Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled

Genre: Kart Racer

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local Split-Screen) 2-8 Competitive (Online)

Game Company Bad Behavior Profile Page: Activision Blizzard

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in Crash Bandicoot – Crashiversary Bundle along with Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time.)

WARNING: THIS GAME HEAVILY PUSHES MICROTRANSACTIONS

Crash Team Racing is a remake of a PlayStation One classic Kart Racing game of the same name. It adds in content from the sequel, Crash Nitro Kart, as well as greatly improving the graphics, all while retaining the challenging cartoony kart racing gameplay of the original.

To clarify, by “challenging”, I mean that this game will have you screaming at your TV. I’m no stranger to Kart racing games (although I missed the earlier Crash racing games when they released), and this is without a doubt the most difficult one I’ve had to tackle.

This is largely thanks to the game absolutely requiring players to master its power slide/boost system, despite not really explaining to players how it works. Like in Mario Kart, players can jump into a turn to slide, however this game adds a complicating step into the matter – to actually gain speed from this maneuver, players must time a press of the L button at the right time during a slide to make it a power slide, or else they won’t gain any benefit from it. This is indicated by a small meter in the lower-right corner of the screen… not really where you want to be looking during a race.

If you don’t master this technique, you won’t make it farther than one or two courses, which the game demands players complete in first place to proceed. Furthermore, this is one of the most item-heavy Kart Racers I’ve played, with players bombarding each other with weapon pickups seemingly nonstop. So even if you manage to luck into a good run, there’s a very good chance your success will be fleeting.

It’s a shame that this game is so hostile to players, because it looks like an absolute dream. To call this game a remaster would not be doing it justice – this game was clearly remade from the ground-up to look amazing, with lush, colorful, visually-complex environments that are a joy to race through. It’s just… hard to really enjoy them when you keep wanting to throw your controller through the screen.

Oh, I should add one more note: I know this game had some nasty microtransactions added after launch. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it far enough into the game to really see them in any capacity. The game itself was plenty enough to discourage me from continuing to play it, and I didn’t feel enticed to spend more. However, just to officially say so, adding in microtransactions post-launch is one of the sleaziest moves a developer can make, and that in itself deserves recognition, even if I can’t speak to it from personal experience in this case.

For players looking for a great racing game who don’t mind having to master a finnicky mechanic that is absolutely vital to progression, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled will likely prove to be a very rewarding experience, with stunning visuals that absolutely shine on the Switch. However, for most players, they’ll be so much happier if they just stick to Mario Kart, especially with the money they’ll save on shattered TV screens and controllers.

tl;dr – Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled takes the PSOne classic Kart Racer and brings it into the modern day with expanded content and absolutely gorgeous visuals. It’s just a shame that this game is so infuriatingly hard to play that most players won’t be able to enjoy it.

Grade: B-

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2019 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Graphics, Worst Microtransactions, Most Overrated, Best Driving/Racing Game

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