Crash Team Racing Playstation Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America Developer: Naughty Dog, Inc. Players: 1-4 Difficulty: Medium Camera: Rear Chase Additional Pictures Screen 1 Screen 2 Screen 3 Screen 4 Screen 5 Screen 6 Screen 7 Screen 8 Screen 9 Screen 10 Screen 11 Screen 12 Screen 13

Crash Team Racing Provides Some Awesome Power-Up Effects Excellent Jumps, Power-Ups, and Graphics Just Top The Brim of CTR's Full Glass of Goodies 4 Player Mayhem Blasts It's Way Onto the Playstation With Tons of Fun Control: (4.5) Graphics: (5) Sound: (3) Replay Value: (3.5) Overall: (Not The Average) (4)

The Sony Playstation has had a small share of cart racing games. The games they have gotten, like South Park Rally and Chocobo Racing have been awful, and have not been able to compare with N64 cart racing games such as Mario Kart and Diddy Kong Racing. Crash Team Racing, from Naughty Dog, climbs to the top of the heap of these atrocious racing games, and becomes the best cart racer yet on the Playstation.

Overview and Gameplay
Crash Team Racing, technically the fourth in the Crash Bandicoot Series from Naughty Dog, takes the franchise characters from its predecessors and places them in cart racing worlds. The point of this game, though varying based on the mode you chose to play, is essentially identical to that of Mario Kart: race your lawn-mower-engine-equipped go-carts against a number of crazy video game characters in crazy tracks, picking up crazy weapons along the way. That adds up to a lot of craziness(?). Fans of the Crash Bandicoot series will recognize the roster of characters in this game, including Crash himself, Tiny Tiger, Dingodile, and Dr. Cortex, plus some secret ones. Once you have turned the game on, and provided you are playing by yourself (yes, this game supports up to 4 players, but more on that later), there are 4 modes to choose from: Arcade, Cup, and Adventure. and Time Trial. Arcade drops you straight into a track of your choice with a cart of your choice against some computer controlled opponents. Cup allows you to race in a circuit against computer opponents for points. At the end of four races, whoever has the highest point total gets the win and a nice parade. Sweet. The adventure mode allows you to go on a quest around Crash's world, collecting special items, fighting bosses, and fulfilling goals to open up other courses. Finally, the time trial, which is pretty self-explanatory, allows you to race against your ghost to try and break your own records.

I don't have a multi-tap myself, but I'm sure that if I did, the four player mode in this game would be a blast. One of the main factors missing from the other Playstation cart racing games was the lack of a good multiplayer mode, which Crash Team Racing exhibits. The thing that made Mario Kart so great was the ability to smash two or three of your closest friends with a red shell and then laugh at them about it. This game allows you to recreate the emotional assault in all of its four player splendor, which is fantastic for any Playstation owner.

Of all the things Crash Team Racing exhibits, its gameplay lacks the most originality. This game is Diddy Kong Racing minus 32 bits and monkeys. On the one hand, you can't blame the people at Naughty Dog, because number one that was a great game, and number 2, almost all cart-racing games follow the same format. On the other hand, it would have been refreshing to see a new approach to the genre. This isn't a really big problem, but it's one that can't be overlooked.

Graphics

Naughty Dog has managed to ship the great graphics of Crash Bandicoot 2 and Crash Bandicoot: Warped into CTR. The graphics are cartoony, but this only keeps up with the theme of the other three games, and are well appreciated. Each character and cart are polygonal, and although without a lot of detail, look fantastic. The tracks, from icy, snow covered mountain tops, to the hot desert sand, are great looking, and are crisp and clear. There is no patented N64 blur, or Playstation grittiness here. And even with all of the beautiful visuals, there are no framerate problems with CTR. The racing experience is smooth and seamless in the one player mode, and the two player mode is just as good. All in all, Crash Team Racing has wonderful graphics.

Sound

The sound in Crash Team Racing is pretty mediocre, and, although not disappointing, didn't really help this title in any way. The music has the same cartoony ambience as that of the rest of the Crash Bandicoot series. And, like the music in the rest of the Crash Bandicoot series, CTR's gets really annoying after listening to it over a few courses. I just put on another CD while I played. I could do this because the sound effects of the game aren't really that fantastic, either. Sure, each cart has its far-off-airplane-sounding-engine sounds, and sure the characters yell some little phrase whenever they get spun out. In the end, the sound just wasn't as well presented as that of better cart games, such as Mario Kart. There's nothing in CTR that you will make you laugh, like hearing Toad say, "I'm the best.", or Wario say, "I'm Wario. Imagonna Win!" The sound isn't unbearable to listen to, but it just isn't all that great.

Overall

Despite a few copyright infringements and sound problems, Crash Team Racing emerges from the pit of Playstation cart games as the overwhelming victor. While no Mario Kart, it is an all around fun game, and is a must-own for any cart racing fan.

-Andrew Sturgeon