- [Janet] 20 years ago, Crash Team Racing
made a name for itself as the other good kart racer.
But, to this day, its dynamic courses, flavorful lore,
challenging power sliding mechanic
and lack of catch up items
make it a game that deserves better
than living in Mario Kart's shadow.
And that shines through in the remade version,
Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled.
Sure, it has a few seriously frustrating
adventure mode races,
but this is a thrilling ride
that keeps the original strengths in tact
while adding some welcome quality of life updates.
(wacky, intense music)
(vehicle booming and crashing)
This remake is visually stunning,
adding vivid detail and extra personality
to its familiar cartoonishly bright characters and tracks.
There are some great optional cosmetic items.
I adored just about every single one of the 31 courses
which are taken from both the original Crash Team Racing,
and the sequel, Crash Nitro Kart.
Learning to master each of them
proved to be a real challenge
because of their frequent tight turns
and competent competition from the AI.
But from sewers that encourage major power sliding,
to tunnels completely lined with turbo boosts,
the tracks are all fast, playful, and memorable.
And, believe me, this kart racer is wicked fast.
Significantly faster than Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
That was jarring at first,
but it became a real joyride once I got a feel for it.
CTR's unique approach to power sliding
takes that speed to another level too,
because you need to precisely time button presses
to earn up to three boosts.
The amount of feedback the turbo meter's new look gives you
makes power sliding easy enough to understand,
but still satisfyingly hard to master.
You know exactly when and why you fail,
and when you succeed,
you can feel proud as you slide to victory.
It's not a kart racer without items,
and all 11 CTR favorites are back.
Most of these are pretty straightforward,
but I've always loved how much the Crash racing series
draws from the story and world of the main games.
In one of the cleverer touches,
the Aku Aku mask that generally provides invincibility
turns into the Uka Uka mask when Cortex picks it up.
(upbeat tribal music)
(vehicles clashing)
(enemy screaming)
CTR's fast pace and general lack of catch up items
make it the most exhilarating kart racer I've played.
But also one that's harder
to casually jump into with friends.
Local split screen multiplayer
was fun when my competitors knew the ropes,
but I often found myself just explaining how to play.
CTR is harsher than other kart racers,
because, if you're bad at it,
items will almost never save you.
The ones that might don't appear often enough
to stop someone from creating
a gigantic lead like a blue shell does in Mario Kart.
So far, online multiplayer has been stable enough
ahead of launch, and offers public and private matchmaking,
as well as the option to play with friends
in races or battles.
(silly, upbeat music)
- [Coco] Pass it on!
(projectile booming)
- [Janet] While kart racers are primarily about multiplayer,
CTR has a fully built out single player campaign
across five hub worlds.
Nitro Fueled mode lets you switch characters
to take advantage of the different stats
and enjoy all the cosmetic options.
This is my preferred mode,
but those craving that old school feel
can play in classic mode
that strips out those modern updates.
By the end of the campaign, you'll probably be great at CTR,
but you may also hate CTR,
because it's undermined by some design choices
that make a few bits obnoxiously difficult.
Besides some challenging tracks,
all the bosses are rubber banded,
which means it's essentially impossible
to get ahead of them for all three laps.
No matter how much distance you put between you,
they will eventually make a miraculous comeback,
so the end of the race is the only part that really counts.
At first, this was just a little annoying,
with some painful and cheap losses,
but towards the end of the campaign, it became laughable.
A good boss should challenge you
to put your knowledge and skills to the test,
and designs like this should have been left in the 90s.
(Cortex screaming)
(flames roaring)
Extra challenge modes
include the decent but ultimately uninteresting
Time Trials and Crystal Challenge options,
as well as the excellent Relic Race and CTR Challenge modes.
Relic Race is like a time trial,
but with the added twist of numbered crates
that pause the timer,
while CTR Challenge Mode
requires you to collect letters on the track
while also finishing in first place.
Both of these modes add
a new layer of excitement and strategy
to otherwise familiar tracks, and the CTR Challenge
in particular feels a lot closer to the main game
because it's the only one with CPU players.
As you'd expect, on a TV,
the Switch version of Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled
looks a bit more jagged
than the PS4 version I mostly played on,
but in handheld mode, the difference is mostly negligible.
This fast kart racer still runs well,
it's just not as good looking.
(frantic, metallic music)
(flames popping)
- [Coco] Ow!
- [Janet] Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled's difficulty,
memorable track design,
and addictive power slide mechanic
make it a kart racer worth playing,
especially competitively.
In single player,
it's richer than what the genre normally provides,
but at the expense of a cheap and unforgiving adventure mode
that can become overly frustrating.
But, a new HUD, cosmetic options,
and the ability to swap characters
during the campaign means there's simply no contest
between playing this and the 1999 original.
Be sure to head over to IGN.com to read our full review,
and for more Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled,
watch some gameplay,
or check out a graphics comparison
of the Mystery Caves level, and for everything else,
keep it right here on IGN.
(bouncy, low-key music)