User Reviews
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 Great Racer, Vacuum Cleaner Gameplay |  4.2
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by  Big_Burta
from , , Imaginationland | May 20, 2007 |
THE GOOD:
-Beautiful scenery
-Smooth animation
-Great music and sound
-Lots of different modes
-Good number of tracks
-Multiplayer can get addictive
-Aside from bad controls, it's easy to playTHE BAD:
-TONS of super hard turns
-Pretty slow driving
-The camera comes in too close
-Once you fall behind, you stay behind
-It's only exciting if this is your first racing game
-Not a lot of characters SUMMARY:
I recall the day I first got this game so well. I remember the excitement, the competition, the sound. But then I realized something. This game is about as easy to play as it is to operate a seventy-pound, 1980's vacuum cleaner (yes, I own and use one). But don’t let that stop you from witnessing the thrill of this racer.
Graphics: 9.6 -- This is easily one of the most beautiful racers on the market. The characters appearances really capture their personality. The details obviously took some concentration, and the animations are smoother than ever. The only real problem with them is the sizing. The big guys are miniature compared to the other racers, while the smaller people are super sized. Because their karts are all the same size, and they all have to fit perfectly, the programmers had to do it. But you shouldn’t notice it too much. The race tracks are simply breathtaking. Every inch of the levels are detailed to precision. The sand, dirt, and grass all look so good next to most other games, although they appear a bit flat. The water is absolutely gorgeous. It ripples and flows like real water, and it’s even colored accordingly. The rest of the scenery is a bit awkward, but you can hardly tell. The texturing is a tad lacking, but the cool coloring and seamless shading make up for it. The effects could use a tune-up, though. They are bright and exquisite, but they just don’t feel right. The explosions, although they look nice, fail to set the mood. And the particle effects from driving aren’t much, though the tire tracks are nicely done. So, aside from just tolerable effects, this game is simply beautiful.
Sound: 9.4 -- The audio of the game is superb, especially for everything that goes on in one shot. The music is a bit kooky, but most of it sounds cool. Some songs are not exactly the best match for each racetrack, but it’s close enough. And I like how it speeds up when you reach the last lap. It really sets the mood. The sound effects are probably the best part. The noises that the karts make is sort of exaggerated, but otherwise it’s perfectly recorded for the sliding and bouncing actions. The background clatter is pretty great, too. You can clearly hear the other racers in the distance like you would in reality, and you can easily tell if someone is far behind or catching up. And the sounds from the power-ups on the tracks work well. The breakable objects sound too vague compared to the rest of the racket, but that’s not too bad. The dialog is also impressive. Each character’s voice really suits their appearance and personality. Their moods are very convincing, and the flow of their words could almost be used for a drama film. Even their taunts on the tracks sound true to life. The actual remarks they make are pretty lame, but don’t let that stop you from enjoying the racing experience. Even with a few mistakes, you will most likely enjoy the sound quality of this racer.
Handling: 6.3 – This is the only field of the game that disappointed me. True to the title, playing this game is about as easy as operating a heavy twentieth century vacuum cleaner. The camera, for one thing, is just too focused on your character. This makes it very difficult to tell what’s going on around you and therefore results in frequent spills. You do get the option to have it close up or more distant, but that doesn’t help at all. The controls aren’t much better. It’s pretty difficult to use the power-ups while driving because it’s easy to slow down. Backing up out of walls and corners is a challenge itself due to the extremely wide turn radius. Boosting, which you must do to conquer hard turns, can quickly slow you down and mess you up. It also makes you an open target for enemy attacks. And simply steering the kart is a pain. You can’t rest your thumb on the joystick or else you will drive in squiggly lines when you want to go straight, yet you’ll be forced to move or turn a lot to avoid obstacles. But once you get used to the game, the controls shouldn’t bug you. However, they do complicate the actual racing events. First off, the tracks themselves are heavily loaded with sharp turns, large jumps, and falls. Not even the most maneuverable characters can dominate them. This results in regular falls or collisions with walls. And that will really slow you down. Another problem would be the big jumps. Too often does this game force you to jump over a pit. If you have enough velocity, you’re okay. But if you take a hit or mess up before the jump, you fall. At least you regenerate at the other side. Now, I know that the tracks without walls are supposed to aid in the entertainment factor, but it’s just ridiculous when you fall off the track simply because your character’s turn radius is too wide. Plus, it takes about 5 seconds to recover after a hit or fall, giving your opponents too much time to pass you. Yet your opponents seem to recover faster than you. If you allow two or three racers to pass by, you fall behind most all of them. And once you’re behind, you stay behind unless you’re a pro at this game or you set it on ‘Easy’. And the karts just feel incredibly slow, which really defeats the mood. But the challenges themselves are no big deal. It’s just the poor setup that makes them complicated. If you’re an experienced gamer and are an expert at racers, you shouldn’t have to worry about this. But with everyone else, you have been warned.
Entertainment: 8 -- I found that there are two different views of this game. Since this is the first of my two racing games, I was able to see it from both perspectives, so I actually have a story to tell. When I first put the game in the disc tray on my 12th birthday and watched the introduction, I knew this game would be great. Once I started racing, I was hooked. It was the excitement, the theme, the satisfaction, the competition, everything! Just the very idea of driving around the unique racetracks against seven other racers (or up to three friends) is enough to get you addicted. But then I got my other racing game, Crash Tag Team Racing a year and a half later. I found this particular racer to be crazier and more open that Crash Nitro Kart. So, in the end, I lost interest in CNK. I even tried to play it again some time later, and I was disappointed. Of course, today, I found joy in it again, but it’s not quite the same as it was three years ago. The point of this story? Short and simple, this game can only be enjoyed at full if this is your first racing game. Once you’ve seen other racers, this one just won’t be as thrilling. However, that doesn’t mean this game isn’t any fun to play after the others. I actually found myself almost reliving the thrill of the game a short time back. If you’ve never played a racing game before, and you’re not old enough for the bigger picture yet, I strongly recommend you start with this. Trust me, once you’ve seen other games, I can’t guarantee you be able to enjoy it.
Features: 8.7 -- Just like I expected, there is quite a load in this game. Firstly, you start with twelve unique racetracks, each with its own surprises. Then there are the four battle arenas. Playing in those is not nearly as compelling as racing, but it’s much better when you play with a few friends (or siblings). And there are a number of different power-ups too. Some can be left on the tracks to surprise your opponents when they come to it, while others can help you right away. It would have been nice if not all the power-ups were from two or three simple ideas, but it’s a start. Additionally, there aren’t too many characters to play as. You are given four teams to play as, each starting with three racers. New players can be unlocked in story mode, but this is not an easy feat. Even so, the character you play as doesn’t make much of a difference. There are three basic types of racers: the speed-demons (focused on speed), the smooth-sailors (focused on turning), and the well-balanced (focused on acceleration). Of course, if you only like to race with one racer type, it limits you to just three or four racers. And playing as the same character(s) over and over gets kind of boring. Luckily, there is a special character who is focused on everything, but I wouldn’t spoil it would I? There are also a couple of extra tracks and arenas. But there’s more to this game than racetracks and drivers. There are numerous different challenge modes to play in. You can play Capture the Flag, strive to be the last player driving (while using power-ups to attack your opponents), collect the most crystals, and many more. So, if you tire of continuous races, you can kick back and play one of these games. It looks like those battle arenas are useful after all. It may not sound like the game offers much, but once you see it for yourself, you’ll know that it’s enough.
Replay Value: Moderate
Overall: 8.4 -- This game may play as smoothly as a twenty-year-old PC, but that shouldn’t be enough to stop you from enjoying this beautiful thriller. Just be make sure you didn’t play any good racers beforehand, or you’ll be one dissatisfied customer. |
| 4 out of 5 people found this review helpful. | Did you find this review helpful? YES NO |
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| CNK...the best Crash racing game yet. |  4.9
0 comments |
by  Brooklyn
from The Shire, , Middle Earth | Sep 15, 2005 |
THE GOOD:
The characters...when something good happens to them, or they're just enjoying themselves, they say really silly things. They say silly things when bad things happen too, like when they get hit by weapons.
The levels are really kool. They're a lot better than the ones in Crash Team Racing.THE BAD:
The story mode is short, and it's easy to unlock everything in about 2 days. This game keeps you going for a little while... SUMMARY:
Overall, I think this is the best Crash racing game yet. It's a whole lot better than CTR. Let me explain why:
Better characters. The characters aren't dull in this game. They're funnier, rowdier, and the new characters aren't pointless, sort of like Rilla Roo from Crash Bash. Like I said in "The Good", they say all sorts of funny stuff. I'll give you an example for each character:
Crash: He doesn't actually talk in this game, BUT, his laughs are more hilarious.
Crunch Bandicoot: "Yeah, baby, C'monc'monc'mon'cmon!!!!!"
Coco: "Haha, look at that..."
Fake Crash: [laugh, fart]
Tiny: BIG BANG BOOM!
Cortex: "Ah, the wind in my hair..."
N.Gin: "I feel like a balloon!"
N.Tropy: "There's no time like the present!"
Oxide: [big maniac laugh here]
Zam: [well known trumpent cadence, blows a raspberry]
Zem: "I'm so close...[sluuuurp], you can TASTE it!"
Velo: "Lightning speeeeeeed."
N.Trance: "I'm coming to GET you!" (That just sounded so FUNNY for some reason...)
Dingodile: "G-Day...wanna play?"
Pura: [Meow...HISSS]
Polar: "Bababah." or [laughs like Yoda from "Star Wars"]
Also, the unlockables are neat. Yes, I know you can't play as good ol' fuzzy Dingodile...he's really special in this game. You unlock Dingodile, Polar, Pura, Fake Crash, Velo, Zam, Zem, N.Tropy, and...that's all, I guess. But they're worth unlocking. There are a few new weapons and power-ups in this game. Like the Ice Mine, and the Static Orb, which you can toss behind you, like the classic TNT and Nitro crates. I like the Static Orbs, because if they're juiced up, they can make your opponent confused. It's hard to explain, but it's really neat.
The race Tracks are REALLY cool race tracks. Loop-de-loops everywhere. Roller coaster like rides where you're turned upside-down. And a really good thing about them is that some "Shortcuts" are really easy to get to. My favorite tracks are called Android Alley and Assembly Lane. They both have good shortcuts in them were you skip a good portion of the track. These shortcuts, and shortcuts on other tracks are really good in time trials.
-The bosses - They're all funny, and well thoight out. Especially Norm and Big Norm, and Emperor Velo. Norm...[insert long laugh for 38 seconds here]. Yes, he's THAT funny.
Time Trials are easy to beat, but challenging. They're fun, especially with all the shortcuts and whatnot. There are 4 teams in this game: Team Cortex, Team Bandicoot, Teqam Oxide, and team Trance. The teams are divided up like this:
Team bandicoot is Crash, Coco, Crunch, and Fake Crash.
Team Cortex: Tiny, Cortex, N.Gin, and N.Tropy.
Team Oxide: Oxide, Zam, Zem, and Velo.
Team Trance: Dingodile, N.Trance, Polar, and Pura.
Only Teams Cortex and Bandicoot are playable in the adventure mode, as there are three playable characters on those teams once you start a new adventure mode. The reason why you can't be team Oxide or Trance is because three characters haven't been unlocked for those teams yet. I think I explained the basics of this game. It's awesome so get it if you see it. |
| 5 out of 7 people found this review helpful. | Did you find this review helpful? YES NO |
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| Just plain |  3.8
0 comments |
by  Dingodile Blitzer
from Southeastern US, , | Jun 7, 2005 |
THE GOOD:
The racers, the tracks, weaponsTHE BAD:
Short adventure mode SUMMARY:
This game met it's averaged level. I don't exaclty like the cartoony parts. Take for example, the jumping. It msde that bouncy look.
The game is sorta bad, when I played it, I liked it at first. When I noticed its real cartoony detail, the game dropped from basically my level of perfection.
You can get used to these graphics as well as arena editor, and Vicarious Visions done their best job as well as make it the so far best racing game now.
Unlocking the characters we sorta complicated, if you didn't know what you were doing. The game is so easy, you could master most shortcuts like you can, master turbo boosts, as well as unlocking characters.
This game was worth its price. If they did what all the good they can do, I accept. If they didn't I would have rated this lower than a 3.8.
Crash Nitro Kart so far should be the best Crash Racing game so far. If they had the lesser "cartoony" effect, this game would be the bomb right now and for a while. |
| 5 out of 9 people found this review helpful. | Did you find this review helpful? YES NO |
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| horrible..... just terrible.... |  1.7
0 comments |
by  megatron
from in a house, , over there | Jun 6, 2005 |
THE BAD:
everythingSUMMARY:
Crash makes a forced return to the racing world with crash Nitro Kart. though the first one was Slightly enjoyable... this one is a load of steamy crap. first aof the gameplay mechanics SUCK. The karts handle like crap and they run like if they were going at 2 miles per hour. there are onlya few characters and the sound suacks. The battle arenas are horribly generic and sucky and the arena editor is Horrible. and the whole: look at me< im riding on the wall thing is just a cheessy rip off from Fzero. But, one difference, its enjoyable in F zero but in this game is tedious crap.
Closing comments:
By the power of identifying crappyness... this is CRAP!
Graphics:2/5: chopy, crapy, bland and not good..
Sound;2/5 theres music in the tracks? oh, sorry, the ear bleeding voices and the car buzz flodded the music, wich i know would not have been remotely good.
Lasting appeal 3/5: crash fans will love this... and regular people will hate this.
So, if you REALLY REALLY love crash, you know, like, die for him love him then rent this, if youre sane, dont even LOOK at this crap. play mario kart or F zero or better yet... burnout 1-3.
So thats why this crap gets a crappy 1.7/5 |
| 5 out of 14 people found this review helpful. | Did you find this review helpful? YES NO |
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| Pretty Cool Game |  4.1
0 comments |
by  Doggen4ever
from London, , England | Aug 9, 2004 |
THE GOOD:
Brilliant Graphics,Plenty of Stages,Better more improved weapons,good music,good taunts by each character,the list goes on THE BAD:
Adventure mode was too easy,they left out quite a few good characters,the arenaedit mode weren't that good and also not enough arena's SUMMARY:
This would be a must buy game for all Crash Fans,Its a fun game for any age really.
The makers of this game have done a really good job for continuing the crash games and i cannot wait until they release the next Crash Racing Game.
I would say the only let down on this game is that theres simply not enough Characters as there were more in the previous Crash Game...
This is an easy game to get used to, it has simple controls and within days or weeks you would be able to master this game |
| 11 out of 16 people found this review helpful. | Did you find this review helpful? YES NO |
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| Crash Nitro Kart |  4.5
0 comments |
by  Guidez Wizard
from Ottawa, ON, Canada | Aug 4, 2004 |
THE GOOD:
Awesome Graphics.
Over 20 playable characters.
Well over 15 Cutscenes, 5 characters and 2 tracks to unlock.
Over 20 Hours of gameplay.THE BAD:
Not enough Courses in Multiplayer. SUMMARY:
Graphics -- 9,4: This game has simple, but awesome and well-detailed Graphics. Everything in the game is good for graphics : The Characters, the Background and the Items. So far, this game has some of the graphics ever for a racing Game.
Gameplay -- 9,8: You can play over 20 hours if you want to do everything and unlock everything of this game. You can control your character easily, you can always play in MultiPlayer Mode, you can play in Story mode as many times as you want, this game really has a lot of incredible features, and you will never really get bored of it.
Music -- 9,0: This Game has good Music for Stages, for the Main Title and for every section. I would not say the Sound Effects are extremely good, but you can still enjoy them and you can always go to a Sound Room to listen to Music and effects.
Overall -- 9,5: Overall, I would say this game is a must-have for racing and adventure game fanatics. You have so many things to do in, that you will never get bored of it. One of the best PlayStation 2 Racing Games, Crash Nitro Kart. |
| 9 out of 15 people found this review helpful. | Did you find this review helpful? YES NO |
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| The Greatest Game Created! |  5.0
0 comments |
by  Dingo Steinberg
from Palo Alto, CA, United States | Jul 25, 2004 |
THE GOOD:
The graphics, levels, characters... There are too many to list! Oh and the fact that the game is easy. This is an all time good!THE BAD:
Dingodile was locked. But, I got him. SUMMARY:
Overall, this game is awesome. That is, the music is simply terrific, the graphics are way better than any other game I've played, there are new characters as well as the familiar ones. I also like how the levels are newer and longer than the ones in other racing games. Plus, the voices in the game are perfect in every way. For example, the voice of Dingodile is very accurate! I mean, Dingodile's accent is Australian, which would make sense, considering that dingoes come from Australia. There's one other good thing about the game. And it's the fact that it's no challenge. |
| 9 out of 15 people found this review helpful. | Did you find this review helpful? YES NO |
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| Awesome, awesome, awesome, and more awesome. | 4.5
0 comments |
by  Road Rocket
from Easton, PA, United States | Jul 4, 2004 |
THE GOOD:
Lots of new characters, funny cutscenes, YOU START OUT WITH OXIDE, the voices are grand, the tracks are sweet, inverted tracks was a very good idea, nice music, nice sounds, good multiplayer, MUST I GO ON!?THE BAD:
The game was way way WAY too easy. You can only play as 2 out of 4 teams in adventure mode!!! Arena editor stinks. SUMMARY:
This MUST be the best Crash Bandicoot EVER made yet! So many extras! 16 playable characters, 13 tracks, 5 battlefields, all sorts of multiplayer modes, and more! You can unlock 8 characters, 1 track, 1 battlefield, and 29 cutscenes! It's just too bad it only takes 2 days to unlock all of that! At least for me! This game is only like $40! This game is most DEFINTLY worth $40. There's a lot to do when it comes to this game. Buy it, and you'll be proud of yourself! |
| 12 out of 17 people found this review helpful. | Did you find this review helpful? YES NO |
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| CNK |  4.0
0 comments |
by  joshthegreat
from Hemingford Grey, Cambridgeshire, England | Feb 23, 2004 |
THE GOOD:
New levels. New characters. Edit arena mode. Ultra fun multi player mode. Gripping adventure mode. Unlock new characters race tracks and battle arenas. New multiplay modes. two adventure modes.THE BAD:
Instead of adding the old classic characters to that game they added brand new characters.
Sketchy graphics here and there. SUMMARY:
Crash nitro kart is an awsomely fun game. If you are a fan of the crash games you shouldnt miss it. The adventure mode can be completed twice with either teams (team crash - team cortex). Adventure first time round will take you a while to complete. This creates two sets of cut scences for you to sit down and enjoy. Multiplayer mode is twice as fun as every with brand new games, limit battle, last kart driving, crystal grab, capture the flag and steal the bacon. A GAME TO GET! |
| 6 out of 11 people found this review helpful. | Did you find this review helpful? YES NO |
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| Crash Bandicoot: ANOTHER KOOL KART GAME |  4.6
0 comments |
by  Mini_Dev
from That place where I live, Somewhere in here, Earth | Jan 19, 2004 |
THE GOOD:
Brand new levels!!! And that thing when you go up walls and stuff... Just brilliant! And new characters! The weapons! Not alot of new ones, but the ones that are are just MINT!!THE BAD:
The arena editor... KOOL! but not as good as it could be... AND... YOU STILL CAN'T BATTLE AGAINST THE CPU!!<br>I don't know if you can unlock them somehow, I'm only 50% through the game, but you should be able to be other teams on Adventure mode, other than Team Bandicoot and Team Cortex SUMMARY:
This game, in my opinion, and I'm being totally honest RUUUUUUULES!!!<br>really it does... actually could be improved but not much it's sooo much better than CTR... dunno how it is, it just is! OK!<br>All in all it's a great game and... I'd buy it again it's that good!.... But that would be pointless... |
| 6 out of 11 people found this review helpful. | Did you find this review helpful? YES NO |
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forums
4.13/5.0