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Review by G_Dub
March 31, 2009
Sound & Music
The music in this game is a small collection of upbeat kiddie sounding tunes that all get annoying very fast. There isn’t much variety, and when you travel from level to level racing I can’t even pick out a difference in music most of the time. Sounds are fitting, but annoying character commentary during races really grates on your nerves after a few short races.. Each character has a few stupid one liners that wear out quickly, and make you wish your surround sound wasn’t working. Quite a sloppy job done in the sound department. The only piece of music I Iiked was the upbeat wacky tempo of the main loading screen. After that it’s all downhill from there.
Score: (4/10)
Graphics
In game graphics aren’t terrible, but you can tell everything was designed with kids in mind. I bought a Crash game thinking anyone could play it, but this game seems immature for eight year olds. The graphics are all pastel colored, gaudy, and fairly blunt. Nothing seems to have any good resolution or geometry. Tracks seem too cluttered with minor details, and it’s hard to see what’s coming up ahead of you. The graphics didn’t impress me in any way, and come nowhere close to maxing out the potential of a Gamecube.
Score: (5/10)
Gameplay
There’s a lot to do in Crash Tag Team Racing, but most of what the game offers as challenges get boring extremely fast, and get repetitive on the second go. CTTR is a kart racing/platform game, the first and only combination of genres that exists. There’s a hokey and pointless storyline to go along with the game of course, and a tacked on platform/adventure segment of the game to go along with the babyish story of the game. The adventure part of the game basically has you running around simply designed levels collecting coins, talking to characters, and buying crystals. Occasionally there are simple puzzles to solve, or fake jumps to perform. After the first level of platforming I was so bored I called it quits and just tried the multi-player. As you progress in the adventure you unlock race tracks, and more characters to race as. In each level you will find three race tracks and each has a set of challenges to complete for each track. You have your standard race, a time trial to beat the best lap time, and a couple other simple modes involving smashing targets or other cars which are really easy. The multi-player is probably the most fun you can have playing this game as you can compete against a friend and get a few laughs, as well as unlock tracks by coins you collect from victories outside of the main storyline. Besides racing there’s a grand prix and battle mode. The grand prix is just a collection of races, while the grand prix is a terrible boring mess of trying to blow up opponents in rinky dink arenas.
Most of the flaws so far could’ve been justified if the kart racing itself would’ve been engrossing, but its not. The race mechanics are way too shallow. Each race feels exactly like the last, and races get stale fast. This is because there are no quality shortcuts or alternate paths on any track, and every single kart you can race as handles just the same as the last. There’s honestly no difference but in looks. This makes progressing in the single player mode almost useless, because once you have the first car you essentially have them all. Besides flawed level design, there is no depth in racing at all. The “clash” mechanic sounds cool on paper when you can fuse two karts together, but it gets old really fast like everything else. To win a race you’re almost required to clash with another racer, shoot down the competition, and then eject from the clash shortly before the finish to win. Yep, that’s what you do every time. Shortcuts, powerslides, pickups, and turbo are essentially useless, and the stupid clash mechanic is the only thing that will win you races. Karts handle pretty stiffly, and it would have been nice if there were variances and how each character handled to add some breadth to the game, but this game falls flat on its face instead. The racing mechanics of this game would only appeal to the brainless, or very young kids.
Score: (4/10)
Overall
Overall there’s a lot to do in CTTR, and the multi-player can add some extra hours of length to the game, but why would you want to extend the length of this horrid game? This game is annoying sounding, doesn’t look good, and isn’t even fun. This game is a mockery of everything Crash Bandicoot once was, and nobody should waste their money buying this game.
Overall Score: (4/10)
Rating: 4/10
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Most recent video game reviews written by G_Dub
Nuclear Strike (PlayStation) [February 09, 2009]
Armored Core 4 (Xbox 360) [February 08, 2009]
Top Gun: Combat Zones (GameCube) [February 08, 2009]
SSX On Tour (GameCube) [February 08, 2009]
Freestyle Metal X (PlayStation 2) [February 07, 2009]
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