In December 2024, SEGA announced  Sonic Racing Crossworlds as a part of The Game Awards, and that it will be released next year. Gameplay was revealed in February 2025 as a part of the Sony State of Play, where it was revealed that it was going to be mostly a sequel to the Sonic and All-Stars Racing games, but also bringing back the Extreme Gear from the Sonic Riders series. Sonic Racing Crossworlds released on September 25, 2025 for the Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S to great reviews, receiving a 9/10 from IGN, an 82% from Metacritic, and a 10/10 from Steam. So the question is, is Sonic Racing Crossworlds really that good, and is it better than Mario Kart?

Sonic Racing Crossworlds is a racing game, and some may think that it plays too similar to Mario Kart, with similar controls, similar items/power-ups, and a three-lap structure. Despite that, I believe that Sonic Racing Crossworlds is different from Mario Kart and can stand on its own. Even though Sonic Racing Crossworlds controls are similar to Mario Kart, Sonic Racing Crossworlds is more fast-paced in terms of gameplay compared to Mario Kart, in that it feels different from Mario Kart. The three-lap structure of Sonic Racing Crossworlds also is different from Mario Kart because each lap in Mario Kart is the same, whereas the second lap in Sonic Racing Crossworlds is a track different from the one that is actually being played, and the third lap is a slightly altered version of lap 1. I will admit that the power-ups are very similar to Mario Kart, but some of them act differently from how they would act in Mario Kart. 

Something that I like about Sonic Racing Crossworlds is, as I previously mentioned, the three-lap structure. The second lap being completely different from the first and third adds more stakes to the game because you do not know where you will end up in the second lap, and it could help or hurt your chances of winning. Something else I like about this game is the character roster. In this game, you can play as basically every main Sonic character, as well as some who are not normally playable, such as Team Chaotix (Espio, Vector, and Charmy), the Babylon Rogues (Jet, Wave, and Storm), Big the Cat, Silver the Hedgehog, and more. As of recent, characters who are not named Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, or Shadow have only been playable in the Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games series or Team Sonic Racing (if even in those games), so it is nice to finally be able to play as these characters. Not only that, but there are SEGA characters as free DLC such as Joker from Persona and Hatsune Miku, and there are non-SEGA characters as DLC you have to pay for, such as SpongeBob and Minecraft Steve. In my opinion, the roster is just amazing. Another thing that I like about this game are the race tracks. Most of them are based off of locations throughout the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and they are really fun to play. As I said earlier, the second lap is a random track, which makes each race and lap feel unique from each other. Sonic Racing Crossworlds also has a gadget system, where you can equip gadgets, which can help you out in your race. For example, gadgets can grant you certain power-ups or they can grant you a better drift-boost. The gadgets not only assist you in the race, but the gadgets make the online truly more fun, since most people have gadgets, and gadgets that work in one track may not work as well in another. Sonic Racing Crossworlds also has great replay value because the more red rings you collect in a track, the more in-game currency you can get, and getting enough A or S-rank on the time trials results in you winning songs from previous Sonic the Hedgehog games. Not to mention that the gadget system and unique three-lap system already make the game have great replayability. My only problem with Sonic Racing Crossworlds is that it at times feels a bit too much like Mario Kart with the power-ups and controls to an extent, but I enjoyed the feel of the game.

To answer the question at the start of the article, Sonic Racing Crossworlds is indeed a great racing game with great gameplay, great track design, a phenomenal character roster, feels great to play, and has great replay value, but it also feels too similar to Mario Kart at times. As for the other part of that question, is Sonic Racing Crossworlds better than Mario Kart? It is hard to say because Sonic Racing Crossworlds definitely took some inspiration from Mario Kart, but on the other hand, Sonic Racing Crossworlds has genuine replay value that is not just about wanting to get better. In my opinion, it might depend on which Mario Kart we are talking about, but if we are talking about Sonic Racing Crossworlds versus the new Mario Kart World, Sonic Racing Crossworlds is definitely better, mainly because it is worth its price, while Mario Kart World is not. Overall, Sonic Racing Crossworlds is a great kart-racer, and I give it an 8/10.