Crash Team Racing

"Lack of originality, check! Immense entertainment, check! Looks like we've got ourselves a winner!"

INTRO

Finally, it has been done that another kart game has been brought to the Playstation console and who better to appear in it than Crash Bandicoot and his friends and foes. Now, the last time I played a kart game was Super Mario Kart 64 and while I think that was a great game I never got into it. However, I totally got into this game and I played it nonstop! I am not afraid to say that I truly love this game; not as much as Final Fantasy 8 but as for racing/cart games are concerned this is truly the greatest! I first played this great game at my friends house who burned it (cheap punk :P) and after we played it I told myself that I have to own this game. It took a while, but I actually saved up some money (only $20 but hey I don't work) and went out and bought this game. Luckily it's a greatest hit because I would've had to pay about $40 instead. This game seriously delivers every single thing you could ask for in a kart game. I won't get into the details just yet, but keep on reading and you will find out every single thing you need to know about this great game. First, let's get some background information out of the way shall we. CTR: Crash Team Racing came out in late 1999 and is developed by Naughty Dog. Now since we are done with that let's get a rockin' and let's start getting down to the good stuff!

STORY: (10/10)

Wow! Not many people wold think there would be a story for these types of games, but Naughty Dog made sure that there would be a point to this game other than just racing. By the way I haven't played much of Super Mario Kart 64 so I don't know if there is any story whatsoever. This category only applies to Adventure mode, which is the main mode of the game and you will learn about other modes in a little bit. Once you begin a new game some alien spaceship will come up to the planet Earth and as the sun roof opens up a megaphone comes out. Then an ugly alien (really ugly) by the name of Nitrous Oxide sets a challenge to all of Earth's fastest racers. The challenge is that he will race the fastest racer of the planet Earth and if he wins, he turns Earth into his private racing course and everyone inhabiting it to be his slaves. However if the Earthling wins, then Nitrous Oxide spares their planet. Doesn't sound like much of a story, but I enjoyed it and its a basic story line. Anyway there are 8 people on Earth ready to compete against Oxide: Crash, Neo Cortex, Tiny the Tiger, Coco Bandicoot, N. Gin, Dingodile, Polar the polar bear, and the tiger Pura. Friends and foes come together to race against each toher to see who will face against Oxide and try desperately to save their planet from harm. As you advance through Adventure mode with whoever you choose to be, you race against bosses ... before and after you race them they talk to you so you get to hear some personal advice (not really advice, more like criticism :P) from them. Then if you manage to get 100% of the game completed there is a secret ending. Overall, I really enjoyed this story and I found the ending quite interesting.

GAME PLAY: (10/10)

Naughty Dog, you guys rock! Yes, people will say that this is a blatant Mario Kart rip off and I don't disagree with that statement. However, to me this game seems more fun to play than Mario kart. This game is much more wacky and it is like Mario Kart for the Playstation, so what's not to love about that!? Well, just in case you aren't familiar with Mario Kart then I will inform you. Crash Team Racing has eight characters along with a few other secret characters who race in go-carts however this racing is no good clean sportsmanship. There are rockets, bombs, beakers, masks, forcefields, and wreckage every where! There are tons of courses which allow you to race with your friends or your foes to see who is truly the game. Racing is the main theme of the game, but there are many ways to go about it. There is adventure mode, time trial, arcade mode, VS, and battle mode which is enough to settle your hunger for cart racing. Let's start off with explanations on each mode ... yeah I think that will help the most :).

Adventure mode is the best and main mode of the game. After choosing a racer, you get flooded with how to do it but I'll briefly inform you. There are four different settings which contain five levels. In those levels you race people to win a trophy. In order to do that you must get first place. Then once all trophies are collected you race against the boss of that setting. Then the levels you won a trophy in then allow you to go back into those levels in order to get relics and CTR tokens. To get relics, it's like any other Crash game; beat the level under the time given. Then there is the CTR tokens which are gained by achieving the letters 'C' , 'T' , and 'R' as well as getting first. This is the story mode of the game, the bosses are memorable, and the whole game itself is fun and I guarantee if you loved mario karts regular racing style you will love adventure mode!

Then there is Time trial which is basically a self race to get accustomed to the levels as well as timing yourself. This is fun for replay value but definitely not the center of interest. There is also VS. mode which you just go head to head against a friend to see who is the best between you two. Then there is the battle mode which is a bit different than the Mario Kart games. It's the same idea which pits both racers against each other in battle arenas and the object is to beat the crap out of your opponent. However, instad of three hits with balloons indicating the number of times being hit to lose, it takes five hits to win.

Then, last but not least, is Arcade mode which allows you to choose a single race with one or two players or there is cup races which are four cups that you can race in. A cup contains four different tracks and there are points based on the winners. 1st place gets 9 points, 2nd place gets 6 points, 3rd gets 3, 4th gets 1 and that's it. It's similar to Mario Kart in that aspect. Get the most points and you win. Try all difficulties and when all three stars (indicating difficulty setting) are next to the cup picture you have mastered arcade mode.

That's a lot of modes or just a kart racing game. Maybe that's why I love this game so much .... what do I mean maybe, of course it's why I love this game! I never get tired of it and the gameplay is simply amazing and the main props goes to Nintendo for creating Mario Kart and an even bigger props goes to Naughty Dog for making it even better! Overall, gameplay is amazing!

CONTROLS: (10/10)

The controls are great for a racing game. The statistics of the characters differ, but even though Tiny and Dingo have horrible steering and incredible speed, controlling them isn't that bad. The best controllers are Polar and Pura. Anyway, what I'm trying to get at is that no matter who you are the controls are still crisp and great. Even though the characters have different statistics and different controls it is still easy to maneuver your way to victory. The camera is great too and it doesn't even get in the way or anything, it always stays behind you except after the race. The buttons are very similar to that of Mario Kart. The X button is for accelartion, R1 and L1 are used to jump or powerslide when turning and Square is used for brakes and last of all, Triangle is used to switch between map or speedometer. Oooh yeah! *smacks head* how could I forget, the O button is used to choose and use weapons that are received. Everything about the controls are great and that also makes the game much better!

MUSIC/SOUNDS: (10/10)

I don't know about you guys, but I personally have been fond with the themes of Crash Bandicoot. The three "normal" games contain some awesome music which are excellent. Crash Team Racing doesn't fail in this category either as it has some awesome soundtracks that just make you want to win even more (just kidding). Although the music is really good and the quality is great with great tunes and wacky noises that make this game feel real weird. Every tune is different and I personally enjoy all the beats. Enjoyable, weird, unique music is just one great aspect of Crashes games. How's the sounds? The sounds are excellent and are very accurate as well. Some of the most accurate sounds would be the sound of burning rubber when doing a power turn, or the sound of bouncing off a trampoline when hopping and also the turbo sounds are really accurate. Another library of great sounds would definitely the sounds of the weapons. Missiles, bombs, masks, timer, beakers and whatever else there is are very accurate. The sounds set the tone for the wackiness of this game and with added character voices it does just that. Each racer has a couple of their own little catchphrases that they say in the race and it's really funny to hear them. It just makes the races more fun and actually shows how competitive the races are supposed to be. Overall, the music and sounds of Crash Team Racing are one of the best aspects of this marvelous game.

GRAPHICS: (10/10)

Does graphics really matter in racing game? Well, I think they matter in every game but it is not the key aspect. However, Crash Team Racing has such great graphics that it is possibly one of the strongest points that this game has going for it apart from all the others. There is an enormous amount of detail and each stage looks incredible. My personal favorites stages are Dingo Canyon, Crash Cove, Cortex Castle, and some ice level (I can't think of the name right now) based on detail and graphics. The background in the levels feature a lot of variety and in depth texture and value amongst the background features. The cave walls are all jagged and the north wall has spikes which are also jagged. Then there's also levels where the ice has little barely visible lines that make it look like ice instead of just a light blue floor. The little mini roads taken to warp races have great settings as well and define the main focus of the area in Adventure mode. Mountain peaks, sunsets, buildings, cracks in walls, spiders, lights, ships, and nearly anything more you'd expect from a racing game is what Crash Team Racing has in its graphics. I found the graphics to be awesome with wonderful colors covering the screen. Other than the great backgrounds, the characters looked awesome as well. Crash looks a bit neater, Tiny looks meaner, the N on Cortexes head is bigger and much more advancements to the characters detail! Also the bosses look a bit better too; Ripper Roo is crazier with him in a straight jacket, twirling eyes, ugly teeth, blue color, etc.. Oxide is the definition of ugly and it was fun beating him. Anyway, the graphics are pretty much perfect with everything a bit touched up to beyond perfection. I would feel ashamed to give this anything lower than a ten.

CHALLENGE: (6/10)

The challenge is decent, although not too hard. The hard setting on arcade mode isn't too hard, but is very difficult if you are not an experienced racer. Also, the challenge sort of varies depending on which character you choose because their stats are different. I never found too much of a problem with that because that's what the weapons are for :). Adventure mode isn't that tough, but there is its hard moments such as the bosses, Oxide, some gem cup races and getting a 100%. All those things aren't a walk through the park but they aren't too hard either. I'd say an average gamer would be able to beat this game without too much trouble. I have probably already said this but I had more fun than even thinking about the difficulty. If I lost I just kept trying because this game to me was just pure entertainment. Overall, the challenge isn't too hard and if you are good at these types of games you'll go through this game easily. If you are not then this game still isn't that hard, but it just won't be as easy for you to beat the game with a 100%.

REPLAY: (9/10)

Although many would think that this game should have a high replay value, because of battle mode, secret characters, time trial, and arcade mode. However, this game does have an immense amount of replay value I just don't think it's perfect. It's near perfection, but once done with adventure mode there's no different ending or scenarios for any other characters. Battle mode is excellent, but two players have to be present for it to be really fun (because only one person can't play against the computer, but it would be cool though). Arcades three difficulty modes are fun to go through with either one or two players. I personally have never been too fond of time trial in these types of games unless there are scores for me that are actually challenging to compete against other than the last time possible. Well, that's pretty much it on the replay value unless you want to play adventure mode again with a different character. Overall, the replay value for CTR is very high.

PROS

- New boss introduced along with memorable ones
- Wacky racing at its finest; excellent game play
- Great graphics
- Excellent soundtrack
- Perfect controlling
- Replay value will not let you down
- Challenge isn't too hard, but it's medium

CONS

- None!

SCORES

STORY - 9.7
GAME PLAY - 10.0
CONTROLS - 10.0
MUSIC/SOUNDS - 10.0
GRAPHICS - 10.0
CHALLENGE - 6.2 (medium)
REPLAY VALUE - 8.9 (high)

TOTAL - 9.9/10 = 10

OVERALL: (10/10)

Crash Team Racing is an amazing and fun-filled racing game! Crash has had three adventure games, which are excellent, an excellent racing game, and now he even has a party game which is really fun as well! Wow! Crash games in my opinion have always provided me with entertainment and if you like cart games at all then this is the game you should get for the Playstation. Hopefully, at least I hope, that Eurocom will make another cart racing game for the PS2 because Naughty Dog has left making Crash games I think. Crash Team Racing is a perfect game for you and your friends and I definitely recommend this game a purchase, not a rental. Besides, this game is considered a greatest hit now so it should only cost around $20 or less. $20 for this game is possibly one of the best deals you could get for a game such as this. Finally, I enjoyed this game a ton and I hope if you decide to play it then you will too. Thanks for reading and have a nice day!

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