365//365: Day 211 – Crash Team Racing (PSX) [PP]

With the massive success of the vehicular behemoth known as Mario Kart, a multitude of companies tried to emulate Nintendo’s accomplishments, with half-assed results. The latter does not hold true for Crash Team Racing, however. The first, and arguably only good kart racing game featuring Crash Bandicoot, was a shining example that given the right direction and care, it is possible to nearly match such a well respected trailblazer such as Super Mario Kart. While the audio isn’t as charming or whimsical as the Mario Kart series, it does roll the experience right along, with nothing detracting or disastrous. The characters you get to race with lack the impact and importance of the Mario Kart cast. The visuals however, contain a clean, greatly detailed across the board look, that could even challenge the likes of Diddy Kong Racing. But where CTR excels is with its controls and track layouts. While there’s a good amount of deviance from the track that either act as shortcuts or slightly longer routes. Each driver have their own control sets, much like Mairo Kart, which somewhat diversify each racer from each other. While the heavy racers have noticeable issues with handling, the light and medium drivers seem to cruise along with no problems or major handicaps. Although the Adventure Mode acts as a hub to various tracks of varying difficulty with unlockable boss battles, you never get the sense that you’re participating in anything other than a circuit with prerequisites to unlock more. But for the edge-of-your-seat races, passable characters and power-ups, as well as some clever track designs, Crash Team Racing clearly distinguishes its self as the best Mario Kart clone out there.

With some creative track layouts, beautiful graphics and solid control across the board, Crash Team Racing is definitely the Mario Kart clone to beat.

Rating: 8.6