The digital delights of Sony’s scrumptious PlayStation Network service know no bounds. Aside from letting punters compete in online gaming, stream films, browse the Internet and more, its premier attraction rests in the copious supply of downloadable games ripe for the picking. From PSN exclusives to PSOne Classics, minis and plain old add-on content, Sony’s online space is chock full of goodies battling it out for your hard-earned digital dollars.
Welcome back to another installment of Inside PlayStation Network, where every Monday – Friday we’ll pluck a PSN release—be it new or old—and put it in the spotlight for a thorough dissection. Fancy getting a new PSN game but don’t know what one to plump for? Perhaps this feature will help. Didn’t realize that a game was available in your region until now? We’ve got you covered. Or, perhaps you were musing over what those lucky Japanese folk were tucking into over in the Land of the Rising Sun? You can be sure our coverage will extend to those rare regional exclusives as much as those firmly embedded on the public consciousness.
For our latest entry, we clap eyes on the classic kart romp, Crash Team Racing.
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Developer: Naughty Dog
Region(s) available: North America, Europe
Players: 1-4
The Mario Kart brand has been milked beyond all recognition since its inception on SNES back in 1992, although with good reason – the cartoon racer was quite simply, bloody fantastic. Back in the late 90s, every man and his dog were attempting to cash-in on Nintendo’s acclaimed racing series, though none quite managed to nail the experience. Frankly, most Mario Kart clones were rubbish knock-offs – that is, until esteemed developer Naughty Dog and its Crash Bandicoot franchise poked their head around the door.
As Sony’s unofficial answer to Mario, it seemed fitting that the big-mouthed marsupial found himself heading up the PlayStation’s first authentic kart racing experience in the appropriately titled Crash Team Racing. Here, Crash and co find themselves putting the pedal to the metal in an effort to save the world from an unscrupulous alien chap name Nitrous Oxide. If Oxide triumphs, the planet is lost, so the stakes are incredibly high. Or if you want to be cynical, it’s really just the perfect excuse just to plonk Crash and rabble in a go-kart seat and have them lob crazy weapons at each other.
All the familiar faces from the Crash Bandicoot series are here and eager to burn rubber, so expect to compete as the likes of Polar and Cortex alongside the series’ eponymous hero himself. Eight characters are up for grabs out of the box, so to speak, with the remaining seven unlockable as you rake in the wins. Crash Team Racing offers up a heap of game modes to choose from, including the solo-based adventure and arcade outings to multiplayer centric offerings such as the obligatory versus mode. Gameplay-wise, CTR adheres to Mario Kart’s well-oiled mechanics down to the last sparkplug, even throwing in the whole ‘put your foot on the gas right before the starting flag’ trick to give yourself a crafty head start. And it works, very well.
Tracks are a diverse bunch and come in all shapes and size, and like Mario Kart are chock full of various hazards. From ice patches to giant barrels, you’ll have to keep one eye on the track and the other on your opponents if you are to stay in one piece, let alone bag pole position. As you’d expect, players have access to a meaty selection of weapons to help you along the way, including missiles , bombs and other such trinkets that make Mario Kart’s banana skins and Koopa shells seem tame by comparison. CTR’s single-player shenanigans are fairly extensive, with four circuits to plough through, as well as a battle mode which affords numerous matchups and plonks you in an arena filled with weapons.
Being a Kart racer though, Crash Team Racing is perfectly tailored to multiplayer mayhem, which you’ll find courtesy of the aforementioned versus mode. This accommodates up to four players and allows you and a group of mates to blast through a track of your choice – and there’s plenty of them, too. Despite being more than a decade old, CTR stands as one of the most accomplished Mario Kart-inspired efforts of recent memory, and is sure to appeal to anyone who has a penchant for Crash and chums or kart racing in general.
Tune in again same time tomorrow as we once again go gallivanting around Inside PlayStation Network.