Crash Team Racing (CTR)

Naughty Dog’s Final Crash Game

After Warped, Naughty Dog had one last Crash game to develop. They wanted to go out in a blaze of glory. In 1999 they would give us Crash Team Racing, putting their own spin on the kart racing genre. ND wanted to give us something fast, something cool, something that would…….CRASH (I super super swear that’s the last time) at the finish line. CTR, for all intents and purposes is a Diddy Kong racing clone, by my god, is it a high quality one.

CTR stands out from other kart racers by featuring a real story. Nitrous Oxide, a power-hungry alien and self-proclaimed “fastest racer in the universe,” catches wind of Earth’s racing scene and decides to raise the stakes. He challenges the planet’s best, declaring that if he wins, he’ll turn Earth into a giant parking lot and enslave its inhabitants. Now, Crash and his crew must race their way to victory and stop Oxide before it’s too late.

As I stated before, CTR is a DK-racing clone but they say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. This game offers multiple modes of play. Multiplayer racing delivers classic high-speed competition, while Battle Mode turns the action into a chaotic free-for-all or team-based showdown, where players blast each other with missiles, bombs, and other explosive mayhem. The main attraction of this game is the story mode. The hub is the adventure arena – you can freely drive around to get the hang of the controls. Each world contains 4-main-race tracks – the main goal is winning the trophy. Win 4 trophies and face a boss race. Besides trophies, there are other collectibles as well. CTR offers plenty of collectibles to keep players engaged. In CTR Challenge mode, racers must collect all three C, T, and R letters while securing first place. Time Trials return, challenging players to finish tracks as quickly as possible to earn the best relics, adding replayability. Beyond trophies, CTR coins, and relics, players can also collect crystals. Unlike other rewards, crystals are found in dedicated challenge levels where all must be gathered before time runs out. Completing these challenges unlocks additional characters, keeping the experience fresh and rewarding. 

This is one of the smoothest kart racers I have ever played. There are 3 types of characters: Intermediate- the balanced character, best for beginners. Turn-sters- lacking speed but control the most smoothly. And your speedsters- the fastests, but hardest to steer and control – Pick your poison. All your favorites are here, heroes and villains; Crash, Cortex, Coco, TIny, Dingodile- this game’s full freaking house! The kart racing itself is some of the best on the PS1. The controls are tuned finely to give a fast paced wumpa blast of a ride. Like Diddy Kong and Mario kart, power-ups and weapons are the name of the game – Missiles, bombs and TNT crates make for a chaotic kart racing extravaganza. 

Level design is some of the best I have seen in any racing game. You will see some familiar locations stretched out to full length tracks – ‘N.Sanity Island’, ‘The Sewers’, and ‘Cortex’s Castle’ all make a return in the most grandiose manner. Besides returning locations, several new ones have been introduced – ‘Coco’s Park’ and ‘Papu Papu’s Temple’ are my personal favorites. Naughty Dog has never disappointed with their music. The soundtrack really pumps up the action and gives a sense of urgency when playing. In short, the music just really puts you in the mood. 

CTR was Naughty Dog’s swansong for the series. Not only was this ND’s last Crash game, this was their last game for the PS1; truly the end of an era. Sadly this would start the long and steady decline of the series… Thankfully this was eventually corrected. As with the rest of the series, it’s STILL not available on modern consoles! The remake, released by Vicarious Visions is, as of right now, the only way to play it on today’s hardware. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great remake, but Sony, please get your act together and release all of these gems on PS5…like now! Pretty please. Until then, dig up your PS1, 2, or 3, pop the disc in, and save the world one trophy at a time. 

Don’t Crash out,

Fil

Verdict: 9/10

https://opencritic.com/game/7709/crash-team-racing-nitro-fueled