Sonic Team Racing (Switch)

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VideoGameCritic
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Sonic Team Racing (Switch)

Postby VideoGameCritic » June 3rd, 2019, 9:08 pm

Played this today with some friends and Brent wants to know if there's a way to unlock a smooth framerate for the split-screen mode! He's right. It's remarkably choppy for a modern console.

I mean, I could make excuses for a PS2 game maybe, but in 2019 you'd think a game should be able to render a smooth four-player split screen. Nintendo can do it! Maybe Sega doesn't have the technology.

Sonicx9
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Re: Sonic Team Racing (Switch)

Postby Sonicx9 » June 3rd, 2019, 9:41 pm

VideoGameCritic wrote:Played this today with some friends and Brent wants to know if there's a way to unlock a smooth framerate for the split-screen mode! He's right. It's remarkably choppy for a modern console.

I mean, I could make excuses for a PS2 game maybe, but in 2019 you'd think a game should be able to render a smooth four-player split screen. Nintendo can do it! Maybe Sega doesn't have the technology.


Try setting the system to 720P or 480P to see if that helps?

Also, you should have went with PS4 and Xbox One as the framerate is better their. https://youtu.be/HwgVae6rHb0 and https://youtu.be/xtmdrYpxx04

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Retro STrife
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Re: Sonic Team Racing (Switch)

Postby Retro STrife » June 5th, 2019, 3:43 pm

How's it stack up to Sonic All-Stars Racing? I have the Wii U version and it's one of the few games my wife will play along with.

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Re: Sonic Team Racing (Switch)

Postby VideoGameCritic » June 5th, 2019, 5:19 pm

I always like All-Star Racing, so I prefer that one. This new Team Racing has some kind of mechanism to exchange items between team players, and it's off putting.

GTS
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Re: Sonic Team Racing (Switch)

Postby GTS » June 5th, 2019, 5:52 pm

Yes, there is a way to unlock a smooth frame rate in splitscreen: Return the game to the store and buy the PS4 or XBOX1 version.

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Re: Sonic Team Racing (Switch)

Postby Matchstick » June 5th, 2019, 9:45 pm

GTS wrote:Yes, there is a way to unlock a smooth frame rate in splitscreen: Return the game to the store and buy the PS4 or XBOX1 version.


LOL!

In all fairness, though, it shouldn't be an issue to expect a brand new video game to work well when you bring it home and play it. If it's a choppy, unplayable mess, then shame on the developers for releasing it in the first place. Seems like some Switch releases do get the short end of the stick in that regard. If Sega can't get the game up-at-running at a reasonable clip, then they probably just should have skipped the Switch version altogether.

As The Critic stated, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe works just fine in 4-player split-screen mode. Not like Nintendo has some "secret sauce" that they won't share with other developers. I'm sure Sega could have made some changes to the game to improve the frame rate, but for whatever reason, they didn't do it. Then you see games like Doom and Mortal Kombat 11 that run great on the Switch. Sure, they might not be as sharp as they could be on the other consoles or a high-end PC, but they run smoothly and are comfortably playable.

No excuses here. I love me some Sega, but if they aren't going to put some effort into their Switch ports, I'd rather them not even bother with the system in the first place. I think they best Sega games I've played on the system are the Sega Ages ports of OutRun and the original Phantasy Star, both of which have a ton of refinements and extras added in. No, I'm not directly comparing a pair of games released in the 80's to one released in 2019, but the Ages line shows that the company is capable of going the extra mile to release a fully-featured port of a game if they choose to do so.

Unfortunately, for Sonic Team Racing, they chose not to. A shame.

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Re: Sonic Team Racing (Switch)

Postby CharlieR » June 10th, 2019, 9:26 am

I watched a review for this game on youtube, and they did mention that it was 30 frames per second on the switch, as opposed to 60 on the xbox one and ps4. I thought about getting it. I'm not that crazy about the team mechanic, although I'm sure I'd get used to it. The game looks pretty good, but I'm personally waiting for Crash Team Racing on the switch.

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Re: Sonic Team Racing (Switch)

Postby VideoGameCritic » June 13th, 2019, 8:53 pm

It is kind of sad that the company who brought us "blast processing" in 1991 can't even program a proper split-screen mode in 2019. How the mighty have fallen.

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Re: Sonic Team Racing (Switch)

Postby Matchstick » June 13th, 2019, 9:07 pm

From what I've read of reviews for this game, it seems it even has performance issues on other systems. Gamespot's review specifically mentioned slowdown during split screen races while playing on the PS4 Pro!

Easy pass on this one. Not that it was really all that high on my want list, anyway, but when many of us gamers equate Sonic with "Gotta go fast," it's a shame that his current games can't even get that little detail right.


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