15. Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled (PS4)
Growing up in the 90s my goto cart racers were always the Mario Kart games, sepcially Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64. I didn't own a PS1 until after he PS2 had come out so I missed out on a lot of PS1 titles, including the original Crash Team Racing. However, one person that did not miss out on this game was my fiancee; she first played this game at a family friends' house when she was a kid and her and her sisters loved it so much that their parents bought them a PS1 along with this game and several others. Since this was her only console when she was younger the original CTR means a lot to her. So of course when they announced a remake of CRT for the PS4 she was beyond excited for it.
While before Crash Team Racing Nitro Fueled came out I had played the original CRT on the PS1, it's not a game I had a lot of experience with. Occasionally my fiancee and I would pop it in and we'd play it for about an hour or so, but to be honest I don't remember a ton about it other than I thought it was a surprisingly good game. Often with games that try and be just like a much more popular game, in this case Mario Kart, the imitator is often vastly inferior to what it's imitating. Not so with CTR. The game is certainly not as good as Mario Kart, but comes pretty close for what it is. The same is true for Crash Team Racing Nitro Fueled when comparing it to Mario Kart 8: Deluxe which is the closest game to it.
First off, CTR Nitro Fueled is an outstanding cart racer, and just an excellent game in general. The controls are smooth, responsive, and surprisingly deep. Like many other games of this sub-genre you race around colorful, fun tracks while collecting various powerups to help speed you up and slow down your competition. Combine various hazards, boosts, and other obstacles and you have the making for a really good time. All of this is absolutely true in Nitro Fueled. You also have a ton of unlockables in the form of new racers, carts, cart accessories, paint jobs, and all kinds of other cool features. The game will definitely keep you hooked for a while based of the unlockables alone, but when you consider the various modes this game has as well then it becomes hard to beat. Perhaps the only gameplay fault I could find in CTR Nitro Fueled was design issues on some of the tracks and the occasional glitch that had me stuck on a wall or hitting a ledge. However, these barely distracted by how well designed and fun this game is.
Visually CTR is an excellent looking game. The graphics definitely carry the Crash Bandicoot art style over well while making everything look vibrant and colorful. Each track is unique in its design, and there are many, many tracks to race on. Nitro Fueled includes all the tracks from the original CRT, plus many more original tracks made specifically for Nitro Fueled. Beyond the cool, interesting tracks are the characters, carts, and other visual aspects of the game which are well animated, funny, and very well designed. CTR Nitro Fueled is just such a fun game to look and and experience from a visuals standpoint, and honestly I have a hard time faulting anything about it in this regard.
Unfortinately the audio isn't as great as the gameplay and graphics, but is still not that bad either. The tracks in this game are definitely in line with the Crash Bandicoot games, however I never found the music in those games to be particularly remarkable. The same is true for CTR Nitro Fueled unfortunately. What does save the audio somewhat are the very cartoonish racers that will blurt out various things as you race as them or with them, and will make you laugh on more than one occasion.
If I could use one word to describe Crash Team Racing Nitro Fueled it would undoubtedly be fun. It's such a wonderful game all around that is only let down by mostly minor issues, and it's hard not to be smiling the entire time you're racing around ridiculous stages with a bunch of very entertaining cartoon characters. This is a game I wish I could have experienced for the first time as a kid because I feel like I would have loved it way more than someone playing it in their 30s. Still, even playing this as an adult I'm reminded how awesome the Crash franchise is, and being a spinoff title, this is actually one of the best, if not the best title in the entire series. (2/22/20)
Presentation: 10/10
Sound: 6/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Fun: 14/20
Overall: 39/50