Crash Nitro Kart

"Deja vu? Maybe not but it's very similar to it's predecessor"

Yes that’s right I sense a touch of Déjà vu with this game, as I mastered the edition on Playstation and was one of my all time favorites, I suddenly realized how similar these two games are.

Graphics

Above average for your cartoony racer, they can easily be compared to Crash Team Racing standards. As soon as I played this I did think there had been no improvements but they are not that bad once you get used to them. The characters are karts are quite blocky and don’t look very smooth. The tracks are quite bright with the big green boosts making a welcome return but seriously you can tell Crash Nitro Kart is aimed at younger children who are drawn to bright colors, which seem to hog the screen. The redeeming feature is the cut scenes, which are by no means Final Fantasy X standard but they are a nice break and are very sleek, and look well put together (even though I am still to get through one without switching it off).

7/10

Gameplay

This is what this game is all about, and is addictive as ever. The usual story of “bad guy takes over world, you save it” is back, and you must do the usual challenges to meet the boss. There are three types of things to do in Adventure mode,

Race: Your normal race, this usually unlocks the end of level boss, which is also a race. Very easy to win, does not take much effort.

CNK token: This is still a race but on the way you have to collect the separate letters C-N-K, much like C-T-R out of Crash Team Racing. The tokens are usually well hidden and will take a bit of searching for, but once you know where they are, this mode is easy.

Relic Race: Your objective this time is to collect boxes with a time in seconds on it. This wile stop time for that amount and you have to get a lower time than what is shown on your screen. This is again easy once you find all the three second boxes, and you should have no problem getting Gold.

This mode will be over in a few hours for the people who have played this type of game before, but a younger child will find this a tough challenge.

Again you have your basic power ups like speed, bowling bombs, homing missiles and TNT crates, but there are some new additions. These include a Static orb which will do much the same as a potion from the last game (slowing down the kart), an ice mine which puts your enemies in an ice cube for a couple of seconds, and a tornado top which will home in on first place. Again this is much like the electric shock from the last game.

The part I really like is the 2 player race and battle modes. The race is much more heart pounding and can bring many tension filled moments as it all depends on the power ups you get. The battle mode is excellent with many options for different modes like capture the flag and last man standing. These are a fun alternative to the game and are guaranteed to be fun filled, as anybody can win at it.

8/10

Sound

The music is mediocre, but to be honest you won’t be concentrating on it much. The menu music always gets my foot tapping for some reason even if it is repetitive, and a bit boring to add. The in-game voices are very funny and always have a hint of sarcasm in them like when you’re way ahead of everybody Tiny will shout out ”And now I will win this race” It cracks me up every time, much better than the last games voices. Also the sound of the kart and boosting is quite realistic and keeps in time to what you are doing.

7/10

Controls

Extremely easy to use and learn even a three year old child could play this game. This is why it is so fun, because it is simple stuff. You will have at your disposal the usual controls like X to go and 0 to fire a weapon, but with one new addition. Now when you are in a race on your right (when switched on) is a team play bar. When that is full you will keep getting weapons until it drains, by pressing R2. Also this time you can look behind you, which is very useful to see how close your opponent is. The hardest thing you will probably learn is the sliding and boosting which is not hard to master at all.

10/10

Replay value

The Adventure mode will not take long to complete if you have experience at other racing games (especially Crash Team Racing), and after that you can try out the Time trials, which were always fun. Overall I’d say 2 to 3 weeks, if you’re going to get everything right, but don’t undermine the two player replay value.

9/10

Buy, Rent, Leave

Really, if you like Crash Bandicoot you must have this game but other gamers who want to try out a kart game I suggest you rent this first to see how much you like it. Also if you have a little kid, I think they would love this game, as it is very child friendly.

Overall:
7 – Graphics
8 – Gameplay
7 – Sound
10 – Controls
9 – Replay Value
8.2 – Final Score

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/14/04