Check out the Dell Store on CNET
GameSpot editors' review
-
CNET editors' rating:
stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 10/27/2005
- Updated on: 05/17/2006
- Released on: 10/19/2005
- Originally published on GameSpot: Crash Tag Team Racing (PlayStation 2) Review
For years now, Crash Bandicoot and his band of wacky pals and adversaries have been providing consistently solid--if slightly unremarkable--gaming experiences in pretty much whatever genre they decide to dabble in. Primarily a platformer franchise, Crash and friends have, like most platformer heroes at one time or another, messed around with the kart racing genre as well. Once again, Crash is hitting the speedway in Crash Tag Team Racing. But don't mistake this for just another middling kart racer. Tag Team Racing combines kart racing, combat racing, and platforming all into one slightly jumbled mess--but somehow, someway, it's a mess that works. Though the racing can't exactly be called challenging, and the multiplayer component isn't exactly dynamite, Crash Tag Team Racing does each of its disparate parts just well enough to make the whole thing come together.
Crash Tag Team Racing takes place in a giant amusement park run by Von Clutch, a cyborg with a German accent. Tragedy strikes the park when Von Clutch's power crystals are stolen, thus putting the park in jeopardy. To try to get them back, Von Clutch decides to hold a series of races around the park's kart tracks for reasons that are beyond obscure. Whatever...it's a kart racer, and the premise is no looser than that of any other kart racer. All you really need to know is that the game features eight of the Crash characters to race with, and a number of different race and track types. But to actually get to any of those races and tracks, you'll have to wander around this bustling amusement park, platforming your way around obstacles, fighting it out with ninja penguins, and collecting copious amounts of coinage.
By that description, you might be thinking that Crash Tag Team Racing doesn't have a particularly good idea of what it wants to be. And you'd be right in thinking that. At times, the racing almost seems ancillary, since your primary goal is to collect enough smaller power crystals to feed a machine hidden somewhere in each of the five main worlds, which then allows you to grab one of the big power crystals. Sure, you earn crystals by winning races and such, but half the time you're just collecting lots of coins and hidden items to deliver to Von Clutch's wacky henchmen that populate many of the levels, who will then offer you crystals in exchange. It's almost like the racing is more a means to an end, rather than the end itself.
But in a game where the racing is this unchallenging, maybe that's not such a bad thing. That's not a knock against the racing as a whole, but compared to most kart racers, this one's kind of a breeze on all but the hardest difficulty level (and even then, it's not all that hard). Seemingly aware of this fact, the developers shifted the focus of the ontrack action away from constant powersliding and other nifty kart moves and went squarely in the direction of combat. The usual kart-racing combat trappings are front and center here, with icons on the track that you drive through to pick up assorted weaponry, like exploding chickens and dynamite-strapped monkeys. But there's a whole other element to the racing game called clashing. By pressing a button, your kart will become an electric blue, see-through color, and the second you come into contact with another kart, your kart and theirs will go all Voltron and combine into a two-man battle kart of death.
In this battle kart, one racer mans a big gun that can be fired at any point, and the other drives. Mostly, you won't need to bother driving, since the artificial intelligence of your partner is more than sound enough to get you around obstacles and pick up more weapons. Each racer has its own unique weapon type--Neocortex has sort of an electric grenade launcher, whereas Crush uses a chaingun. The weapons you pick up off the track icons are also more impressive when in clash mode, letting you chuck grand pianos, submarines, and homing missile sharks, among other things. The clashing element does unbalance things somewhat, as it becomes awfully easy to just traipse your way to the head of the pack as you blow away the competition with reckless abandon. Sure, they'll fight back, but they aren't necessarily as excellent at sniping off nearby foes as you are. Still, there is a degree of strategy to it, since you'll often need to detach from clash mode at certain times during a race, and being the one to initiate the detachment gives you a slight speed boost.
Continue readingMost helpful user reviews
-
Average user rating:
0 stars
Not yet available
Back to product review - My rating: 0 stars Write review
-
Showing 1 of 1 user review
- See 1 user review Write review
Submit your review
Where to buy
Crash Tag Team Racing (PlayStation 2):
$12.93 - $38.99
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
|---|---|---|---|
|
$38.99 | No |
|
|
$12.93 | Yes |
|
|
$19.99 | Yes |
|
%20PlayStation%202%20Game%20reviews%20-%20CNET%20Reviews&srcUrl=http://reviews.cnet.com/playstation-2-games/crash-tag-team-racing/4505-9581_7-31447790.html){kind=small}