I have been a Crash Bandicoot fan even before the first game in the series was released for the original Playstation. In fact, it was the previews and screenshots from Crash Bandicoot that led me to go ahead and purchase a Playstation. At the time, my plan was to wait until both the Playstation and N64 came out to decide which one to get. I was only going to get one. I saw Crash and decided that the Playstation could pull off as much as what Nintendo had shown so far for the N64 and so I bought myself a Playstation. Eventually when the N64 came out and I played Mario I broke down and had to get one of those as well, but that is a different story for a different time. Right now we are focusing on Crash.

The Crash games involve a cast of kooky characters, surround a voodoo theme, include boxes of TNT in different forms, and are made up of tons of fruit. Good stuff, eh? The last couple Crash platformers involved warping around to worlds in settings that were completely unique from one another, but still maintained the TNT and fruit elements. Crash: Nitro Cart takes this approach as well. You might be thinking that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. “This is a racing game, isn’t it?” Yes, this is in fact a racing game. The thing is, when you play in adventure mode, it plops you in the middle of a map, and you can cruise around it freely to select the race that you want to partake in next. It is a hub system not unlike the Crash platformers. I think it is cool that instead of just creating a racing game and sticking the characters from the Crash universe in the driver’s seats, the developers tried to make it an actual game in the series. I say “tried” because this game is not as much of a success as I would have liked it to be.

I am very impressed at how much it feels like a Crash game. The hub system works great, and as I mentioned before, it works exactly like it does in the other Crash games. Almost every character from the Crash universe is represented in the game. From allies to villains, they covered the entire spectrum. I really enjoyed seeing all my old Crash friends, especially because it had been awhile since I had played a Crash game. They even managed to squeeze in a few new characters to represent the new worlds that Crash and crew travel to.

Now the term “worlds” is taken more literally in this game, rather than the usual video game lingo that we are used to. The story behind the game is that Crash, his friends, and the villains have been summoned to outer space to represent Earth in a galaxy-wide racing competition. So by traveling to new worlds, you actually go to new planets to partake in the races. Just like the other Crash games, no matter where you go, you run into the same items. The same is the case here. Every planet has the same item set. You run over crates to get an item, which include Crash staples such as TNT and Nitro boxes which you drop behind you, as well as new offensive items such as bombs that fly out straight, and missiles that home in on an opponent in front of you. The good old Voodoo mask is here as well, and if you have him you can plow over rival carts just by bumping into them. **COUGH**star**COUGH** Also, if you collect 10 of the fruit that are lying around the track, it will increase your max speed a little. Do any of these elements seem familiar to anyone else? Maybe it’s just my imagination…