s where the difficulty tiers earn their keep. From the jump you can pick Normal, High, or Sonic Speed; each a step up in pace and pressure. Clearing the main cups at unlocks Sonic and Super Sonic “full‑send” difficulty levels, while Mirror Sonic flips the courses so your muscle memory betrays you. Super Sonic sits out public online lobbies, but it’s there when you want a white‑knuckle offline test. The Rival intensity (that flame icon I mentioned earlier) lives on its own slider, so a race can feel spicy even on lower speed tiers if you crank that setting; handy to know when the game suggests easing off after a rough set.
Online has been smooth for me more often than not, and cross‑play keeps lobbies quick to fill. At the time of posting this review, some player modifiers are restricted in World Match while SEGA tees up balance fixes, which takes a little variance out of the wildest lobbies but keeps matches stable enough to grind. Leaderboards are already a shark tank, so a stint in Time Trial pays off before you queue into Ranked. I’ll keep an eye on the patches and slot updates here once all modifiers are “permitted” again.
Local multiplayer brings out the best of it. Two‑player split‑screen amps the teamwork and makes bullying Rival teams a sport; four‑player turns the room into a stadium and sends the chaos up to an eleven on the Richter-Scale. Beat Rival AI teams three times and you’re tossed a handful of machine customizations for your trouble, so there’s a carrot for playing as a squad instead of pure clown hour. The Race Park hub ties it all together. It’s more than a menu; it’s a compact amusement park that rotates challenges: Triple Team Ring Grab, Triple Team Tap, Double Team Shoot‑Out, Double Team Dash Panel, Extreme Match, and Quick Match, which gives the evening or gaming session rhythm instead of a lobby loop-fest. If you’re only two on the couch you might feel the rotation repeat sooner, but bigger groups keep it fresh, and the roadmap’s new tracks per character pack should keep the buffet stocked (hopeful longevity glimmer).
The customization rabbit hole runs deep under Character & Machine. You mix bodies, tyres, boards and parts to nudge stats, then slot gadgets to bend the minute‑to‑minute benefits on cooldown. Visual flair isn’t an afterthought; customize particle glows, decals and even what your hooter sounds like (I love me the Alien and Accordion samples). The Bonus Menu doubles as a jukebox; where you can swap out the main sound pack (including album packs from crossover guests) ensuring that the menu always stay fresh and vibey between sessions (or your mood).
The CrossWorld portals are the signature toy. By default they pop from lap two, and whoever is leading the pack gets to decide which alternate dimension the entire field shifts to, but I enjoyed “spinning the wheel” to go to a random map/level. Those CrossWorld tracks are playable in Time Trial on their own, but mid‑race the shift can change what lines matter, what items you’ll value, and who benefits. It’s a risk‑reward call that asks a little leadership from first place because this can make or break your team’s rankings, get lucky and keep the lead, get tossed into aerial racing whilst transporting from water; it could spell an instant pace halt, costing you the dub.
Hatsune Miku is a free post‑launch racer you claim via a store add‑on. Joker from Persona 5 is visible but currently padlocked pending his rollout; Ichiban Kasuga isn’t surfaced on my client yet, consistent with a later patch. Paid crossover packs drip in via the Season Pass rollout and are also à la carte; bringing new racers, a themed vehicle, a track, music and cosmetics. I’m eyeing the Avatar: The Last Airbender set already.
Visual stability holds under effect‑heavy pile‑ups and the image stays readable when the pack compresses, which matters more here than anywhere else in the game – nobody has time for the jittery jaunt when attack items drop on cooldown during a Frenzy Mode announcement. Loading between events is smooth and really quick, so quick, that I can’t even take a sip of my drink or grab a mouthful of poppity corns. DualSense cues are dialed in; the haptics sell surface swaps and gadget procs without numbing your palms, and the adaptive triggers give drifts and boosts a tangible snap. If you’re sensitive to motion and HUD clutter, the options do let you tame camera assists and overlays. One extra (gear)lever that changes how feisty the pack feels is the Rival intensity, shown as a flame icon (mentioned above; but now for the third time… because it really matters). It’s separate from the global speed tier, which is why a race on High or even Sonic Speed can still feel spicy if the Rival is set high. You can lower or raise that slider on the race setup screen without touching the speed class, and it doesn’t affect your ability to progress or unlock the higher difficulties.
Cross‑play is in, which is doing heavy lifting for matchmaking speed. In my sessions, finding a World Match has taken moments rather than minutes, with the occasional hiccup that a restart fixes. Sega has temporarily restricted a few specific gadgets in World Match and Festival while they chase down bugs, which trims some of the more chaotic builds but steadies the ship. Ranked is already sweaty; spend a little time chiseling lines in Time Trial and you’ll feel the difference when the items start flying. Private lobbies behaved for me, and couch co‑op into online is a weekend staple waiting to happen. Cross‑save is a question mark for now on my end; if I add the PC version later, I’ll update this section with what carries over.
Whilst it’s another entry in the modern battle‑style racing space, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds isn’t a copy‑paste reskin of its predecessors. It carries a clean current‑gen vibe without the kind of feature bloat that adds needless “chonk” – you savvy? It’s simple in the best way: you play, you get rewarded, you customize, you move on. In fast‑paced weeks I don’t camp on a single game unless it has a meaty campaign; this scratches the “quick break from real‑life stress” itch with bright, boisterous chaos on demand. It broadens the PartyKart ecosystem, and between evergreen fan‑favourite faces and a steady runway of crossover DLC, it has a real shot at sticking around.
The game was released on 25 September 2025, and my review copy of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds was supplied by our local SEGA distribution heroes – thank you for the opportunity, as always, we are forever grateful to you. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is available on Windows PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, and also Nintendo Switch. At the time of posting this review, the price seems quite standardized for the Standard Edition (no Season Pass included) at R1,299 via the PlayStation Store and on Steam, while the Digital Deluxe edition will set you back an additional R400 if you are interested in the Season Pass, because the Season pass as an add-on is priced at R569 via the PlayStation Store if you decide to buy it at a later stage. If you would like to try before you buy, then you can also opt for downloading the game demo via the same online store links.
DLC Delights
The Season Pass brings multiple crossover drops over the coming year, each typically bundling a couple of playable characters, a themed vehicle, a new track, remixed music, emotes, and sounds. Two headline Quarter 4 (2025) packs centre on Minecraft and SpongeBob; additional waves will follow in early to mid‑2026. Free post‑launch racers (like Hatsune Miku) arrived via title updates as mentioned above, and don’t require the Season Pass to unlock enjoy playing with.
