Sega and developer Sumo Digital finally announced their sequel to 2010's Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing. Subtitled Transformed, this sequel’s big focus is Sonic and Sega’s All-Stars having transformable vehicles. All characters in the game can transform their cars into planes or boats given the terrain they have ahead in the iconic tracks. Most of the roster from the last game will return playable even though the final lineup is not official yet. In the screenshots seen so far, Sonic is there as well as Dr. Eggman, Crazy Taxi’s B.D. Joe, and Beat from the Jet Set Radio series. Sega did mention new characters joining in such as Golden Axe’s Gilius and even Vyse from Skies of Arcadia. Ristar and Vectorman are also rumored characters there are also been floating around the interwebs, but there is no official confirmation yet from either Sega or Sumo. There are more diverse tracks this time around; the orginal had many Sonic and Billy Hatcher tracks. For instance, a Panzer Dragoon inspired course is already in the game and there is so much potential for other Sega games’ tracks to follow suit. Hopefully Sumo learns from the flaws of the first game so the sequel can be leagues better. As what we've seen so far from the game’s first screenshots and trailer, along with the potential of Sega IPs that weren’t used in the last game, it is easy to be excited for this Sonic & All-Stars Racing sequel. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is currently slated for a fall 2012 release on Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS, Playstation Vita, and PC.
