PS4 Review: Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled

On your marks, get set…Crash!

Start your engines with the original game modes, characters, tracks, power-ups, weapons and controls. Power slide to glory in additional karts and tracks from beyond the original game. Race online with friends and Crash the competition with online leader boards.

We all love Mario Kart and even imitators like Sonic have done well using the racing formula, but most forgot that a little bandicoot called Crash also had his very own kart racer back in the day, but with the N Sane Trilogy giving Crash a new audience, the sights were set on a remake of his driving spin-off and suffice to say that they have not just done this remake justice, it goes beyond a typical remake.

The game has it’s Story Mode which has you try and win races, take on time trials and even win races while grabbing the hidden CTR letters scattered around the courses, much like the silver coins from Diddy Kong Racing. You can also compete with gamers online which obviously is more than the original version offered, but for those who prefer a more classic approach, the game also offers typical couch-based multiplayer.

The main story won’t take you too long, but trying to complete everything in the hardest difficulty will be a challenge that very few will succeed in doing. The game takes the updated character models from the N Sane Trilogy, but you can also unlock skins that give them classic PS1 models or even different costumes. In terms of handling, CTR plays much like Mario Kart and that’s no bad thing, it’s clearly a form of flattery to the Italian plumber.

Visually speaking, CTR is a huge improvement over the original PS1 game and looks stunning in 4K with HDR. The animations are faultless, the courses are well designed and detailed, the framerate is steady throughout and the load times aren’t too bad overall.

The Verdict

While Mario Kart will always be King of the Kart Racers, Crash comes in at a very close second place and one worthy of anyone with a PS4.

Score: 9.0