Product Description
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C Bandicoot is back to take on friends and foes in C
Team Racing. Featuring outrageous kart racing, CTR includes 8
characters with unique racing capabilities. Journey through
dozens of races, battle in the arena or take on 3 of your friends
in awesome multiplayer action. Made in USA.
.com
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PlayStation owners no longer need to borrow their friend's
Nintendo 64 in order to have a rollicking good old time racing
virtual turbo-charged go-karts through outlandish environments.
C Team Racing does an excellent job of re-creating that same
thrill on the PlayStation.
C Team Racing has all the marks of the kart-racing genre,
including big-headed characters driving diminutive go-karts,
power-ups to increase speed and slow down nents, and thematic
tracks with multiple paths for exploration. What CTR adds to the
mix is fairness: tighter-turning cars are rewarded for precision
driving, skillful jumping, and strategic placement of booby
traps. Sure, the playing field is level, but the better the
driver, the better chance he or she has of winning consistently
without any annoying "catch-up code."
The one-player game is wonderfully presented as an exploratory
adventure, while the multiplayer mode is a split-screen must-play
for anyone with a PlayStation (and, of course, friends).
Twenty-five tracks, 12 characters, and responsive control make
CTR the gotta-have racing game. --Jeff Young
Pros:
* Excellent kart control, including power slides, hops, and
wheelies
* Wide tracks encourage passing
* High replayability, especially in multiplayer mode
Cons:* Characters aren't as cute as those in Mario Kart
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Review
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OK, let's say you're a big game company. You've got a mascot -
he's absolutely huge with "the kids." You've made a nice little
chunk of change off your little guy, but the kids are wising up
to the fact that every game you've put out has only had minimal
improvements over the previous one, and they aren't buying your
little guy like they used to. You've got too much riding on him
to stop now - action figures, shirts, and don't forget the talk
of a cartoon that your licensing department keeps tossing around.
You need a new hook... a new style of game to get the kids right
back where you want them. But at the same time, you really don't
actually want to have to think up a new concept for a game. So
you do what so many developers have done before you - you toss
your mascot, his arch nemesis, and a bunch of other characters
from your games into go-karts. Then you start designing tracks
filled with weapon power-ups. Before you know it, you're shipping
yet another Mario Kart clone into the marketplace! Hey, big win,
right? For most of the developers out there, the answer is no.
Most of the Mario Kart clones that have come out thus far have
either added unwelcome elements to the gameplay or have just
plain sucked at ripping off the original console kart game.
Naughty Dog, however, has managed to create a Mario Kart clone
that does everything right. While it has a Diddy Kong Racing-like
adventure element to it, as well as a bit of a storyline, it
rarely aspires to be more than a great mascot racing game.
All the puppety oddballs in the world of C Bandicoot are
preparing for the big race. They've all got their go-karts, and
they're furiously tuning them up in hopes of victory. So, of
course, that's a perfect time for an alien invasion. This alien
is Nitrous Oxide, and he decides to up the stakes a bit. If he
wins the race, he also wins the planet. So its up to you, as
C, Polar, Cortex, or any one of the other racers to stop ol'
N2O from winning. Much like battles in the video for Michael
Jackson's "Beat It" were fought with the dance, the battles in
this game are fought through the race.
Beyond the game's adventure mode, you can also go right to arcade
mode and participate in one of four cup circuits. There's also a
battle mode, which puts you in an arena full of weapons. The
battle mode also has a team option, allowing for all sorts of
different matchups. The versus mode lets two to four players race
against each other on any of the game's tracks.
The gameplay may be vintage Mario Kart (yes, it even has the
little "hit the right before the race starts" speed boost),
but the game's track design is top-notch. Be it a well-placed
patch of ice in your path or a giant barrel that rolls back and
forth across the road, interesting obstacles will get in your way
in each level. Between that and the game's uncompromising
first-place finish requirement, you'll have to take the time to
learn the tracks before you can win. Sometimes, though, you'll
need to rely on a well-placed missile or bomb to help you squeak
into the lead at the last possible second. The AI is reasonably
good. It starts out not knowing exactly how or when to use each
weapon, but by the third world, you'll have a tough time keeping
up if you can't handle your weaponry properly.
The C Bandicoot series has always had pretty smooth graphics,
updating with the times quite nicely, and CTR is really no
exception. The environments are reasonably large, and they convey
the cartoon-like attitude of the game very nicely. The music and
sound effects also push the game's cartoon theme, but it's not
too over the top, so the cutesy themes never really get shoved
down your throat.
C Team Racing may seem like just a Mario Kart clone. And,
with the exception of an additional mode or two and the superior
track design, it is. But it's a great Mario Kart clone, and it
succeeds where the likes of Mega Man, Bomberman, Diddy Kong, the
Chocobo, and even Mario himself have failed. CTR has the staying
power to convert people who haven't ever liked a mascot racing
game, and it will definitely please Mario Kart fans with its many
tracks and options. --Jeff Gerstmann
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction
in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written
permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot
logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc. -- GameSpot Review
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