I seem to be reading from a few places translating a Famitsu article that Jun Senoue is involved with the music for this. It sure as hell doesn't sound like the usual racing works of Richard Jacques, that's for sure.
...This looks like a step back from Transformed, but I was already expecting it so I can't say I'm disappointed. =\
One thing that stuck out to me is how the sense of speed really doesn't feel like it's there. It's probably just a development thing that will be tweaked like it was in Double Dash, but I can't shake the impression that the cars are just kind of coasting along on a Sunday drive.
The difference between C-class and S-class races in ASRT was pretty extreme to boot. When that game was slow, it wasn't very exciting. But at top speed it was a different story entirely. Until we see something to suggest otherwise, I'm expecting it to be similar ASRT.
Maybe I just haven't played the right games, but I'm struggling to think of something genuinely entertaining when it comes to team racing that also doesn't involve more than one person in the same vehicle. Crash Nitro Kart had a team feature similar to this game, and it felt very much like an afterthought. Besides unlimited power-ups under certain conditions, it counted as a victory if either you or your partner came in first place (and I'm assuming TSR will be the same thing). That's not fun. It doesn't feel like you win when someone else does it for you (especially if it's the CPU). Unless there's something we don't know yet, I think this is a very uninteresting gimmick to put in your game's title. Harmless, maybe, but then, there isn't much of a point to begin with. Hopefully I'm wrong about this, but if not, I'm still looking forward to Sumo's usual output, at least.
I'd have less faith in this if it was being developed by someone else, but given Sumo's track record with this stuff I'm sure they'll pull something off that's at least good. Team racing is a rather strange gimmick though but if anyone could pull it off it's them.
Here's the thing about kart racers: they know you love 'em. They're easy to understand and fun. That's why they'll have to fine tune the heck out of it if they want to make something that's outstandingly good. Or the other way around: Is it just a lazy genre where nothing goes wrong as long as it features supreme graphics? Hmmm... Jumping off ramps is fun, flying off the track is not. Perfecting your driving skills is fun, crashing into obstacles or walls is not. Backgrounds that show you another side of a level are fun, generic floating platforms are not. Feel free to prove me wrong. My dream top 15 characters: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Metal Sonic, Eggman, Vector, Charmy, Espio, Cream and Big, Shadow, Blaze and Nights and Samba de Amigo. They need each other! The new school era has begun. I personally would have chosen Gamma over Omega, but something tells me that we'll get the werehog, Infinite and Orbot and Cubot instead...
This really sums up how I'm feeling about the game so far. I don't like the direction it's taking (especially the art it's just plain ugly), but it's hard not to trust Sumo to deliver another great racer. I'm still excited to play it.
I'm sure it'll be a good game, and I don't even really agree about the visual complaints, it looks fine to me. What I'm likely gonna miss from ASRT is the change in tracks. The way the Skies of Arcadia level broke apart and changed to a plane level as the laps passed was awesome, and I'd be sad to see it go. Imagine an Angel Island raceway that gets set on fire partway through or a Final Egg track with the Viper explosion bringing stuff crashing down.
Eurogamer's preview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOVwk0IqTu0 They mention that Amy and Dr. Eggman are confirmed, also they spotted this billboard which hints at Vector being playable:
They didn't mention Rouge or Omega, so it's possible they just made a mistake. Amy and Eggman are pretty much guaranteed anyway. If their information is accurate, then Amy is a Technique type.
Amy being technique would be kinda weird. You'd think they'd take her Speed trait from Heroes, especially if they're going the team route. So confirmed characters are now the following Sonic Tails Knuckles Shadow Rouge Omega Amy Eggman Egg Pawn (?) Vector (?) So 8/15 at least. It's yet to be seen if you can play as the Egg Pawns or if they are just on track obstacles/badniks and Vector wasn't officially confirmed, but if he is you know Espio and Charmy will be there as well. I mean just take the character roster from Forces Speed Battle and add Eggman honestly. That's the closest to definitive character roster we've seen in a long time.
I could see Amy being power if they decided to make a team of Blaze/Silver/Amy, but I see no way of making sense of her being technique in any way. Rouge being technique makes perfect sense though, so mistaking Rouge for Amy seems likely to me. I imagine the Egg Pawns will be playable - in a game like this it's so trivial to turn something from an AI character to a playable character it'd almost be a waste not to. Team Chaotix is guaranteed. And it'd be a massive surprise if Silver and Metal Sonic weren't in there either from the start or as DLC. I'm still curious about Blue Egg Pawn. Is he a separate character, or can you choose your skin (like Yoshi and Shy Guy in MK8)? And if that's the case, do the other characters have alternative skins?
Metal Sonic has been in both previous Sumo kart racers as DLC. I wouldn't be shocked if he was set aside for DLC but I would be shocked if he wasn't included at all, especially if Eggman is a racer (I imagine his team would be Metal Sonic - Speed, Egg Pawn - Power, Eggman - Technique) Orbot and Cubot would make good like, announcers or flag bearers but I would not want them to be playable.
I hope Team Rose doesn't end up being the same line-up as in Sonic Heroes. I'd be fine with Big, since he's such a unique character in the series, but Cream would be a bit of a waste when you could have Blaze, Marine or G-merl instead. The Eurogamer video said the game would have 15 characters "at launch". I wonder if Sega phrased it that way?
If they're specifying "at launch" I hope that just means they're issuing free 'updates' to add content. A lot of companies these days are holding a lot of content back from initial releases and labeling it as free DLC or free updates to keep players engaged. Nintendo is doing this with Splatoon for example, and SEGA are adding they're influenced by such games with this title. It's a bit of a dirty tactic, but it's preferable to them charging extra for characters when the base cast of 15 is just so small.