Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled Review
"Beautiful Classic Karting"
Campaign
Following the successful remasters of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro, we’re given another very interesting title. That is of course, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled. This is a classic karting game that’s packed with the original content, enhanced with modern mechanics and given a little extra to help round the experience out.
At the core of the game is straight up quickplay, here you’re able to battle it out or just race around across the large quantity of maps that are available. This can be done locally with four players through splitscreen, or you can also head online to compete in matches of up to eight players. You can also take your four player local squad and play there. It should be noted however that the multiplayer really isn’t functioning properly at launch, this is disappointing. I’m sure they’ll iron it out, but I expected it to be smooth considering that the online really is a brand new thing for this series.
Moving past that, the game does have a sort of campaign narrative to it. This adventure mode has a classic option, or a modern one with difficulty choices. This works well as you aim to finish races to win, unlock new areas and tackle boss fights. There are hidden secrets, things to unlock and lots to do here. I was a bit disappointed that you couldn’t switch difficulties on the fly in the adventure, you’d have to start a fresh campaign. Sometimes you get stuck in a spot, and just want to keep on racing.
Gameplay
I felt that the game handles quite well, while retaining the original style. That being in regards to using power slides, and the traditional layouts for the tracks. There are short cuts to find, vast levels to race along on and just a large quantity of them to take in. The loading in the game is a bit of an issue, it does take quite awhile.
Once you’re in a race it’s easy to reset things, but it takes awhile to get into a race. On Xbox One X it is enhanced with a 4k resolution and HDR support which is appreciated to make the magical worlds just pop. The visuals truly are impressive, and there’s a great sense of scale. I’m impressed with how many tracks are present, they really went all out. You get a pile of traditional race tracks, and some battle arenas as well for various modes. Aside from racing you can play capture the flag, among many other modes that are present. Online allows for private, or just quick matchmaking when it comes to modes.
Building on the aspect of this game being packed with content, there are a ton of characters to unlock. There are also skins for these characters that are earned while playing. If that’s not enough, you can customize your kart in many ways and unlock more options past what’s available at the starting point.
The Conclusion
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled delivers a fun karting experience, with a ton of content and just some minor issues that hold it back from greatness. It really is just a blast to play, so much fun whether you’re racing alone or with others. I wish the multiplayer had launched better, and the loading is definitely a problem.
I also find the AI to be a bit intense on medium or higher whereas easy is too easy. It’s great that you can play this locally in four player splitscreen, or play online when that’s working well. The quantity of content is seriously impressive, whether that’s with the tracks or just the customization elements. I’m quite shocked that there’s so much in this. There’s the adventure story to work through that features some cutscenes, but you can also just play the game in quickplay without issues.
Enjoy this however you’d like, and that’s wonderful. They took another great classic game and made a nearly perfect remaster of it. It’s very well done for the most part, and it makes me really want to see more modern karting titles.
Read our Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy Review
View our Game Hubs
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled Review on Xbox One X
Review Code Provided by Activision
Rating Overall: 7.8
Xbox
Playstation
Nintendo
PC
Mobile
