Crash Bang Zoom tingle tingle
Written: Apr 24 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: it's a solid kart racer
Cons: a few new things but nothing much.
The Bottom Line: it's a good cheap kart racer for the ps1
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| tommy_lop's Full Review: Crash Team Racing for PlayStation 1 |
I got Crash Team Racing several months ago when I got my PS2 slim line console I decided I needed a PS1 game to try out the console out with has well so I got this has well has the original Crash Bandicoot to play with. Wasn’t to impressed with Crash Bandicoot it’s not a bad game but it’s not on my top 10 list of any thing that has to do with the all time greatest games. Has for CTR there is a reason why everybody except the die heart Sony fan boys hated Crash has Sony’s mascot. Nothing like having a mascot that insults the players of other consoles while he and or the company he represents steals there best material. CTR is a perfect example of this and it’s pretty much a rip off of Diddy Kong Racing with a little bit stolen from Mario Kart 64 just for a little bit of flavor. But despite these blatant rip off’s CTR is a solid game and it has a few new ideas in it has well.
Story:
The evil Nitro Oxide is out to destroy earth but before he does he wants to race the best racer on the planet. So all of Crashes friend and foes get together and have races to see who is the best person to take on Nitro Oxide in a race.
Graphics.
Has far has graphics go there pretty decent for PS1 graphics. The frame rate remains fairly constant through out the game which is basically the only thing you could ask from a racer in the graphics department. But the character designs and everything are purely PS1 and are loaded with jagged edges that where common place on that system.
Sound.
A few good tracks that fit the Crash Bandicoot series plays in the background. The characters either talk or make non verbal yelps and screams depending on who you pick.
Gameplay.
The main mode in the game is adventure mode which plays more or less like Diddy Kong racing you pick a character each with there own stats and skill level. You have the smaller but easier to control small guys for beginners and you have the larger and harder to control giant characters in the advance. And then you have everybody else that falls in-between in the intermediate category.
In adventure mode you take your character around a map and when you find a warp pad that is active you enter there and a race begins. If you win the race you get a trophy and another pad becomes active. Find it using your map and enter it for another race, when you win all the trophies in an area a boss fight begins and if you beat the boss another area with more trophies open up. You complete the process in till you get to Nitro Oxide and beat him. Of course along the way you can rerace races for bonus items you need if you want to get a secret ending.
This basically copies everything Diddy Kong racing did but the world Crash is in isn’t has expansive and it seems a lot more linear then that of Diddy Kong for better or for worse.
There is of course a GP mode has well where you pick a cup and race 4 all ready chosen races and get points for your score during the race. The person with the best score of course wins the GP.
Then of course there is a time trail mode in which you race without any other racer or item to see what the best time you can get in a track.
Has for the racing itself CTR is a solid racing the turning and controls are pretty smooth so there is no falling off the track because your character didn’t turn when you started jamming a direction on the control pad. The courses are also pretty interesting, especially some in the later levels where you race across a space station taking giant leaps.
Has for items go there is a typical Mario Kart items changed to protect from copy right suit. There is bombs which act like green shells, missiles that act like red shell missiles, electric sparks that act like spiked shells. Pretty much everything hear is ripped out of Mario Kart with the exception of the shields that Crash can get which allows him protection against enemy weapons. I should also note that naughty dog got the names of the masks wrong. Aku Aku should be evil seeing how the word Aku is Japanese for evil and Uka Uka should be the good guy but then this the way it is in pretty much all the Crash games I have seen.
But where Crash had’s a little variety comes in two forms one is jump turbo’s. When Crash get’s big air from a jump from a ledge he can get a big boost when he lands. The longer he is in the air the bigger the boost is, but the more you stay up in the air the slower you go while you come down so you have to use a little bit of strategy.
Finally there is something called getting juice. To rip Mario’s coins off even more Naughty dog put in fruit Crash can get from crates has well has off the track. The more fruit Crash collects the faster he goes. And 10 is what it takes for him to go his maximum speed (which is pretty much what it takes to go max on Mario Kart). But unlike Mario Kart the amount of fruit you have affects your weapons and how well they work. If you have 10 pieces of fruit your items get juiced up and cause more damage. Missiles will track better, invincibility stays a lot longer, and potions that you can lay on the track can cause side effects. These two little tweaks in the gameplay keep CTR from being a bland Mario Kart clone.
Final Recommendation.
OK CTR is a Mario Kart and Diddy Kong clone but it does have solid controls and adds a few tweaks to the formula to keep it from getting boring. You can get it pretty cheap now in the bargain bins for around 10 dollars so it’s defiantly wroth a pick up.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
tommy_lop
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Member: tommy
Reviews written: 962
Trusted by: 119 members
About Me:
Ran over a grandma, punched a kid, and still diden't get a PS3. (just kidding.)
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