Online is pretty smooth while I was playing wireless.
I think the new drifting mechanics are an improvement, as it was far too easy to drift in the previous game. Hell, like I mentioned before, there was even a trick that allowed you to drift infinitely, even on straights.
Drifting takes actualy skill now, and requires you to learn the tracks, to determine which drift level boots you should go for on which corners. Between drifting being more demanding, and hitting a wall slowing you down a lot more than in the previous game, it's not always worth risking going for a better boost, but when you do pull it off, it's more rewarding (and more helpful, as the boosts in this game are more significant).
Drifting is little more difficult, but I'm not sure if it's a gap in skill that's involved with the new one, to me is just seems like it's just limited from the first in control. Either way, the infinite drift boost they could have removed that while keeping the old one intact, but this is really just preference vs preference. I prefer to have the most control possible, I think this topic is similar to Super Mario World VS Super Mario Bros. 3, one has more control, while the other is more stiffer. I prefer Super Mario World for that reason.
I also disagree with this. Items in this game are a lot better. In the previous game, as soon as a player built up a large enough lead, they were untouchable, as the items didn't travel far enough. This was compounded by the fact that All-Star moves weren't useable online, meaning that items didn't help you much at all.
I think the items in this are just right; the weaker ones don't feel useless, and the stronger ones don't break the game.
I like that Sumo went out of their way to make a Boost mode too; it removes all items, and adds more boost markers to each stage. So it becomes just a matter of pure driving and drifting.
Actually, the items aren't powerful enough to effect that. Well, the all-stars are better, but it's mainly their usage that's better because you can get it higher up instead of only like last place like the previous game. I have been smoking racers online almost in a similar way to the last game, however, the only difference is the catch-up feature in this game is more prominent. It's not the items at all, the balance in them are that some are amazing while some aren't that great. I mean, you can even dodge the lock on RC racer with a boost. I'd say the power of items in this is even weaker cause you don't have something that's as effective and common as the red rockets or triple red rockets.
I've never played this series before a few days ago, but my office mate (Josh Harmon from EGM) has been playing it non-stop to do his review. He was having some trouble with one of the challenges where a lot of drifting was involved, and I wanted to give it a shot. Having not played the game at all at that point, I beat the race in about three tries. As somebody who comes from playing a lot of Ridge Racer, it literally took me 20 seconds to get a perfect handle on the drifting in this game. From what little I played, I thought it felt buttery smooth.
My comparisons are from the first game to the last game, and the last game had more control. My point is I prefer the control over the vehicle the last game has, and since this is a sequel, of course I would be let down by this fact if it didn't appeal to me in the same way.
I asked Josh about this, and he vehemently disagrees with you. He's continually said while playing how impressed he is with the difficulty in the game when compared to other kart racers, and how nicely balanced Transformed has been. He's currently at Expert level, and he says up until this level the game has definitely felt more about being good than about the game just having the other racers be ridiculously hard to overcome.
Actually, AI is a big complaint so it's not just me with this one. That's probably the most common complaint and the only one I feel matters in the long run with this series. I can put up with the difficulty fine and regularly I play Kart Racers, but it's not really welcoming to newer players like the last one was. But I don't agree so much with that last part, because from what I've seen, the AI keep their spots.
Kokonoe, dont try to drift exactly the same as the first, I was doing that at first too and thought it was pretty annoying, but in this you dont always want to hold on for level 2 or 3 drifts, you want to chain level 1 drifts together where possible, once you get used to it it's actually really cool and makes you appreciate how well some of the tracks are laid out.
Yeah, I took that in mind after the first hour, it did mess me up pretty bad. I have the drifting down pat now, I just think the last game did it better but it could have had improvements to it as well. The drifting in this title kinda reminds me of Mario Kart Double Dash.
Give it some time, and unlearn everything from the first game. I think it's a much tighter experience when you get used to it, but it is a different beast from the first game.
I actually like this game, I just prefer the driving from the first one. I think this one is a good game all on it's own, and as I said before I think it's better than Mario Kart 7, I just kinda preferred the more fluid 'control' the last one had over the style this one portrays. It's not a bad game though.