Parents' Guide to Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed: Bonus Edition

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed: Bonus Edition Poster Image

Common Sense Media Review

Mark Raby By Mark Raby , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 9+

SEGA stars come to the track to race and wreak silly havoc.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 9+?

Any Positive Content?

Parent and Kid Reviews

age 10+

Based on 5 parent reviews

age 8+

Based on 11 kid reviews

Kids say that while this game may be seen as a clone of a famous kart racing franchise, it offers unique features like a transformation mechanic and a variety of engaging modes that enhance gameplay. However, there are concerns about the lack of family-friendliness due to some characters and race track themes, and many players find the controls challenging compared to other racing games.

  • transformation mechanic
  • engaging modes
  • family friendliness concerns
  • challenging controls
  • graphics quality
Summarized with AI

What's It About?

SONIC & ALL-STARS RACING TRANSFORMED: BONUS EDITION is a racing game featuring iconic video game mascot Sonic the Hedgehog and several of his friends -- and enemies. Players race through a series of long, winding race tracks filled with twists and turns. In the Wii U version, they can keep track of where they are on the course by looking at the map on the GamePad. There is also a multiplayer mode where one player uses the GamePad and everyone else uses regular controllers. Players can choose to participate in freestyle races, or work their way through a story mode in which they compete to win races against computer-controlled opponents on every one of the race tracks.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say ( 5 ):
Kids say ( 11 ):

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed: Bonus Edition is a fun extension to the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Anyone familiar with the series will notice that the race tracks are all very representative of typical "Sonic" environments, paying homage to various games throughout the franchise's history. The tracks are all very well designed, with some that are essentially basic loops while others have challenging series of twists and turns. The use of the GamePad controller on the Wii U is also well executed, giving players the change to have two different perspectives on the race, and also allowing up to five players in multiplayer mode (four players on a split-screen TV and one player on the GamePad). The single-player experience is somewhat lacking, but those who enjoy playing video games with friends will no doubt have a great time with this game, Sonic fan or not.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the cartoon weapons in this game. Do you think this is violent or just part of the competition?

  • If you could be the best in the world at something, what would it be and why?

  • Have you had difficulty winning any of the races? What did you do to improve?

Game Details

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Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed: Bonus Edition Poster Image

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