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| Crash Team Racing (1999) |
So, the story begins with the arrival of Nitros Oxide, an alien with a f***ing awesome design, who challenges the best racer of Earth. If Earth's champion wins, Oxide leaves Earth in peace. If Oxide wins, he destroys the Earth and enslaves the population. So, the stakes are pretty high. Good thing Crash and all his 'friends' just happened to have organised a racing tournament for the same time, so the competition is on to see who will challenge Oxide for the planet. Like a platformer, the plot of a racing game really isn't that necessary. Hell, the fact that this game even has a plot is something in and of itself. Anyway, the adventure mode sees you race through 16 tracks in 4 different worlds. Winning each race gets you a trophy, and earning every trophy in each hub area lets you challenge a boss for their Boss Key and access to the next world. 4 keys lets you face Oxide. Each race features power-ups which you can pick up and use basically immediately from Mystery Crates. Wumpa Crates give you 4-8 Wumpa Fruit to add to your total. 10 Wumpa Fruit boosts your speed but also 'juices up' your weapons, making them more powerful, or even changing them completely in some cases (turning TNTs intro Nitro Crates, for example).
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| Nitros Oxide |
For a kart racer on the PS1, the graphics are really good. Not as good as Crash 2 or 3, but there's a lot going on here compared to those games, so it's fine. Each track is distinct and varied from each other, which really helps you to memorise the layouts. The music is also fantastic, as to be expected. The traditional Crash-style music is blended with high-tempo, adrenaline-pumping race music, and the combination is flawless. The Boss Race music in particular is among my favourite tracks in the entire Crash franchise. But, let's get this over with: the controls are what make this game. They are near perfect. Not only are they nice and responsive, but they feel different enough from something like Mario Kart to really help it stand out. These karts feel a lot heavier than the ones in Mario Kart, for example. It's easier to stay straight, which is helpful given how twisty some of these tracks can be, but also makes turning a lot more of a chore. This might be seen as a negative, but that only forces you to get good with powersliding, which is honestly the best part of the controls, and what make it stand out. You can, and almost need to, get good at powersliding, as the tracks really were built around it. They feel so good to nail, and combining the boosts you can chain together with boosting at the end of a big jump combined with the boost pads that are littered all over every track, and these races are fast, exciting and oh so satisfying. The only negative thing I have to say about the controls is really more of a learning curve than anything else. After getting hit by a weapon or track hazard, you'll continue uncontrollably in the same direction for a little but, due to the nature of the sliding, that may not necessarily be the direction you were facing. Once you regain control, you are automatically pointed back in that direction, and this can be a nuisance, particularly in certain tracks where it may take you multiple long, agonising seconds to correct yourself. The level design is perfect, and really varied from track to track, and they fit the designs as good as they ever could. Everything in this game is themed around the prior 3 Crash games: the levels, the weapons, the stage hazards, everything, and nothing ever feels like it was just thrown together for the sake of making a track. It all feels very organic and true to the world of Crash Bandicoot, which I'm very happy for.
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| Crash Cove |
The single-player Adventure Mode is where I spent most of my time with this game, and it is very fun. Admittedly, it is a little easy, though that may just be because I've become such a pro at this game that I can blitz my way through most levels without breaking a sweat, but I do think there is something else going on here. In the lower levels of Adventure Mode the CPUs will never acquire too many of the overpowered items, mainly sticking to the ones that get laid on the track. In later levels, the rate is picked up, but it's never too big, like it can get in some Mario Kart games where it seems like the computer gets the god-like items at least once a lap. I think this was to keep the Adventure Mode fair, and this is where I feel the use of a difficulty toggle for Adventure could have gone a long way. Anyway, beyond the trophy races which I mentioned above, there's more going on here. Each race also has a Relic Race and a CTR Token Race. Relic Races function the same as they did in Crash 3, where you need to beat the race in the lowest time possible, while breaking crates that stop the clock. These are even more difficult here than they were in Crash 3, since it'll take you all that longer to work out what the optimal path is to break as many crates as possible in all 3 laps. Once you work it out, it's immensely satisfying to perfect. CTR Token Races function the same as a Trophy Race except for the fact that you need to pick up the C, T, and R letters scattered over the track and still win. These letters can occasionally be placed in hard-to-reach spots, or areas that make you veer off the track for a little, giving you a handicap to overcome. In both CTR and Relic Races, they can also give you hints as to where shortcuts can be, and seeing a clue from either a letter or time crate and figuring out how to access it can be quite gratifying to figure out. There are also Purple CTR Tokens which you win by collecting crystals from around one of the Battle Mode Arenas in a set time limit. These, like the Relic races, are nice once you learn the path, but can be a nightmare until you do.
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| N. Gin Labs |
Outside of Adventure Mode, there are other modes to explore. Time Trial Mode is basically the Relic Race but with no time crates, just letting you post your best time on a track with no interference. Reaching a specific time unlocks the N. Tropy ghost for you to race against, and beating that gets you the Oxide ghost which is a f***ing trial, and I was never brave enough to attempt them after the first few goes. Arcade Mode has you racing across 4 tracks in a cup, and most points at the end wins. Beating each cup in a certain difficulty earns you a new Battle Arena, and I sunk a lot of time into this Arcade Mode as a kid. Basically, there's quite a lot of single-player content here for you, and completing all of the above basically unlocks you everything you need for multi-player. Oh, my God, the multi-player mode... Dozens upon dozens upon dozens of hours have been sunk into this game at parties or otherwise, and if I had concerns that single-player mode was stingy with the powerful items, multi-player mode nips that problem square in the bud. 4 player races can get insane with how fast items will appear and be used, and they're so consistent that it never feels like a rip-off when you're on the receiving end of one of the more busted items in the game, since you know you'll get the opportunity for revenge very soon. Even the Battle Mode is a lot of fun, and we sunk probably just as much time into that mode as we did Vs. Mode. The Arenas are varied and each has its gimmick, the different Battle Modes are all fun, and there's a lot of customisation with the rules, teams, usable items and whatnot... it's the best Battle Mode I've played in a racing game. 15 playable characters, all of which were in Crash games in the past, 18 race tracks, 7 battle arenas, hours upon hours of content, and many, many surprises. This game even introduced me to the concept of rewards for 100% completion. Beating the Adventure Mode 100% unlocks the Naughty Dog scrapbook containing concept art and behind-the-scenes photos from development of the original trilogy plus CTR. Seeing this for the first time blew me away as a kid, and pretty much formed my ideology of trying to 100% every game I play. There are also numerous cheat codes, all of which you can find online, and there's a lot. You can unlock all characters, tracks and arenas from the beginning, including the Penta Penguin racer who is only available this way, and you can modify your races in many different ways. It was only two years ago I learned there's a cheat code that turns on One-Lap Races. There's just... there's just so much game here. And it's all amazing.
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| Oxide Station |
Crash Team Racing (1999) is the best kart racer I've ever played. With all the marketing and gameplay I've seen for Nitro-Fueled releasing later this year, who knows if that'll top this one? It probably will. But that won't stop me from loving this original game as much as I already do. It's just wonderful. 9.5/10.
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