Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled

All-ages arcade kart-racing game makes a solid comeback.
Parents say
Based on 2 reviews
Kids say
Based on 13 reviews
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Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this game.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is a cartoony racing game for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Players use missiles, bombs, and boxes of TNT to take out the competition, resulting in explosions, crashes, and, in some instances, characters being lit on fire. But all of this is done with a silly,cartoony look and feel. There's also some juvenile humor: A character picks his nose and eats it, and seagulls use some rocks as a bathroom. Otherwise, there's no sex, cursing, or references to drugs and alcohol, save for what you might hear if you play online, where communication isn't monitored.
Community Reviews
Easy to play, hard to master.
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Awkward controls and boost gimmick may ruin the game for you.
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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
Our Editors Recommend
For kids who love racing
Themes & Topics
Browse titles with similar subject matter.
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