CTR: Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled Announced

Crash Team Racing (CTR) was confirmed a turbo-charged remaster+ at The Game Awards 2018. Following the orange furry dice tease, it came as no surprise that this announcement was just around the corner, but it's still super exciting, nonetheless. Here's the official trailer:

You can almost smell that high-octane gameplay as fans buckle up for the online race that they've been hoping for since... well, Mario Kart.

Start Your Engines

A few things to analyse from the trailer, which have got me bouncing off the walls in anticipation:

1. Not only are CTR's classic go-karts available to race in, but also are the 2003 sequel Crash Nitro Kart (CNK)'s. Crash is shown racing in Team Cortex, Team N.Trance and Team Oxide's vehicles as he turns on the track. I've always been a fan of CNK's kart designs, so this is great news to change up the kart aesthetic
2. 4 player split-screen action is still available. The game boasts online play, which is fantastic, but the idea to still race alongside friends on the same console is amazing and sorely missed in so many multiplayer games of today
3. Many assets have been lifted from the N.Sane Trilogy. That's not a bad thing at all. In fact, all the models are consistent with what's come before, as a result, and many areas look improved as a result. Take, for example, Dingo Canyon, which now features Dingo's Diner from the N.Sane Trilogy's motorbike levels, or Tiny Arena's now featured blimps from WARPED's Bye Bye Blimps level.

Even beyond those points, there's plenty of other things to focus on. For one, the game is being developed by Beenox. That's intriguing in itself, given the assets are from Vicarious Visions, who intriguingly are off working on another game of some sort... hmmm... However, looking at their history, it's not too difficult to see why Beenox have been put in charge of this one. After all, they specifically developed Skylanders: Superchargers, which had a heavy focus on vehicular racing, and it wouldn't surprise me if they had a hand in Skylanders: Imaginator's separate race portions, too (which were actually very fun kart racing experiences, so that's easing me on their capabilities).

Nitros Oxide Edition

The other thing to note is that there will be special edition of the game called Nitros Oxide edition. For those that remember, Nitros Oxide is the main villain of the original CTR, who threatens the world and wants to turn it into a concrete parking lot unless Crash and co beat him in a racing tournament. Okay, nice. Here's the petrol-powered press release details of the Nitro Oxide edition:

Players who want to kick their Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled into the highest gear can pre-order the Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled – Nitros Oxide Edition. In the digital deluxe edition, the self-proclaimed fastest racer in the galaxy, Nitros Oxide will be a playable character from day one in all game modes. Players will also receive the full Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled game, Oxide’s Hovercraft kart, space-themed character skins for Crash, Coco, Cortex, and much more. Players who do not purchase the Nitros Oxide Edition can earn the Nitros Oxide character and Oxide’s Hovercraft kart by completing some of the fiercest challenges in the Adventure Mode.

Fasten Your Seat Belts

The big question, for now, is how will the karts handle? CTR was super tight in its control scheme, and still is going back to play it on the regular. CNK, CTR's successor developed by Vicarious Visions, handles like a super slippery version of the same game, as well as much slower overall. The video looks like the karts maintain their speed to the original CTR, but it's that precision in power-sliding and corner turning that will make or break Nitro-Fueled's success come its release. After all, it certainly damaged CNK which, had it not been for that, would be a pretty good kart racer (one in which Mario Kart would later steal the anti-grav mechanics from, but then CTR was never exactly hiding its own influences on Mario Kart and Diddy Kong Racing).

Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled comes to PlayStation 4, XBox One and Nintendo Switch on 21st June 2019. I'm super revved up for it, even if I keep wanting to spell it the British way - Nitro-Fuelled! For more details, check the Activision games blog on the release.