PlayStation 2

Crash Nitro Kart

This is a game that plays well, and looks great. The three dimensional worlds are lush and richly textured. The game is easily one that sate that weekend rental urge, but also would make a nice diversionary title on the library game shelves of Crash fans. This is not a game with extreme depth, but it does sport solid entertainment value.

As we already know, the Nintendo Gamecube has and always will reign supreme as a party gamers' console, but slowly, party games have been released on other consoles, something that I have been eagerly awaiting on the PS2. Off the top of my head, there are only a handful of PS2 games that can be considered party games: "Pac-man Fever," an extremely fun board game and "Cookies and Cream," a co-op game where two players work together to finish puzzles. To add to the list and appease the PS2 audience, Vicarious Visions has created a Mario Kart clone using Sony's failed mascot, Crash Bandicoot to bring us Crash Nitro Kart.

Just like Crash Team Racing, Crash Nitro Kart is a great cart racing game. However, if you already have Crash Team Racing, don’t expect anything new or exciting beyond the updated graphics – Crash Nitro Kart is basically the same game in a pretty new package. Is it worth your hard-earned dollar? Well, if you like cart racers and you don’t already have a GameCube, Crash Nitro Kart is really your only option. This isn’t a bad thing, because Crash Nitro Kart is chock full of fun, and you really can’t go wrong picking it up. If you do have a GameCube…well, I think you know the answer to that already.

Much like Mario Kart: Double Dash, which is being called a fun game but just not a particularly different game, Crash Nitro Kart does what it needs to do to get the job done... but it doesn't put in any overtime. As I said earlier this is essentially Crash Team Racing 2003 — it would have been nice to see something new, considering they've had years to come up with new concepts. With that said the gameplay style wasn't exactly broken, therefore it needs no real fixing — it would have been nice if they modified more things, but it certainly isn't a necessity. Crash Nitro Kart is an enjoyable kart game that will appeal to the younger crowd mostly, but older gamers will have a good time too. The single-player mode isn't particularly hard, but players will likely come back for more every now and then. It has great pick up and play potential and a bunch of fairly solid multi-playing experiences. If you're a fan, or just curious a rental is recommended — take it from there.

If any kart-racing game has managed to rival the quality of the famed Mario Kart franchise, it would be Naughty Dog's Crash Team Racing for the PlayStation. Though it did little to change the kart-racing formula defined by Super Mario Kart, it set itself apart from other Mario Kart clones with some unique modes, excellent track designs, and solid, responsive gameplay. Now, Crash Bandicoot, the PlayStation's former quasi-mascot, gets back into the kart-racing business with Crash Nitro Kart, though this time he's hitting all the major consoles. Though the developer and publisher of Crash Nitro Kart are different from those responsible for Crash Team Racing, CNK plays more like a juiced-up remake of CTR than an out-and-out sequel. This may be a touch disappointing to hardcore fans of CTR, but anyone looking for a solid kart racer should be quite pleased.

With new generations of game consoles eventually come new versions of the older games. Just like the beautiful cycles of life in nature, older hits relive their previous lives with better graphics. Crash Nitro Kart takes this process to its PS one predecessor, Crash Team Racing, giving the older racer a spit shine and a couple new tricks. Other than that, there is nothing groundbreaking here and if you're a fan of the genre you know just what to expect since it's almost exactly the same as most of the rest.

Recently, I’ve been seeing the phrase "meh" pop up on the Internet. Usually it’s used to express a lack of interest or ambivalence towards something. For example, you might say, "I’m kinda ‘meh’ about the new Brendan Fraser movie." I only bring this up because "meh" perfectly sums up my feelings about Crash Nitro Kart. It’s certainly a competent rehash of Crash Team Racing, but it’s probably one of the least exciting racing titles I’ve played recently. Most of this is due to the game’s slow pace and its failure to really expand on a gameplay formula Naughty Dog perfected years ago.

All told, CNK is one of those easy to produce games that Vivendi must be delighted to have on its roster. It'll sell for years for its beautiful simplicity, addictive, formulaic gameplay and easy on the eye brand recognition, especially when it goes down in price. At full price it's hard to justify a purchase in our view as it's simply not all that essential or different from anything that's gone before, but if you ever fancy a quality party game that you can slip out when the time is right for some multiplayer action and see this game knocking around for a more realistic price then you won't be disappointed. With online multiplayer action this could have been essential, but as it is CNK qualifies for being a solid, unrepentantly generic karting title that will sate anyone hungering for some mindless fun.

Overall, Crash Nitro Kart is a solid game that kids will certainly love, and parents won't mind spending a bit of time with the kids to race against them. For the hardcore game though the limited AI, average physics engine and lack of options may be disappointing. One for the kids.

Well a bandicoot in real life is a little rat thing that lives in Australia. The popular video game character, Crash Bandicoot, on the other hand, looks more like Looney Tunes' Tasmanian Devil's ugly second cousin twice removed. Like most popular video game mascots, Crash has expanded into other game genres as well. This time, Crash and friends take another stab at Mario Kart-style racing.

Alors voilà, j'imagine bien les mails d'insultes de lecteurs. T'y connais rien (fréquent), loser (très fréquent), pauvre naze va rejouer à Pong (moins fréquent ceci dit). Crash Nitro Kart, y déchire tout et puis de toute façon y a rien d'autre sur le support donc c'est le must (logique hein !), il mérite minimum 18/20 (voire 19/20 je pense). Les graphismes y sont trop de la balle, y a plein de modes de jeu supra cool de la mort qui tuent un peu et puis c'est Crash, moi je lui aurais mis minimum 19/20 (ha ben vous voyez, je le disais bien !!). En plus on peut jouer avec l'équipe de Crash ou de Cortex, de la bombe ce titre, ma note générale : 20/20 (ha oui quand même). Note : Toute ressemblance avec un futur mail de lecteur ne serait donc pas fortuite. Pour ma part, je ne vous dirais qu'une chose, sortez Crash Team Racing et comparez avec Crash Nitro Kart. Franchement, Vicarious Visions nous a sorti là un sublime jeu des 7 erreurs.

Overall, as you can guess, I did not like this game very much. I would only recommend this game to die-hard fans of the Crash franchise or to fans of the kart racing genre who do not own a Nintendo GameCube. The idea is a good one, even if it is not very original. But as I stated before, the PS2 is capable of so much more. Crash NitroKart failed miserably in execution and you will not find me playing this game again because I just don’t think it is very fun to play.

Whenever I picture the relationship between Crash Bandicoot and Mario the plumber, I can only think of the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. There's an undeniable rivalry and competition between the two, but for the most part Mario is just playing his own game (he invented it, after all) while Crash wears the red sox, trying to simultaneously catch up and carve his own niche. He's succeeded, but largely on Mario's terms. Take a couple of platform games with similar gameplay, add cute characters, and throw in a kart game when the air turns stale. Now you can make that two, as Crash Nitro Kart picks up where Crash Team Racing left off, though it's not as successful.

Naughty Dogs gamla Crash Team Racing framstår fortfarande som ett bättre val om man absolut måste åka gokart med hela pungdjursfamiljen. Crash Nitro Kart är alltså ett dåligt spel. Men vad värre är, Vivendi Universal fortsätter att slakta gamla spelhjältar de köpt för dyra dollars. Crash Bandicoot och Spyro The Dragon är idag spillror av sina forna jag, utskrattade och bortglömda.