Something’s wrong," says the floating head hovering in the garage at Crash
Bandicoot’s island home, "that’s not sunlight."
Crash Bandicoot is enjoying a peaceful mid-afternoon nap when his house and
all within are snatched away by a powerful beam of light. Meanwhile, in the labs
of the nefarious and scheming Dr. Cortex, while planning how best to attack the
Bandicoot’s, a beam of light pulls that laboratory away and into the unknown.
… Ok, it’s not the unknown. It is the known or soon-to-be known. Crash
emerges from his house to find it plopped down at one end of a giant arena. At
the other sits the lab of Dr. Cortex. Surrounding them are a host of tiny green
beings, cheering madly. A holographic image, huge and menacing, with great
pointed teeth looms over them.
Emperor Velo the 27th, has snatched Crash and his arch-nemesis,
Cortex, from their homes and deposited them both in an arena full of his
followers. They are looking for entertainment, and "news of your racing
prowess," he ominously intones, has reached his galaxy. Therefore he is putting
both Crash and Cortex to the test. They can hardly refuse the challenge. Earth’s
destruction hangs in the balance.
Should Dr. Cortex and his minions win, they will return to Earth as its
conqueror. For Team Bandicoot, it is a much simpler proposition – thwart both
Velo and Cortex to get home and return to the nap that was so rudely
interrupted.
Vicarious Visions presents Crash Nitro Kart, a PlayStation2 arcade galactic
romp that is both lushly rendered and mildly challenging, keeping in the vein
with Crash Bandicoot arcade-style adventures. This is a racing game, but one
which should appeal to gamers of all ages simply through the options that will
customize the racing experience.
There are beginning machines that are not overly fast, but in some of the
game modes, you can set the difficulty level for your opponents – unless you are
racing head-to-head against another human foe.
Game modes include adventure, single player, and multiplayer. In the
adventure you can choose between Team Bandicoot and Team Cortex. In this mode,
you will have to race across four worlds, and should you win, you get to face
the galactic champion. Generally speaking, this is a simple proposition, you
drive onto a portal pad to activate a vortex to a track. Winning a race on that
track unlocks other vortexes to other tracks.
As a member of Team Bandicoot, there are three vehicles you can drive. Coco’s
is a beginner vehicle is great on turns, but the speed is terrible. Crash’s
vehicle is the intermediate kart – it does not turn that great, but has good
speed and acceleration. Crunch Bandicoot has the advanced kart – great speed,
moderate acceleration and poor turning abilities. Depending on the course,
choosing either Crash’s or Crunch’s vehicle is the best solution, though younger
players will enjoy the forgiveness of racing in Coco’s machine. However, if you
are serious about advancing through the game, Coco’s machine is not going to get
you there.
The single-player mode also has several styles of races you can choose from –
there is quick race, team race, cup tournament, race time trial and lap time
trial. There are settings for the CPU difficulty, and 12 imaginative tracks,
from Jungle Boogie to Meteor Gorge, Deep Sea Driving, and Android Alley.
The action is solid, and there are power ups along the way. Those jumps you
see are not just for show; if you hop off a jump and time it right, you will get
a power boost when you land. There are also rockets and other weapons you can
collect to eliminate the leading competition.
The vocal acting is solidly in line with other Crash adventures. The music
can get a little tiring after a while.
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.
Gameplay: 8.3
The game has load times, and some of the unlockable items are cutscenes, but
once in a race, the action is seamless and enjoyable.
Graphics: 8.8
The worlds are lush and the animations are exactly what one would expect from a
kart arcade racer. Cutscenes are very well done.
Sound: 7.5
The music can become annoying about 20 minutes, and there is not much in the
sound department that is new or remarkably different.
Difficulty: Easy
The controls are kept simplistic, and the game require no learning curve. Just
get in and drive.
Concept: 8.5
This is a well-designed game, feature a host of play options. The interface is
simple to use.
Multiplayer: 8.5
This aspect of the game is more enjoyable than the single-player game and
definitely renders more in the way of laughs.
Overall: 8.5
Rent it or buy it – this is a game that is great to look and is somewhat
addictive. Yes, the action is a little mindless, but the game is, nonetheless,
enjoyable.
