Sonic Free Riders Now Playable Without a Kinect, Thanks to Fan Modding
The 2010 racing game “Sonic Free Riders”, released specifically for the Xbox 360’s Kinect motion-sensing peripheral, is now available to play on a PC without the need for any extra hardware.
The game, developed by Sonic Team, originally included massive interactive motion-controlled levels and challenges that players could tackle by themselves or with up to four players in multiplayer. The game has been considered by nostalgic fans as one of the great Sonic spin-off titles, with a unique and interesting playstyle.
Unfortunately, the nature of the Kinect at the time (and even in the present day) limited its availability, and eventually Sonic Free Riders faded away over time.
But due to a persistent community of third party developers and modders, the game can now be experienced on PC with mouse and keyboard. The PC version enables Force Feedback and textures up to 4K. For those running with weaker machines, it’s possible to render the game at 1080p with all textures intact.
It’s been a dream for fans of the game to be able to relive some of the memorable moments seen in Sonic Free Riders. The newly released mod enables them to do just that, without having to purchase any extra hardware or accessories.
The mod was released this month and includes all the original tracks, comments and references, unlockable items, customizations, and characters. An additional online multiplayer mode is also provided, featuring cooperative races and time attack challenges.
To join the Sonic Free Riders modding community and download the mod, check out their website here.
