Sonic Racing Transformed goes free to play

SEGA excitedly announced that their most famous kart racer, Sonic & All-Star Racing Transformed, is now free to play on both Android and iOS. Customers that previously bought the game have been awarded with a free VIP pass that unlocks certain features and removes the ads.

The story behind this decisions is SEGA’s effort to improve the title’s multiplayer experience by making it available for everyone to download and play. They also promised new content on regular basis with the first batch coming in on Tuesday 29th April, introducing 2 new unlockable characters (Wreck-It Ralph and Metal Sonic), new game modes (World Tour Chapter and Boss Cup Grand Prix), new race tracks and improved replay recording and editing features that can easily be shared on social networks.

New players will find all the existing content locked (including the multiplayer mode) and will have to work their way through, gather rings and unlock characters, tracks and game modes one-by-one. The VIP pass awarded to customers that already bought the game will unlock 4 basic characters (Sonic, Tails, Amy and Ulala), provide immediate access to both Multiplayer and Grand Prix modes and remove all the ads. The VIP card can be purchased ($4.99) separately from the in-app store, where you can also find couple of character packs, ring bundle and the ring-star conversion tool.

Despite being a bit laggy and unresponsive on certain devices, Sonic & All-Star Racing Transformed is still one of the best arcade kart racers on the Play Store. Now that the price tag is gone, you can download the game and try it out for yourself without spending a dime. Just make sure you find a nice and fast WiFi hotspot to download the 900 megabytes of data required, close your background apps and put your pedal to the metal.

Ivica Kiwi