Some things I discovered about ASRT that I think could benefit the game...

[Badnik Mechanic]

So I've started playing the Vita version of ASRT, only because I've already played through the PS3 version I found myself playing the Vita version differently to how I would ever play a game and I've made some interesting discoveries as well as some things that actually improve the experience and I really think should be patched into the game.

 

1: I can customise the race roster... sorta:

 

Ok so this is something I found out completely by accident, but looking back on it, I don't know how I didn't notice it before.

 

With the exception of playing a custom race online. The CPU will only ever pick characters you have unlocked in World Tour mode in every single race type. Be it single race, World Tour or GP. The CPU will only ever pick characters you've unlocked.

 

I discovered this because I wanted to unlock shadow as quickly as possible so I could get the 'Team Sonic' trophy on the vita faster/easier. Well I just did the bare minimum of stuff needed to unlock him, including skipping out all the unlocks.

 

Why is this a big deal? Well it depends on your likes really. I for one got so annoyed on the PS3 version every time I heard the name 'Danica' mentioned or saw her on the track, it really distracted from the world Sumo had created and took me out of the experience. I want to play in a world of videogame characters, not a sponsorship deal.

 

However... and this is going to sound really bad. Since skipping Danica, I have to say, races have been much more enjoyable. Even though Ralph is in the game, he was created as a CGI character to fit in a Videogame world, he works.

 

What I'd like to see happen.

 

I'd like there to be a customisation option that allows players to say which racers a CPU can and cannot pick in single player mode. Whilst this may not seem like a big deal to many, I know a few people here intend to get the PC version and the 3DS, I'm telling you, on WT mode, do not unlock Danica or other racers you don't like, you'll suddenly find the game so much better. The reason could even be something daft like 'I don't like that characters voice/dialogue choices' remove them from the game and you won't hear them anymore.

 

2: You don't need to play the entire WT mode to unlock expert difficulty.

 

This follows on from my goal to unlock Shadow as quickly as possible. On the PS3 version, I made a point to play and get 3 stars on every WT stage before I progressed to the next world, I assumed that it wouldn't unlock the next tour unless I had 'beaten' every stage.

 

But this is not the case.

 

You can move onto the next tour even if you have not touched some events. This drastically cuts down the time needed to unlock expert mode as the final 'secret' tour will still unlock after the credits. You do not need to have played every course or unlocked everything before hand.

 

Which brings me onto my next question... why? If I don't have to play nearly half of the initial world tour mode to unlock expert difficulty, why is it even locked at all?

 

Looking at World Tour mode, here are the number of stages you can skip out just to unlock expert difficulty assuming you play on Hard difficulty from the start.

 

Sunshine Coast: 1 Stage

 

Frozen Valley: 4 Stages

 

Scorching Skies: 4 Stages

 

Twilight Engine: At least 4 (it's hard to say as the camera won't move down into the unlocked area. But it's definately 4 at least).

 

Moonlight Park: At least 4 (same problem as above)

 

Total stages you can skip out: 17.*

 

*You may need to do some others depending on WT progression unlock gates, but I didn't keep track of that.

 

Now 17 stages is a lot, however... when you turn that into time you realise just how much you're saving to unlock Expert mode. Not sure what I mean? Well... think about this.

 

* Loading times (both going into & exiting the stage).

* Time to complete the stage (Depending on the stage, some 3 lap races can take around 5 min for most people).

* Repeating a stage, (you're going to fail sometimes).

 

When you add it all up, you are effectively saving hours of playing the game. If a player has mastered hard and is going through the same motions I did, this is not good for the game. It's going to make them bored and unless they really want to beat the game, they'll stop playing it.

 

What I'd like to see happen.

 

Expert difficulty unlocked from the start. This is something I mentioned in my review on TSS but playing through the Vita version of the game I am convinced this would greatly benefit the game. In my TSS review I mentioned becoming bored with the game because it took so long to unlock expert difficulty. On my Vita run, this has not happened. I unlocked expert very quickly because I was able to skip out a large number of stages. Meaning I can now go back to them and play on expert instead of paying through them once on easy/normal/hard.

 

There is no reason at all why this shouldn't happen now. If you can skip out 17 stages and still unlock expert, why isn't it open from the start? If it's a reward for your work, thats nice but, aren't most people going to be aiming to beat WT mode for the characters over another difficulty?

 

3: Allow us to pick CPU bots for online custom races.

 

This would mainly benefit Vita owners, though I can see console and PC owners getting some pleasure from this too.

 

This problem was discovered last night by myself and several other players when we were trying to get our Team Sonic trophy. The problem was that we only had 4 human players, we had to rely on the CPU randomly picking the required character, this took a very long time for us all to get the trophy and it was really really frustrating (expecially due to the Vita's quit game bug ) This could have been solved very quickly had the host of the game been able to dictate CPU slots and been able to say what character the CPU would play as.

 

If I'm the host of the game and I invite friends to join, chances are nobody else is going to get an invite to the game. For custom games, the CPU will always fill the empty slots, so why can't we decide who they play as?

 

What I'd like to see happen

 

When you create an online lobby and everybody is ready to start, the game would then ask you if you something like... "customise CPU players? O = Yes X = No" if the host selects no then the game starts as normal, this would minimise disruption to the game by only half a second at most.

 

However if they select yes. The empty lobby slots are filled with CPU players who are displaying 'random' characters (the question mark icon). The host can then go into the CPU player and change his character to his desire.

 

Why would this benefit the game? Like I said, this is mainly a benefit for Vita owners. It would allow friends to be able to get their Team Sonic trophy without wasting time hoping the CPU will pick the right characters if they don't have 5 people in a group. Since ASRT doesn't have an easy messaging system, it's a very difficult game to make friends on without having to quit the game and send messages (if you use the messaging system on the Vita, you are instantly kicked from the online mode of ASRT). But it would also be something that I think a lot of people would like as allows for customisation of races and gives people the option of coming up with scenarios which ultimately is 'fun.'

 

4: Unlock all tracks in Time Attack mode

 

Part of me wants to say, why are all the tracks locked at all. But it really is quite cool to eventually unlock Race of Ages and other tracks, it becomes a reward for beating a said area. But for time attack? Is this really nessesary?

 

Time attack is effectively practice mode right? So why can't I practice on all the courses from the word go? I'm not racing against other players, I can't invite human players to it. It's just me and the ghosts.

 

If I were to go online from a fresh save file, after only half an hours play I could have unlocked most of the final tracks anyway since playing on them automatically unlocks them for the single player anyway. So why the restriction?

 

What I'd like to see happen

 

Unlock all tracks from the start, but limit it to time attack mode.

 

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So anyway, thats what I discovered when playing this game on a second format for a second time. If you're planning on getting a second version, I definately encourage you to skip out certain character unlocks and just go for expert difficulty first, the first point, at least for me really did help me become emersed more in the game I was playing, I wasn't constantly having a sponsorship logo put in my face and reminded that there was a marketing deal made every second.

 

The other points I've raised might just be my personal preferences, but I can't help but feel that at least number 2 would make the game a lot more fun for people if they master the game and number 3 would greatly benefit Vita owners.

 

So... any thoughts?

[Jango]

Well, I know you can unlock every track by just playing them, no matter what mode you do. I've unlocked lots of tracks by playing matchmaking, so you don't really need to advance through the World Tour to unlock them all.

[Autosaver]

B-But I like playing as Danica Patrick!

 

I thought Sumo said there was going to be an option to toggle on/off the 3rd party characters. It isn't in game so I wonder what happened to that? I could be imagining though but I swear I read something similar when someone asked about it.

[Burnt Ash]

Apart from World Tour, is there a way to do versus races and battle races against the CPU only? I really like going against the CPU in these types of races. 

[Blue Blood]

B-But I like playing as Danica Patrick!

 

I thought Sumo said there was going to be an option to toggle on/off the 3rd party characters. It isn't in game so I wonder what happened to that? I could be imagining though but I swear I read something similar when someone asked about it.

 

I remember that. It was only about Danica though, since you have to specifically choose whether or not to unlock her. You don't have to enable her, but once you have it's permanent. 

 

Anyway...

 

I think 1 is a rather silly thing to find a fault with, considering they're just the CPUs in the background. I'll never understand why Danica or Ralph are annoying if you never actually choose to play as them. Developers have to put a limit on how much you can customise a game- (A) because they want to provide a particular experience for the player, and ( because it's a lot of work for menial changes. You'll not convince me that being able to disable characters is a worthwhile addition to a game like this. There was a similar matter in the first game where Banjo wouldn't be selected by the CPUs.

 

2 and 3 however I couldn't agree with more. By the time I unlocked Expert Difficulty, I'd already played every event a number of times, and no I did not want to play them again to continue unlocking things. That was boring. And the CPU racers online is a fairly big issue regardless of platform. It's not easy to get a proper competition going with your friends if there's CPUs playing against you, and in the same way Battle Mode is horrible if you've got anything less than the full 10 players. 

 

On to 4, I don't see a problem with TT tracks being locked. The key thing here is that the stages are supposed to be unlocked as rewards for your efforts. Race of Ages was so awesome to me when I first unlocked it. All that would have been totally lost had I been able to time trial it from the start. Though I can level with you on one thing- racing games are more about the multiplayer experience than anything else, and it's not fun to have to unlock everything a second time on a different platform, compared to a platformer where you play to progress. TT tracks should be unlocked once you have access to a stage in any mode, but not before.

Edited January 26, 2013 by Blue Blood

[Shawshank Redemption]

I choose not to unlock a bunch of racers, that was a feature since day one for me.

 

And the biggest thing the console versions need are bug fixes for track glitches and the Wii U time adjustments.

 

The only way we will be seeing that is a patch through DLC, because Sega won't invest the money into another separate update.

Edited January 26, 2013 by Sir Dwayne

[Chooch]

World Tour is the worst thing about All-Stars Racing Transformed. Mainly because it's mandatory.

[Autosaver]

Well, you can unlock stages through match making. Sadly, you can't unlock characters.

 

I find World Tour a blast with friends. Sadly, it doesn't have an online system.

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

Sadly, it doesn't have an online system.

So you want online enabled in World Tour with those crazy bumper car physics.

[Chooch]

It's better than not having it at all. What's your point exactly? It'd be fun.

 

World Tour is total shit when you aren't playing it with someone else.

Edited January 27, 2013 by Chooch

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

It's better than not having it at all. What's your point exactly? It'd be fun.

 

World Tour is total shit when you aren't playing it with someone else.

 

You are just going to give you (and your friends) more stress in completing World Tour. Forget doing any hard/expert runs on most of the challenges with those physics. That's why I rather not have it. And something like Drift Challenge was never made with 2P+ in mind anyway.

[Badnik Mechanic]

You are just going to give you (and your friends) more stress in completing World Tour. Forget doing any hard/expert runs on most of the challenges with those physics. That's why I rather not have it. And something like Drift Challenge was never made with 2P+ in mind anyway.

 

Well so what? I put in my review that I really wished that there was an online option for World Tour mode since it was such a lonely experience, and I still stand by that claim. I don't doubt that drift challenge or traffic attack will be harder. But thats why you'd do them solo, but for single races if somehow voice chat could be enabled, this would be a very welcome addition.

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

World Tour's suppose to be a single player experience. Having local friends play is optional.

 

I'm not a dumbass, I know adding online to World Tour will be better for most challenges because it will be more fun, but I see no point with the current bumper car physics. They have to change that first, otherwise only a few people would use that option and it will be a waste of Sumo's/Sega's time.

Edited January 27, 2013 by Merry Ming Shana

[Badnik Mechanic]

World Tour was suppose to be a single player experience. Having local friends play is optional.

 

I'm not a dumbass, I know adding online to World Tour will be better for most challenges because it will be more fun, but I see no point with the current bumper car physics. They have to change that first, otherwise only a few people would use that option and it will be a waste of Sumo's/Sega's time.

 

Yeah I know what it was supposed to be but that doesn't change the fact it's a lonely and boring experience once you master it, not to mention how they've been pushing the whole social/gaming with friends thing like crazy and lots of the challenges demand the use of friends. Not being able to have online co-op for this mode seems like a big oversight.

 

Also I don't think people would care too much about the crazy physics since you would be playing in co-op with friends.

 

The bouncy physics only really become an issue when playing competitively. Playing co-operately with someone though, it's not as frustrating. Also isn't the game set up in a way so that the buddy can if they want keep back and 'pass' his friend weapons?

 

 

Edit: ....Thinking about this some more.

 

Is it supposed to be a single player experience? You can bring in 3 local players perfectly fine? So whats the problem with online ones?

[Autosaver]

With how boring it is I would never call it a single player experience lol.

[S0L]

Interesting read

 

World Tour was originally going to be online play too, but getting a UI that worked for it online, not straight-forward. So much so we let it go, even though it was something we were keen to do. Every mode in World Tour is designed to be played one to four players BTW, but co-op, not competitively. It's also got specific balancing in place with that in mind in Split-screen, and if you're not passing items to each other in split-screen, you are doing it wrong, oh so very wrong 

 

I'll pass that list onto the chaps though, some good ideas there. I don't agree with them all mind. We have specific reasons for not offering AI customisation for example, as that can chuck the balance of the game heavily. Others were done intentionally such as the 'optional' character unlocks.

 

I was looking for that Trouser Mode option BTW, but even you admit now it wouldn't add to the game? My my!

 

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S0L

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Edited January 29, 2013 by S0L

[Autosaver]

and if you're not passing items to each other in split-screen, you are doing it wrong,

How do you pass items to each other?

 

Btw, why does Splitscreen have the ability to store items while singleplayer doesn't?

[Badnik Mechanic]

Interesting read

 

World Tour was originally going to be online play too, but getting a UI that worked for it online, not straight-forward. So much so we let it go, even though it was something we were keen to do. Every mode in World Tour is designed to be played one to four players BTW, but co-op, not competitively. It's also got specific balancing in place with that in mind in Split-screen, and if you're not passing items to each other in split-screen, you are doing it wrong, oh so very wrong 

 

I'll pass that list onto the chaps though, some good ideas there. I don't agree with them all mind. We have specific reasons for not offering AI customisation for example, as that can chuck the balance of the game heavily. Others were done intentionally such as the 'optional' character unlocks.

 

I was looking for that Trouser Mode option BTW, but even you admit now it wouldn't add to the game? My my!

 

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S0L

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lol well I knew that you wouldn't agree with everything I put there.

 

The thing with the Ai customisation thing. I mentioned custom races because with those I don't believe it contributes to online rankings? Also would I be wrong in thinking that custom races is something that friends would pick over match making due to this would pevent random people from joining the game? If it were a custom race thing but open to every game type. I would like to think that there would have been some prior agreement about what they'd want with regards to the Ai. You already need to decide as to what type of Ai (Expert/Hard/medium) you want to race against. So it's just the added customisation.

 

Also I think some single players would like the challenge too, can already picture people uploading videos showing their Amy taking on 7 Expert Ai players, all racing as high speed/boost racers like Ages, Metal Sonic & Sonic.

 

 

 was looking for that Trouser Mode option BTW, but even you admit now it wouldn't add to the game? My my!

 

Well... I figured by now that there would be no question as to it's importance. That every single meeting with Sega it would be brought up because it's that vital to the future of the game!!

 

I've got it!!! =D

 

Tell you what! Hire me and I can come down and pitch it for you! All of the future projects!

 

In fact we could pitch it further! A toy line! We can show how they can use the current toy moulds and just place trouser accessories in the box!

 

 

.... ... I could totally pitch for Sumo. /Is being serious as he does have the experience to do this. That and he totally wants to be responsible for 70's trousers being green lit.

[Someguy]

World Tour was originally going to be online play too, but getting a UI that worked for it online, not straight-forward. So much so we let it go, even though it was something we were keen to do.

... there wouldn't be a chance that it would be added as DLC later on down the line now that there aren't big deadlines pushing you to focus on other things is there?