Crash Team Racing

"Good? Yeah. Diddy Kong? No."

One word: No. Yes, this is a solid racer. And yeah, it gets the kart formula right. Maybe Playstation owners waited too long for this kind of game, but there is simply no way it can even try to compare to Diddy Kong Racing or Mario Kart 64.

Graphics: 8/10. Okay, it does look pretty good. It has the cartoony feel, and while the environments do vary, the textures are actually pretty plain and deviod of much detail. I may have been spoiled by using more powerful systems, but I still don't find anything about the game very impressive. I never went into an area and said, ''Wow.'' On the other hand, character modeling is good and fits the overall unserious mood of the game. There is no (or at least very little) slowdown, as far as I can tell.

Replay: 8/10. I know I'll get a little heat from this. Yes, racing against a friend is fun. However, I foolishly went in expecting a little more action than was readily available. As I shall go deeper into later, weapons aren't really all that effective. As long as you don't go in expecting an action-packed experienced, you'll have fun.

Story: 1/10. Nuh-uh.

Sound: 6/10. I cannot remember any of the music. It's is all very simple and forgettable, not to mention incredibly repetitive from track to track. Ugh. Sound effects are well done, and help make you feel a little more like you're actually in an intense racing experience (okay, it's not intense, but it adds what little it can). Voices are sort of cheesy, too.

Gameplay: 7/10. My main complaint: Weapons don't do much. There are a couple of useful items, but most are pretty unnecessary and don't add anything to the game. TNT boxes are a rather good addition, but the fact that it's easy to buck them off takes away any merit they gave, unless you're playing with a newbie, the boxes are utterly pointless. The karts all have their differences, which is a good thing, and a lot of the courses are pretty good.
Overall, though, this is a blatant copy off of the Mario Kart/Diddy Kong formula, and not too good a one at that. It really bugs me to see how unoriginal Sony gets. Next comes Crash Bash. Gee, that sounds rather familiar.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/20/00, Updated 07/20/00