Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
By Paul Semel,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
All-ages arcade kart-racing game makes a solid comeback.
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Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
Community Reviews
Based on 3 parent reviews
A great racing cartoony racing game
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Easy to play, hard to master.
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What’s It About?
In CRASH TEAM RACING NITRO-FUELED, the titular marsupial, his friends, and his enemies engage in a series of go-kart races to determine who's the best racer. That champion will then have to race an alien named Nitrous Oxide, and if they lose that showdown, the Earth will be turned into a parking lot. If they win, perhaps they get bragging rights, but it's simply that they'll have saved everyone on the planet that's they're reward. Apart from the single player campaign, players can also engage in single races against other players and AI opponents.
Is It Any Good?
Though this is a remake of a twenty-year-old game, it still manages to be a lot of fun, and not just in a retro/nostalgic way. Like the original Crash Team Racing, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is a cartoony, arcade-style go-kart racing game in which characters from the Crash Bandicoot series engage in what's essentially their version of Mario Kart. Not only do they drive circles around twisty tracks — some of which have branching pathways — but they also try to get an edge by using weapons against each other, triggering defenses to protect themselves, and using boosting pads build into the tracks for when they want to get extra speed to get ahead.
As for what this version has that the original did not, well, not only does it look and sound lot nicer thanks to upgraded visuals and audio, but it also now lets you race against people online. It also includes tracks and other items from the 2003 sequel, Crash Nitro Kart. But as fun as this all may be, it does have some minor issues. While you can switch the gas pedal from one of the front buttons to the right trigger, making this more like most racing games, you can't do the same with the brakes. It also doesn't help that the button you use to do a little hop is also used to power slide around corners, which makes it trickier to do the latter. Even with these minor quibbles, though, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled still has enough of the original's charm and challenge to delight fans of cartoony racing games, whether they're too young to remember the original, or too old.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about safe driving. Do Crash and his friends display proper driving safety in this game? Do you think they should be wearing helmets? Or not shooting missiles at eat other?
Why is it important to understand that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few...or the one? Is there a situation that you would put yourself in danger to save other people?
Game Details
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: Activision
- Release date: June 21, 2019
- Genre: Racing
- Topics: Cars and Trucks, Space and Aliens
- ESRB rating: E10+ for Cartoon Violence, Comic Mischief
- Last updated: February 11, 2021
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