my opinion: pretty fast and AMAZING PRESENTATION (like literally-)
although I still sorta prefer SRB2 Kart just a bit . The devs did a good job and I can really tell with the games visuals and game play
How do you feel about it ?
Honestly?
I think the passion of the devs shows on the surface; from how the game looks visually, to the amount of Sonic and SEGA reps they have as drivers, and the efforts to make it feel like an old-school kart racer with that Sonic-inspired control and level design.
The question now is how well it all held up...and the answer can easily be described as a "mixed bag" situation once you start looking under the hood (the game's code), and it makes you start questioning how much testing went into it. Between the CPUs rubber-banding harder than MK64, the rival getting every buff under the sun by simply existing, the lack of invincibility after getting hit leading to you getting wombo-combo'd into the stratosphere, the egregious requirements to unlock most of the returning cast, and the damn special stages...it makes me feel like more focus went into the multiplayer than the single-player; which is fine...but that was part of the reason Ring Racers even exists is that people wanted a single-player mode...and it kinda sucks because of the massive difficulty curve (and I say this as someone who has legitimately unlock 50% of the game's content, got
AND got a
in Time Attack on what the community considers one of the worst courses in the game). They did make it easier to get Chao Keys to unlock stuff on the Challenge Board (akin to Kirby's Air Ride and Super Smash Bros.) by earning one every five races instead of fourteen, but that doesn't solve the problem of the challenge feeling too overwhelming.
The multiplayer feels much more enjoyable (despite the suffering I went through on stream recently), and where this game shines the most in a closed setting with friends around your skill level (like SRB2Kart). Got to try out battle mode too during the stream, which was a fustercluck...but that's battle mode in any kart racer.
The Rings and Spindash I'd say are two of the best mechanics they've added; the rings being useful for every type of racer, whether to help accelerator characters get a lot of speed, help speed characters recover their lost speed after getting hit, help lightweights build drift sparks faster, or to help heavyweights make turns better. Best addition by far. The Spindash? Perfect for getting out of or cutting through offroad and for skimming across the water. It would have made for an interesting risk versus reward for taking the time to charge a spin dash and skip item boxes to take shortcuts...unfortunately, tripwire gates are almost EVERYWHERE there's a potential shortcut and you need a power item to pass through those most of the time (or just go fast, no seriously). The Fast Fall is useful in some situations, but the bounce after landing makes trying to stick the landing more difficult; only use it at the end of a trick or when there's a long drop. Speaking of the trick system they pulled from the Sonic Advance titles...I'm not a fan, simply put. Sometimes I get confused that down makes you go up, and up makes you go forward, and the system is rarely used in the tracks I've played, but when they ARE used, it comes out of nowhere due to being barely able to set the trick panels...or things that ACT like trick panels (like balloons and pogo-springs) which the game doesn't make clear. You can't cancel tricks either (as of 2.1), so you're forced to trick, even when it would be the worst decision possible (failing tricks/trying to cancel them via fast fall forces you into tumble!). And the respawn mechanic? ...I was lapping some of the CPUs and was able to ride the coattails of their respawn devices to get a speed boost and keep my lead. ...They intended this mechanic to be used as a "get back in the pack/bullet bill" button, but it can be abused to keep your frontrunner status going longer.
Long story short; it's worth at least playing with friends, even if you're not a fan of Sonic or Kart racing games. If you don't wanna unlock stuff, the devs gave you the passwords in a text file to unlock everything so you don't have to go through the pain, but you would be missing out on half of what the game has to offer, even if it's damn difficult. And remember the addon scene for SRB2K? It's here in full force too, and it hasn't been long since the game's launch. I even made a Mario and a Luigi racer addon within a few days of them releasing the patch which contains KartMaker. I hope everyone gets some enjoyment out of this game, regardless of how big or small it is, but Ring Racers feels like a game I can only play for an hour and a half before I start to lose my mind.