...And I thought that Mario Kart was the greatest kart game!
Written: Sep 24 '00 (Updated Sep 25 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great gameplay, high replay value, responsive controls, excellent graphics, and brilliant level layout
Cons: Some voice overs sound goofy
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| electric_sam's Full Review: Crash Team Racing for PlayStation 1 |
In the Super NES days, I used to play Super Mario Kart all the time. It was one of my favorite kart games. It was so fun, and my favorite feature was the battle mode, where you and a friend can go one on one, hitting each other with weapons until one gets the most points. Yup, that was in the good old SNES days....but now we're in the Playstation days and what we've got now is Crash Team Racing. I can tell you right now that Crash Team Racing is loads of fun with extremely high replay value, variety in gameplay, clean graphics, and everything else!
Many games have tried to take their spot as the mascot racing game for the Playstation. Some were good, but some sucked badly. After these games, Naughty Dog decided to create a racing game with all the major characters from the Crash Bandicoot series. I haven't played all of the Crash Bandicoot games. I have only played part one, but this one is definitely entertaining. A great variety in gameplay, unique characters, amazing levels, and cool weapons easily brings this game to the position of Playstation's mascot racing game.
Graphics: 9.5
Smooth, solid, and colorful graphics are packed in Crash Team Racing. The characters look very sharp and clean, and they look smooth while driving. The level layout is amazing, and they shine with bright, beautiful colors. I love the levels! Levels vary from snowy ice lands, hot pyramids, desert roads, science labs, castles, and even skyways! There are some levels where you go into a turbo boost, and then you are launched into the sky or midair where you can see the other parts of the course. It's absolutely an amazing site, and I'm sure anyone would enjoy it. To top it off with the graphics, there are no pop-up problems, and hardly, if any, slowdown, even during two to four player modes. The only minor problem that I sometimes notice in the graphics is that whenever I am racing close to a wall, I can sometimes see through the wall. This is just a minor problem, however, and does not ruin the intense action. Overall, these are groundbreaking graphics.
Sound: 7
The course music is catchy and cute. It's pretty cool, but not amazing. The only time the music gets better is on the last lap, when the music turns upbeat and gets faster. I like the voice overs from the cast of characters, like Coco Bandicoot's sayings and the boss phrases when the bosses challenge you. Coco Bandicoot says some cool stuff like "Bandicoot power!" and "Here you go!" When you hit her with a weapon, she gets angry and says "Hey!" Many of the voice overs are great, but some, however sound weird. That polar bear racer named Polar sounds a lot like Yoda, and I'm serious! The menu music is nice and catchy. Some nice touches to the sound are hearing the rockets homing in on you, and the sound of the TNT boxes counting down to their explosion. You can also hear the engines of your car, which all driving games should have.
Gameplay/Control: 10
Unbelievable gameplay makes this game shine. The cast of characters are brilliant. There are so many fun modes in this game, like Adventure, Arcade, Time Trial, Vs., and Battle.
In Arcade mode, you pick a cup to race in, and you race in four different tracks against other computer racers. After each course, you are awarded points for what place you got. If you have the most points after the four courses, you win the cup. One or two players can play in Arcade mode.
Vs. mode is just like Arcade mode, but this time you can play with up to four players with no computer racers.
Time Trial is just what it sounds like. You pick a course, and then you drive the course to see how fast you can complete 3 laps around it. The lesser the time, the better. This is a one player mode, and it's great fun, just like in Mario Kart. You just might keep coming back to this mode to beat your record times in the courses.
Battle mode is great for parties because up to four players can compete. This mode is very similar to Mario Kart's Battle mode. In CTR's Battle mode, you start off with 0 points. You gain points by hitting your enemies with weapons, or if your enemy explodes from one of your TNT boxes or your chemicals. If you explode from one of your own TNT boxes or chemicals, you lose a point. Play goes on until one person gets the winning number of points. You can pick the winning number at the Setup Battle screen: either the number 5, 10, or 15. If you don't like winning this way, you can pick Time Limit mode or Life Limit mode. The player with the most points after 3, 6 or 9 minutes wins the Time Limit Mode. In Life Limit, you have a number of lives, and whoever has the most lives after 3 or 6 minutes wins. If you think this is enough for my explanation of Battle mode, you are wrong! In Battle mode, you can also play in teams, with two players on one team.
My favorite mode is the Adventure mode. This is the best part of the game, but it's only for one player. You get to race in different levels where you must win first place to get the Racing Trophy. Winning a certain number of trophies unlocks new levels, and even bosses. You get to pick the levels where you want to go on the world map screen. Besides winning trophies, you can also win Relics, CTR Tokens, and Boss Keys, which also unlock new race tracks and even new worlds! Completing 100% of Adventure mode is a time-consuming task, but it sure is a blast trying to get to the 100% mark!
The control is just excellent! The button assignment is simple and really easy to adapt. Looking behind you is so easy to do, and so is accelerating and turning. Some cars are hard to turn with, but that's because it's in their statistics. Some cars have excellent turning, like Polar and Pura. Powersliding is very easy to do, and it helps a great deal in your turns. By powersliding through courses, you will hardly ever need to brake. These controls are very responsive, and I'm sure no one will have trouble learning them.
Fun Factor: 10
CTR is an excellent game for gamers of all ages. Sony and Naughty Dog did a great job on this game. It's variety of gameplay, which includes its number of different modes, keeps the replay value insanely high. The Adventure mode ensures one player madness, and with friends over at your house, this game is hours of entertainment. Other touches that keep the replay value high are the great cast of racers, the number of amazing tracks, and the hidden characters. The cast of characters are great because each character has acceptable stats, and not one racer is necessarily better than the other. Each character has their own list of courses where they excel in, and also, each character has a list of courses where they are not so good in. For example, the racers Pura and Polar are the slowest racers in the game, but they do, however, have excellent turning skills, and their acceleration is pretty good. With these stats, these two characters conquer the other racers in courses with many sharp turns. However, they are not so good in courses with many straightaway paths. Tiny Tiger and Dingodile are the fastest racers in the game, but their turning is quite poor. They rule the courses with straightaways, but they can have trouble in tracks with many turns.
I recommend this game to anybody, even if you don't like racing games. After you try this game, chances are that you will like it, and this game might change your mind about racing games, if you didn't like them in the first place. The bottom line that sums up my long review is:
Immediately go to your local video game store and buy this game!!!!!!!!!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
electric_sam
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Location: Los Angeles, Cali
Reviews written: 15
Trusted by: 6 members
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