Crash Team Racing

"Heaven...I'm in heaven.....and my kart beats so that...*Runs from the rotton Tomatoes*"

There have only been two types af racing games I ever really liked growing up: One was the Ridge Racer line of games, that of which awards you with a bigger, poerful, and more faster car with each race you beat, then there's the Mario Kar style, in which you get to ride in nimble road machines beating race after race for the coveted "Insanely Hard" circuit. While Mario Kart 64 almost failed to deliver that feeling of "fun" when playing, Diddy Kong Racing more than made up for that with it's beautifully unique Mario64-style "Adventure mode".

Yeah, it seems like the kart games only show up on the Nintendo Platforms, huh? Well, not really, Universal Interactive, along with Naughty Dog, have decided to give the Playstation a worthwhile kart racing title that bears the mark of "Buy & Keep". Let's give it up for "Crash Team Racing"!

Naughty dog has always been the company to make the Crash Bandicoot series a worthwhile one. They would always release a game on the PSX that would make the Playstation do trcks that you never thought it would do....then Square would Release the next Final Fantasy game. Just Like Crash Bandicoot's 1, 2, and Warped before it, the game never ceases to amaze!

It might be noted in this review that since I usually lack a controller, or a friend that doesn't know a joystick from a broomstick, I'm usually stuck playing one-player modes. So of course I would go directly to the game's Adventure mode. The layout is extremely similar to Diddy Kong Racing, except with the "Crash Bandicoot" atmosphere. You go from area to area, place first in the races, and proceed to the next race. As you progress, you open up more races and get to replay the older tracks with newer challenges, so it's not just a "Win and Go" game. There's a lot to do.

The relics and colored gems make their return, giving you access to extra areas, which has always been the reason for their being in the Crash games. And after completing a certain amount of courses/challenges, everyone's favorite Tiki-mask Aku-Aku will appear to give you advice that'll help you through the game. As usual, the lip-synching with the real-time polygons is phenomenal, and doesn't fail to impress.

You get to control one of eight racers throughout the game, including Neo Cotex, Tiny, and even Crash himself. In the usual Mario Kart fashion, each have their strengths and Weaknesses, and the hero is the all-around average racer.

In the end, this is the best kart racer to show up on any platform since the SNES Mario Kart. Also hidden inside this game is a nice little two-stage demo of Spyro 2. Lookin' good there!

Crash Team Racing is the last game for the Playstation by Naughty Dog. Furthermore, this is Naughty Dog's last outing with Crash. The relationship couldn't have ended on a much better note than this.

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I like ratings, you like ratings, if we didn't have ratings, we'd be lame! (On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best)

Graphics-10
There's not a speck of FMV anywhere in this game. Heck, there hasn't been a speck of FMV throughout the Crash Bandicoot history of games. But Naughty Dog proves to everyone that you can still get wonderful-looking characters and excellent lip-synching without all that memory-hogging FMV.

Sound-8
I could never really say anything about the music in the Crash games. It always sounded rather 'simplistic' to me, either way it does a good job of being as fun as the game itslelf.

Control-10
Good, tight controls without all that floaty mess! Easy to grasp, too!

Fun/Overall-10
I love it. I really love it. I really do love it. I really must say that I do love it. I really must say that I do extremely love it. I really must say that I do extremely love all of it. I really......

This Review was written by Brian "TheFreak" Balsan and has been submitted for the approval of Gamefaqs. Any copying, retransmission, so on and so forth, without the approval of said parties will be fined and personally flogged with a dead lobster by the fans of MST3K. We're mad as hell and we're not gonna take it anymore! Peace word out!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99