Crash Bandicoot’s go anywhere, do anything racing game!
- NA release: 21st October 2005
- EU release: 11th November 2005
- JP release: 1st December 2005
- Developer: Radical Entertainment
- Publisher: Sierra (NA/EU), Vivendi Universal (JP)
- NGC Magazine Score: 47%
- Mods Used: Widescreen Code
The second Crash Bandicoot Kart game on the GameCube, and this takes its own spin on the genre. The core mechanics – driving, power sliding and so on – feel good, which is a solid foundation to built the rest of the game on. The items are a bit of a nothing burger, though, with no personality and I still didn’t really know what most did by the end of the game.
The story mode takes place in a giant theme park. There’s a main hub area and each cup had it’s own little platforming world. Essentially, it’s a little 3D platformer and you’ll need to jump across platforms, solve puzzles and find collectables to progress. It makes the game more than just playing races, and, solely as a platformer, it’s better than Wrath of Cortex, as the movement and jumping feels quite good.
The racing has an interesting mechanic where you can merge with another racer. One of you drives while the other controls a turret, and you can swap positions. While sounds very similar to Mario Kart: Double Dash, it feels very different. The person on the turret can aim freely and it’s a very powerful thing to do, very useful for making your way up the ranks and then separating to ditch your ally.
The big let down is the tracks, none of them feel particularly interesting or fun to race on. None of the other modes – such as a few shooting challenges, fastest lap and crashing into objects – really feel all that impressive, either. It’s still a solid game, it just doesn’t have that special spark.
Fun
After completing tasks, you’ll unlock cartoon sequences which show the bandicoot dying in increasingly hilarious circumstances. And why not? After playing Crash Tag Team Racing for a few hours, who wouldn’t want to see the ‘mad’ marsupial die? and never return.
Tom East, NGC Magazine #114
Remake or remaster?
A remaster would be good. Or have the merging be a game mode in a new one.
Official Ways to get the game
There’s no official way to buy Crash Tag Team Racing.
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Japan
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