Sonic Rumble throws you into a tooth-and-nail race and battle with Sonic and friends!

• Join Sonic and his team as they compete for rings and glory
• Race to win, battle for rings, and hunt down enemies to snatch victory
• Play as classic Sonic characters or customise your newcomer

Sonic Chaos was one of the first games I ever played, and so Sonic holds a lot of nostalgic power over me. I'm one of the few who continues to hold out hope that any new 3D Sonic game will at least hold my hand for a while before it breaks my heart. That being said, Sonic and the gang have a pretty solid track record when it comes to handheld adventures, so when I heard about Sonic Rumble, I felt a small pinch of optimism. SEGA is trying to make a fast and simple multiplayer offering with some custom stuff to make us feel at home.

Looking at it, I had some thoughts going in: After playing things like Crash Bash and Fall Guys, I was open to competing in the Sonic universe. All that speed and jumping is perfectly tailored to racing and platforming challenges, and I want to show off my skills. While the Sonic cast has definitely gotten a bit big with all these new custom characters thrown in, it does lose its identity in some places. But maybe that's a good thing… I could just look at this as a stylised and colourful multiplayer game that just happens to have Sonic elements.

Of course, Sonic has a wealth of level design and mechanics to pull from, which can be seen in the different challenges. Races look like they could be placed among the many 2.5D Sonic worlds, while hunts bring back all types of robot enemies from the earlier entries in the series to some of the more modern ones. I also found that it gives you plenty of chances to play nicely, focusing on what you can get for yourself, or play rough, going after opponents to lower their scores and take their stuff. The latter is especially satisfying to get revenge on that one guy who smacked you out of the air, only to rub it in later when you claim first place. I'd definitely need to put in time and effort to unlock some of the better goodies, but it's an enjoyable and smooth grind so far.

Sonic Rumble is brought to us by SEGA and is available on Android and iOS.