Crash Adventure - Nitro Kart

Mixing awesome gen graphics and gameplay with playability, fun of classic racing

Though video game mascots have rarely needed much reason to get involved in a kart race, Nitro Kart tosses in a story concerning an evil intergalactic overlord and his evil intergalactic kart-racing competition. Beyond this, Nitro Kart offers straightforward kart racing, and lots of it. You can play as virtually any character within the Bandicoot canon, including Coco, Crunch, Dr. Neo Cortex, N. Gin, and Tiny, as well as a few new additions to the roster found in Crash Adventure - Nitro Kart. Each racer handles a little differently, though they're all fairly well-balanced.

Crash Adventure - Nitro Kart tweaks the kart-racing formula in a few small, specific ways, lending the game a slightly original flavor. You'll notice a rising power gauge linked to your acceleration at the start of the race, and if you can hit the gas at just the right time before the light goes green, you'll be rewarded with a nice little boost right off the bat. You can also get extra boost by landing big jumps, running over boost pads, or grabbing a nitro canister out of one of the many crates that are scattered across the tracks. To earn big boost, you'll need to master the powerslide mechanic, which lets you come out of a powerslide with jets blazing.

It can give you a serious advantage in the race, but the powerslide boost is also very difficult to pull off, requiring flawless timing. In races where you're karting alongside team members, a team power-up is available. Your team meter is filled by keeping close to your teammate, and once you top out, you can trigger the power-up, which will give you instant access to random power-ups for a limited amount of time. The power-ups you'll get from the team power-up can also be found in the crates on the track, and they are largely the same types of offensive and defensive power-ups found in Crash Adventure - Nitro Kart.

The single-player adventure mode in Nitro Kart is predictably brief, and it basically serves as a diversion if you don't have a group of friends around to play with. As with most kart racers, multiplayer is the crux of Nitro Kart, and the game includes plenty of gameplay options to keep you and your friends entertained. Up to four players can get involved in a one-off race; a team race, where the team power-up is in effect; or a cup race, which is basically just a series of single races rolled up into a big competition.