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> Results: Crash Tag Team Racing
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What happens when you take a pinch of gently aged mascot, a hot trend, a heaping helping of immature humor, and a pinch of Tom and Jerry? Crash Tag Team Racing that's what. Baron Von Clutch, recently fingered as having the most dangerous theme park in the world, has lost his power gems including one that keeps him alive. With his park, and his very life on the line, Baron Von Clutch resorts to a contest to see who can find the most power gems, and his Black Heart. What's the lucky winner get? The park itself is the prize. Enter Crash and crew, Neo Cortex, Coco, N-Gin, Nina, and Crush, along with Baron Von Clutch and his assistant Pasadena. As you further explore Baron Von Clutch's amusement park, you unlock faster cars, bigger guns and new costumes for all.
Clashing is what this game is built on. As you race, you get to merge, or 'clash' with another car to get a super car, complete with cannon. Blast your opponents and other targets while the computer drives the course, or focus on your driving skills, and let the computer man the guns. Shooting things gets you turbo boost, which on harder difficulties is vital to winning the race. There's gotta be a catch right? Once out of ammo, your partner is likely to kick you off and go off on their merry way. This puts a new twist on racing strategy. You not only have to outrun and outgun, but also be wary enough to bail out on them at the last second, and get a little boost over the finish line.  Story mode lets you explore a world of theme park bits, tourists, and ninja penguins. You must seek out the hidden power gems, mostly by winning races, doing well on mini games, and just flat out buying them. As you explore, new tracks and events will unlock, such as a stunt track, where you jump off of ramps, then see how many rotations you can get before you hit the ground. There is also a free for all battle mode, in which you and a partner drive around an arena and try to destroy the other teams as many times a possible. A set of shooting galleries, and a twisted bowling alley with holes in the lane add to the loads of fun stuff to find. As you win races and other competitions, you will be awarded with coins, which you can use to buy costumes, cars and other power ups. You also get to see short skits called Die-o-ramas, and Gags. Die-o-ramas let you watch Crash meet with unfortunate circumstances, like a shark, piano, cannon fire, while the Gags are pranks Crash pulls on park employees. Multiplayer mode allows you to choose your favorite character and start collecting reward coins to unlock the items that you already unlocked in single-player mode. That's annoying, but it does help you keep interested in multiplayer, and get a sneak peek at the tracks for single player. Here you can join up with a buddy to wail on the other drivers, or hook up a massive eight-way stunt-off. There's even good old fashioned racing. The only other bad thing about multiplayer is that all the spiffy mini-games are missing.  Crash Tag Team Racing is a good game that doesn't take itself too seriously. Although clashing does add a new twist, the racing gets stale after awhile. There are lots of great mini-games to cut down on the monotony in single player mode, like shooting livestock that explode into steaks. There's a nifty bowling alley too, more like mini-golf bowling with obstacles, ramps and traps. There's a classic platform stage that you have to do to get all the Die-o-ramas and Gags, and the rest of the story mode items. Controls for all modes of play are easy to pick up, and you can also choose your skill level per track. So if you have a problem with a track, just set it on easy and hitch a ride. Even the worst drivers can win races like that. The platforming portion of the game is not too difficult, but you do wander around a bit at times. If you do happen to fall into a hole, or find a Die-o-rama, you don't get penalized for the fall. The sounds get repetitive after a while. You'll be hearing certain sound effects in your sleep, and the music is not too. Crash Tag Team Racing does put a new twist on racing, and has a fun little platformer as well. 
One thing about Crash Tag Team Racing, is that it has the sense of humor of a ten to twelve year old. Be prepared for fart and burp jokes, especially on the load screen. Press one button for one end, the other button for the other end. Quite a classy feature, so get ready to have those sounds ground into your head. There's also a whole lot of violence. There are a set of about 30 something Die-o-ramas where Crash is dismembered, eaten, blown up, stretched, squashed and other wise killed. It's all very hilarious to those with a mildly twisted sense of humor. There are about twenty or so of the Gags. Again, people meeting with untimely demises. It's all cartoon violence though, and no blood or brains go spraying about.
Multiplayer is the best way to play, and perfectly suited to parents and kids playing together. Mom or Dad can keep the car running fast, while the kids gun down the opponents, or vice versa if Mom or Dad don't drive so well. I can drive, while my son takes the guns to lay waste to our opponents. We tried it the other way, but I can't pull off the long shots, and he was busy staying away from the other teams. Stick with the ESRB on this one at the least and go higher depending on your kids. This review edited by Dave Long Comments? Chat about it in our forums! Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Crash Tag Team Racing |
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