Crash Tag Team Racing – Review

There are a number of certainties in the universe. Certain galactic occurrences that defy probability by remaining constantly, always and forever guaranteed. So by now I’m pretty sure we all know that buttered toast falling off a table will fall jam-side down; if you put the positive ends of two batteries together the world ends; and Crash Bandicoot can be counted upon for vacuous, dispirited gameplay and a lack of imagination.

Every once in a while someone comes along and shakes that fine galactic balance and throws enough doubt on your aspersions that you wonder whether you’ve just witnessed something completely insane, terrifying , or absolutely ingenious. In the pantheon of great minds those boat rockers have included legendary names like Einstein; Oppenheimer; Marx; and now Bandicoot.

Go Go Go! – Gameplay
Crash Tag Team Racing is everything a kart racing game should be and almost always isn’t the title is fun, innovative and simple where other titles have fallen down using a “ten tracks, eight cars… go!” approach to a racing spin off Crash Tag Team Racing stays loyal to the roots that have birthed so many iterations of the madcap marsupial. Using an enjoyable platform style gameplay to navigate between the games different worlds and ultimately to aid in the completion of the main game story and providing unlockables for later on. This can however feel a little hollow, and although at times adding well to the enjoyment of the title, it also takes elements of it away by providing more of a nuisance than a bridge to the next track.

Within each of the themed worlds there are three individual courses with their own theme and personality. And again within those courses in the main story play are five different game modes: Race; Fast Lap; Run and Gun; Crashinator and Rolling Thunder, each of which is pleasurable in its own right but the Crashinator and Run and Gun can become tedious and irritating it would have been nice to have less modes and see a little more exploration into each than have all five and some remain as shallow as Jordan writing a letter to Smash Hits.

Another aspect of Crash Tag Team Racing is the impressive eight playable characters that include the lovable Crash himself; evil Neo Cortex; and the marginally racist Von Clutch. And it’s not just the choice of characters which is impressive, through the games more platform style elements each character has unlockable costumes and different phases of vehicle which make for a refreshing amount of variety in the way your character appears and performs.

One of the most proud elements of Crash Tag Team Racing’s gameplay is the Clash system which allows two cars close enough together to join forces against the world at large providing one car does the driving and the other operates the 360degree gun turret mounted atop your newly created supercar. This works really well and the cynical boost given to the person who disengages the clash first makes for some frantic games of chicken coming up to the finish line, though occasionally it seems as though it might be impossible to win certain races without clashing it would have been nice it this had been more of an extra than a requisite to win races, which at times can make relying on your own skill to win the race about as reliable as running the Grand National on Buckaroo.

Rear View Mirror – Aesthetics
Crash Tag Team Racing looks good, the simple and colorful visuals mean that the graphics provided are never to complex, but also manage to find an equilibrium where they aren’t to garish either. The animations on individual characters and vehicles are nice and each vehicle has a unique feeling about it.

The games reasonably short courses and simple layouts mean that there are little or no noticeable slowdown or framerate issues, but I’m not sure anyone was really expecting any.

V8 Pleasure – Sound
The music is typical jaunty Crash Bandicoot fare jungle inspired novelty music which fits the bill perfectly and manages never to feel out of place or obnoxious which would have been easy.

The characters vocalizations can be irksome during some of the unlockable minigames, but in a way that helps to add to their somewhat surreal annoying appeal, like a Joe Pasquale sex tape with Rod Hull and Emu, incredibly frustrating but ultimately compelling.

Girl Racers – Female Gamer Perspective
This is a fun, happy title no matter what perspective you come at it from and with a fairly even split of male and female playable characters those who prefer to play as a lady will get a kick out of Crash Tag Team Racing as much as anyone else.

In all honesty I cannot rave about this title enough; I love it, even to the extent of embarrassing myself in a pretty devout gamer community by coming out of the Crash closet, that was until curiosity peaked among the others and the were able to share my joy; a true guilty pleasure.

Ultimately Crash Tag Team Racing is a fun enjoyable and credible title, something seriously lacking in the market at the moment, and I for one hope it receives all the success it’s earned by winning me over to the way of the Bandicoot.

Review by Pete