Crash Nitro Kart
But it won't be easy, as he must race against foes both old and new before a final showdown with Velo himself! Featuring incredible graphics, action-packed gameplayand more, Crash Nitro Kart leads the pack on the PlayStation 2. "Crash Nitro Kart" interactive game 2003 Universal Interactive, Inc. Crash Bandicoot and related characters are and of Universal Interactive, Inc. All rights reserved. Vivendi Universal Games and the Vivendi Universal Games logo are trademarks of Vivendi Univer
Crash Nitro Kart Accessories
 Crash Tag Team Racing
Crash Bandicoot: Twinsanity for PlayStation 2
Crash Team Racing (PlayStation)
Sonic Mega Collection
PlayStation 2 Memory Card (8MB)
Crash of the Titans
Crash Bandicoot 2
Cars
Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
Playstation 2 Memory Card 8MB 2PK Red/Blue
Crash Nitro Kart Reviews
Multiplayer mode is even better if you have 4 people playing. It's a nice game. The characters are all good and with the team option. Good storyline and nice levels. Still it's a great game and fun for all ages.
My 11 year old sister loved this game. She asked for a racing game for her birthday this year and I know she likes mariokart, but she has a PS2.
Don't get me wrong the game is fun, and the graphics are on par with what a PS2 game should be, the title is just not as good as the original Naughty Dog game. Keep in mind that the original game was for the original PSX and was on the CD format of course, keep in mind also that this sequel is for the PS2 which is on the DVD format and therefore, should be at least the same length and have the same if not more content than its predecessor. The game is easily half the length of the original CTR and that is screwed up.
In my personal opinion Crash went to crap when Naughty Dog quit making the games. This game was 30 percent done by the second day I had it and I'm not one of these people that sit in front of the TV and play a game constantly, I don't have that kind of time and just play when I can.
I beat that game 100 percent and wished there was more to the game but it took me a long time to complete it all the way. I felt seriously gypped and plan on beating this in no time which means I'm not getting my moneys worth. I purchased this game because one of my favorite Playstation games of all time was the original Crash Team Racing.
I actually played Crash Team Racing all the time with my older brother, and I seized the opportunity to buy Nitro Kart, and I must say I am very much impressed with the gameplay, graphics, and overall package. The whimsical and crazy characters make this game appealing to children, but it is challenging enough for teens and adults to play. I would say this is probably one of the funnest games you could play by yourself or with another. I am an adult, and I still love this game. This game has a bunch of extras: new characters, unlockable items, new goodies to shoot and use against your opponents on the track.
There is a reasonable amount of fun to be had here, but fans hoping for, or expecting CTR2 will get their feelings hurt. For a game that's so obviously modeled so heavily after CTR, you'd think the developers would have put allot of effort into getting these elements as similar as possible, but they're not even close. Well for starters, Nitro Kart was not developed by Naughty Dog. In short, despite cursory similarities between the two games, CTR experience doesn't necessarily add up to CNK experiencejust because you were good at CTR doesn't mean you will be good at this game. The tracks themselves, while reminiscent of CTR tracks, are simply overly complicated, lacking the careful and clever design of the ones they try to mimmick. All character voices and sound effects have changed dramatically, and not for the better in this installment eitherthey sound generic and dumb; repeating the same lame, cheesey taunts endlessly. While I understand the need to up the ante over CTR for a greater, and fresher challenge, the lines between what is difficult enough to be challenging, and what is over complicated, and frustrating have become blurred here. This isn't a bad game.
I have to agree with one of the previous reviewers that this just isn't cutting it. Turbos don't seem as powerful, or as long lasting as in CTR, and you can't "ride" a turbo boost nearly as long as you could in CTR before you have to start another powerslide to maintain your speed. Worse, most of them don't sound even remotely close to their voices in previous Crash games. The weapons system has perhaps taken the biggest hitthere are more booby trap type weapons as opposed to directly offensive weaponsand that's a bad thing as the other racers seem to be able to avoid track hazards, and your booby traps with ease, making them all but useless. This made the game much more competitive and fun with often amazingly down-to-the-wire finishes.
But this all leads one to wonderhow can a game be so much like it's predecessor, and remain inferior. It has good looking graphics, and there are new characters, weapons, play modes, and tracks (though some of the tracks are modeled heavily after CTR tracks). Initially, I was impressedNitro Kart tries really hard to be a worthy successor to CTR, preserving the powerslide/boost system, and even tossing in a few new gimmicks. Often, I forgot to use my weapons all together because so many of the weapons are geared more towards booby trapping the track than being directly offensive. Don't get me wrong.
As a huge fan of mascot kart racers in general, and Crash Team Racing in particular, I decided to pick up Crash Nitro Kart when I saw it on sale at Wal Mart a few months ago. Yet these are not minor scuffs on a showroom shinethese are significant flaws that will drive experienced CTR players craving more of the same sort of action bonkers. At the end of the day though, I just can't recommend this game in good conscience. The kart physics are so sluggish, and unrefined, even veteran CTR players will find themselves having a terribly tough time with this game. Perhaps one of the biggest things that set CTR apart from Mario Kart 64 was that you had a level playing fieldwhile, like all games, CTR did cheat, the AI racers didn't seem to have the catch-up speed, or seeming magical ability to avoid missiles, bowling bombs, and booby traps (for example, when you "booby trap" a turbo pad with a beeker, or TNT/nitro crate) that the AI racers in Mario Kart 64 had. Ultimately, this simply isn't much of an incentive for playing, or much reward for winning.
Worse, if you thought the AI racers in Mario Kart 64 were bad for cheating, being given catch up speed, and the uncanny ability to be able to avoid your weapons and booby traps, you're going to go out of your mind herethe frustration factor is in nose bleed territory, and your blood pressure will be too as you seem to hit every hazard, and get nailed time after time by the AI racers' missiles and bowling bombs which you almost never get (since when can bowling bombs which roll in a straight line follow you around curves.). One of the things that made CTR so accessible, and fun was that the karts were responsive, and easy to drive. This ratchets up the frustration factor EVEN MORE (as if it needed to be ratcheted up any more) because with the tracks being so complicated, you depserately need the karts to be responsive, and they're simply not. Nitro Kart is so reminiscent of CTR in so many ways that it's difficult to not make the comparison. Instead, it's a mediocre follow-up that smacks of the cash cow being milked.
But it's also a game that desperately needs to be judged on it's own merits. Sadly, that seems to have gone out the window with this installment as some of the races, and bosses in particular seem downright impossible.
In the end, the only real way that this game trumps it's predecessor is in graphics; though some may count internet multiplay as a bigger counterbalancing factor than others. Unfortunately, it seems to have inherited little if any of it's predecessor's charm, personality, or playability.
In fact, it's a reasonably fun game. That's gone in this installmentthe karts seem allot more sluggish, and difficult to control; particularly around tight corners and in curves.
Nitro Kart on the other hand, is to it's credit a reasonably fun gamebut it's also a game that needed allot of fine tuning it never gotand it never got it because it isn't being pushed to be everything it can be because of being in direct competition with a towering colossus. Yet that's the very thing you can't do because the game tries so hard to be so much like CTR.
CTR was a game that was in direct competition with, and built to dethrone a reigning king (the then, hugely popular, and successful Mario Kart 64) and Naughty Dog knew that if they tried to make CTR a low budget, B-list value title, Mario Kart would leave it in the dustso they put allot of effort into building a finely tuned masterpieceand as fans will testify, succeeded. While in CTR, all the various racers were grouped by handling, acceleration, and top speed, the differences between them seem much less distinct herealso, there aren't as many racers available this time around (although there are a few unlockable characters), and only a single unlockable track, and it's immediately available in arcade mode.
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