| Crash Team Racing |
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PAL region box art | | Developer(s) | Naughty Dog | | Publisher(s) | Sony Computer Entertainment | | Designer(s) | Evan Wells,Dan Arey br>Mutato Muzika (composer) | | Series | Crash Bandicoot | | Platform(s) | PlayStation, PlayStation Network | | Release date | NA September 30, 1999
EU October 21, 1999
| | Genre(s) | Racing game | | Mode(s) | Single-player, Multiplayer (4 players) | | Rating(s) | ELSPA: 3+
ESRB: Everyone
OFLC: G
| | Media | CD-ROM |
Crash Team Racing (クラッシュ ãƒãƒ³ãƒ‡ã‚£ã‚¯ãƒ¼ レーシング, Kurasshu BandikÅ« RÄ“shingu?, Crash Bandicoot Racing) is a racing game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. The game was released in North America on September 30, 1999, in Europe on October 19, 1999, and in Japan on December 16, 1999. The game was made available on the European PlayStation Store for download on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable on October 18, 2007. Crash Team Racing is the fourth installment in the Crash Bandicoot series, which began with Crash Bandicoot in 1996. It is the first Crash game in the racing genre, and the last Crash game to be developed by Naughty Dog, who left Universal Interactive Studios (now Vivendi Games) and became an in-house developer for Sony Computer Entertainment. The game's story focuses on the efforts of a ragtag team of characters in the Crash Bandicoot series, who must race against a narcissistic alien to save their planet from destruction.
GameplayCrash Team Racing gives the player a choice of five different racing modes. In each mode, the player initially selects one from eight characters to take control of.
AdventureThe "Adventure Mode" is a one-player game in which the player must race through all of the levels in the game and collect as many Racing Trophies, Relics, Letters, Boss Keys, CTR Tokens and Gems as possible. The main objective of Crash Team Racing 's Adventure Mode is to save the world from the story's antagonist Nitros Oxide by winning races on 16 different tracks in levels throughout the game's island. In the beginning of the game, the player will have access to only two levels, which are accessed through Warp Pad Vortexes, which open up as races are won. In addition to the main hub world where Oxide's spaceship is located, there are four more secondary worlds with four levels each. In each level the player must win a Trophy by coming in first in front of all the racers. When a level is finished, the player will be returned to that level's world. When the player has won all four Trophies in a world, the Boss Garage of that world can be accessed. In the Boss Garage, the player will race against a single "Boss" character, who possesses an unlimited number of a certain weapon used to hinder the player's progress. If the Boss character is defeated, the character will relinquish his Boss Key, which the player uses to access new worlds and ultimately to face Oxide. If the player re-enters a level in which a Trophy is already won, the Relic Race can be entered, in which the player races through the track alone in the fastest time possible. A Sapphire, Gold, or Platinum Relic is rewarded depending on how fast the track is finished. During Relic Races, Time Crates are scattered throughout the level. When these are broken, the race timer will freeze for one, two, or three seconds as indicated on the Time Crate. If the player breaks all the Time Crates within a level and wins, the player will be awarded a "Perfect Bonus" of ten seconds off his or her final time at the end. As is the case for the Relic Races, if the player re-enters a level in which a Trophy is already won, the CTR Challenge can be accepted, in which the player must collect the hidden letters C, T, and R scattered throughout the track while coming in first place to win a CTR Token. The CTR Tokens come in the colors of red, blue, green, yellow, and purple. Purple CTR Tokens are acquired by winning Bonus Rounds, in which the player must collect 20 Crystals in an obstacle-filled arena in a set amount of time. Collecting four CTR Tokens of the same color will open that color's Gem Cup, located in a secret area in the "Gemstone Valley" world. A Gem Cup consists of four tracks in a row, in which the player must race for points. The number of points awarded depends on the player's final place in the race. The player with the highest number of points at the end of the four races is the winner, who will be awarded a Gem.
Plot
Characters15 characters are playable in Crash Team Racing, although only eight of them are playable from the start. The playable characters in Adventure Mode are Crash Bandicoot, Doctor Neo Cortex, Tiny Tiger, Coco Bandicoot, Doctor N. Gin, Dingodile, Polar and Pura. Each character is rated by his or her kart's acceleration, speed and turning abilities, and given an overall rating of difficulty based on the handling. During the course of the game are five bosses, who will challenge the player after four trophies (or keys) have been collected. In order, the bosses are Ripper Roo, Papu Papu, Komodo Joe, Pinstripe Potoroo and the main antagonist in the game, the moody extraterrestrial Nitros Oxide. All the bosses except Oxide can be unlocked by winning a specific Gem Cup (of which there are five of them) for all modes except Adventure Mode. Furthermore, there are three more characters that can be unlocked, but don't feature in Adventure Mode, nor can they be used either. Fake Crash is unlocked by winning the Purple Gem Cup, in which it has you facing all four bosses in their stages. Dr. Nefarious Tropy is unlocked by beating all his ghosts in Time Trial mode. Finally, Penta Penguin is unlockable only by a special code. Aside from Oxide, there are other non-playable characters. Aku Aku and Uka Uka serve as the game's tutors, giving advice to their respective characters (Aku Aku advices Crash, Coco, Polar and Pura, whilst Uka Uka advices Cortex, N. Gin, Tiny and Dingodile). Four female bandicoots, known as Trophy Girls also feature to hand out the trophy at the end of each race.
StoryCrash and his friends are preparing to enter a kart racing tournament. Unfortunately, an extraterrestrial named Nitros Oxide sees this, and travels to Earth to compete. He claims to be the fastest racer in the Galaxy, who travels the stars looking for creatures to test his skill. He then challenges Earth to a "little game" he calls "Survival of the Fastest", and explains the rules: Oxide races against the best racer on Earth. If Earth's driver wins, Oxide will leave Earth alone. But if Oxide wins, he'll turn the entire globe into a concrete parking lot, and make Earth's inhabitants his slaves. The drivers of Earth prepare to race for the fate of their planet.
ReceptionThe game was praised by critics and fans for its numerous tracks and options, and is considered by both to be one of the best games in the Crash series. It has an average score of 92% on Game Rankings, based on 33 reviews and 88% on Metacritic, based on 20 reviews.
References- ^ a b Crash Team Racing (PlayStation) at GameSpot. GameSpot. Retrieved on 2007-11-29.
- ^ Crash Team Racing at GameFAQs. Retrieved on 2007-11-29.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Naughty Dog (1999). Crash Team Racing Instruction Booklet (in English). Sony Computer Entertainment.
External links- The Official Crash Team Racing Website
- Crash Team Racing at MobyGames
Crash Team Racing on Playstation Store (UK Version) | Crash Bandicoot series |
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| | Main series | Crash Bandicoot • Cortex Strikes Back • Warped • The Wrath of Cortex • Twinsanity • Titans • Mind Over Mutant | | | Racing games | Team Racing • Nitro Kart • Tag Team Racing | | | Handheld games | The Huge Adventure • N-Tranced • Purple | | | Party games | Bash • Boom Bang! |
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