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Aussie Ninja, did you say wacky doodle?
Publisher: Vivendi Universal Games
Tue, 29 November 2005
by: Australian Ninja
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Sometimes I need a little Crashahol.
That most peculiar of video-game mascots is back in another kart racing game. But don't be fooled into thinking Crash Tag Team Racing (CTR) is merely another kart game. It's not. It's more of a variety game that happens to feature racing.
Before playing it I really thought the game was going to suck. I mean I've played plenty of Mario Kart in my day and I thought the tag-buddy Bandicoot driving in CTR was going to be a cut and paste kart game. Boy was I wrong! The good news is the game does not suck and my preconceptions did not stop me from enjoying the game. CTR is actually pretty fun though somewhat simplistic.
The main game sees crash and buddies arriving in an auto theme park and introduces the new character Von Clutch. VC is the bad guy who owns the wacky doodle fantasy theme park. He also hosts the kart racing. Von Clutch asks everyone to find power crystals (which have been stolen) and the first to get them all will win ownership to his racing theme park "Wumpa World." Why anyone would want it I do not know. Cortex seems to salivate at the idea though. The story makes about much sense as taping two bread sticks to your head and wandering around the streets at night time bothering people.
 | | Purple balls = painful |
Anyway, the main game world is similar to the hub structure of the Spyro games. CTR has one main "home" area that serves as the connection between the different theme worlds.
Von Clutch I liked as the bad guy in this game. He's so lame he makes Dr Eggman / Robotnick look dangerous by comparison. Von Clutch is the Cyborg-German bad guy who asks the crew to find power crystals much like Cortex does in the platform Crash games. He's so un-bad
that when you talk to him he says "Oh my goodness, it's my favourite video-game hero Crash Bandicoot" in his loveable Colonel Clink German accent.
Basically in CTR you spend time exploring and platforming the large Spyro type areas then entering races when you are ready. So we have modified platforming mixed with racing. Neither game element is fully fleshed out; the racing is not as good as other kart games or even Crash's own previous kart games. The platforming is basic stuff and totally different to his main games. So don't think you'll get any traditional Crash platforming. It's closer to a simplified Spyro or Mario 64 game world with the rotating 360-degree camera and item questing. However the platforming and variety racing are both fun so don't get a poor impression from my observations. I think the developers were aiming at a younger audience with this game as the difficulty is quite easy. Assuming that is so, they did a fine job and I can't fault them for making a game that was not designed to appeal to me in the first place. It's a great game for kids, the gameplay is good and there are no major faults in the game.
In CTR each theme world branches off from the main home world. Each world has three racetracks, a mini-game and a battle arena to unlock. In addition there are items to find, hidden crystals, costumes to buy, coins to pick up and other stuff to do. Back in the home world are more vehicles / racing characters to unlock. Additional unlockables are available in the multiplayer mode and some unlockables affect the main game. So check out the multiplayer game even for one player just to unlock everything.
Each race in the game has five modes of play. Racing; Shooting air targets; Driving through ground targets; Fast Lap / Time Trial; and Shooting other drivers for KO's. Basically two of those categories have all the racing characters the other modes are all solo. Think of the target collecting (ground based and the other air based) as like collecting boxes in the early Crash games. Hit enough of them say 25/30 and you'll score a crystal.
In addition there are also Lightgun shooter style mini games and a stunt arena for vehicle stunts like a Tony Hawk game.
I said there were no major faults in CTR but my only genuine complaint is that after a couple days of play it all gets a bit samey and repetitive. There is so much new energy and creativity in the first few hours of the game that I found it all quite intoxicating. The bright colours, loud voices of the commentators, thrills of shooting the other player and speeding away, the insane music all drove me to fits of school girl laughter. Also moments where I just went "that was soooo cool." Like when I watched the funny Die-o-ramas.
During races the controls are very comfortable and streamlined. Power slides are plentiful and doing so will build up your boost bar. That bar you know and love from Burnout 3. Keep you eyes open, I bet that popular boost bar will cameo in a film, TV show or chocolate bar any day now.
The "tag team" aspect of CTR is not what I thought it would be. In fact, you only get to use it when you merge with another vehicle. The racing tracks are all pretty easy racing. Many can be driven without using the brakes whatsoever.But other tactics are needed to win.
The cool new feature here is that during races pressing a button combines your vehicle with any other racer's vehicle on the track. A sweet little cut-scene shows the two vehicles changing like Transformers. Afterward you gain the ability to fire two powerful weapons in addition to the regular track pickups and speed bar. It's really the only way to win races as racing solo is kind of slow. So combine and shoot the other racers until you get to first place. Then separate; race; combine again when necessary. It works fine and is easy to perform. The tag team part is where you either drive or shoot and you can swap anytime with the press of a button. That's the bit right out of Cube Kart de la Mario. It's essential to perform both shooting and driving well if you want to win especially in the battle arenas.
The real stars of CTTR are the two sports commentator chickens that narrate the whole game and introduce each new feature as you encounter it. The voice actors steal the show as they had me literally rolling on the floor laughing several times at their humorous irrepressible commentary on nearly everything in the game.
The voice talent is one of the main strengths of CTR. All the characters talk except Crash. He just makes those muffled grunting noises as usual. My favourite voices were the two commentators and the bad guy Von Clutch. In fact if you enjoy animated comedy films (Robots, Shrek) etc I would recommend you play this game just for a couple of days to enjoy the cut scenes and funny characters alone. The FMVs are good quality and the die-o-ramas / gags are nice scenes as they take up the whole screen and have a clear crispness to them that adds to the enjoyment of watching them.
The game won't blow your socks off with how it looks, but it is very pretty to look at.
In addition to the racing characters - Crash, Crunch, Crash's Sister, Neo-Cortex, N-Gin, Von Clutch, Cortex's Daughter, the new Opossum Girl, Von Clutch the game features regular human people wandering around the theme park. Each person will say multiple lines of speech when you talk to them or if you hit them. Spinning into people usually makes them complain with silly comments such as; "Why did you do that?, "Ow, my groin", "I don't think my liver is where it's supposed to be." It's an amusing distraction. Amusing enough that I spent a lot of time talking to people and spinning into them to hear what they would say. Crash's friends and enemies are also in the main home world to talk to and they send you on obscure item quests. Obscure item quests, you know you love them!
Doing so will unlock some gunk, yakka yakka yakka. Have you ever played an adventure video-game in your life? Then you know the drill.
Collecting each world's main power crystal will allow you to unlock the next worlds entrance. It's simple enough and enough of a reason to keep playing to unlock more tracks even when it the racing becomes tedious.
Within each theme world lie Von Clutch's henchmen. Men garbed in a strange full boy suit with a gas mask headpiece. What I liked is how they all look exactly the same yet speak with different accents. One goon sounded like John Lennon, another like James Brown, another like a nerdy high school student. Again they provide much comic relief and when you spin-hit them nearly all of them will say something about their internal organs or bones being damaged. But relax, it's all cartoony violence where no one really gets hurt in the Loony Tunes traditional manner.
If you don't count the Die-o-ramas that is. Each theme world features several Crash Die-o-rama's. Find the point to trigger it (shows triangle button on screen) and an animated cut scene will show where Crash ...dies. They really are very funny and a checklist shows how many you have found. Other animation trigger points have Crash firing a henchman out of a cannon, feeding them to sharks etc. In the home world still more animation hot spots are liberally littered for the inquisitive gamer to find.
So there is several animation cut scenes types to find: the Die-o-rama's; Scenes where Crash does something to the henchmen (gags); Neutral scenes where Crash does something wacky like show us his boxer shorts in a photobooth. Love-heart boxer shorts - oh you crazy marsupial you.
The humour and animated shorts are really something. The quality of these bits shows how talented some of the creators were with these parts of the game.
 | | Should you really trust this dude as someone for your kids to play with? |
The music in each world is - in a word - crazy. Like how I imagine Willy Wonka's birthday theme music would sound.
At first it enthrals you with its bizarre sounds and vibrant vocal sounds. Eventually though the music will drive you insane. I'm not joking. I realised that the moment I first heard the first world's theme music.
On the main loading screen be sure to repeatedly press two particular buttons for comical burping and farting sound effects.
While I had fun playing Crash Tag Team Racing I can only really recommend it for kids and hardcore Crash fans. The previous Crash Kart games were better racing games. This game is not a proper racing game. Which is a shame as the game engine and driving mechanics are good. The Grand Prix modes that I thought were missing in fact are only in the multiplayer modes from the main menu. Single player Grand Prix is available and up to eight players via PS2 LAN but that is not what I would call practical multiplayer. More likely you would play two player split screen mode. The game is overall quite easy and most gamers would breeze through it in less than a week of play. If you've got a buddy to play with then obviously that will extend the life span of the game significantly.
It's funny, entertaining, and a bit different. Kudos to the developers for making a game with so much vibrant wackiness. I hope to see a sequel that improves on the core racing game and keeps all the fun extra content. The sad thing is, more than likely it won't happen and some other company will probably snatch up the good ideas of CTR and mix them with a solid kart racer engine. For Crash fans and younger gamers I say go play and enjoy yourself!
by: Australian Ninja
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Great extras and unlockables, the main racing needs work | |
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