Crash Tag Team Racing

This is a game I played way too much as a kid, suffice to say that this is one of many childhood memories that doesn't hold up in retrospective as what I enjoyed about this game, I no longer find any value in.

Let's get the biggest problem out of the way, this game doesn't know what it wants to be as it desperately tries to copy the platformer/racer hybrid of the Simpson's road rage (right down to it being developed by the same company as that game) but fails miserably as what worked in a Simpson's tie in doesn't translate to the crash bandicoot universe. This is especially true with the humour as it trades in the witty banter from twin sanity in favour of meta commentary and what can best be described as early YouTube humour (despite coming out before the website took off in the mainstream.) Not only is the platforming basic as hell, but so too is the racing as there's no challenge to each course even on the highest difficulty especially when it comes to the clashing mechanic as you can overpower your opponent’s regardless of what weapons you're using. While it is fun at first to kill your opponents with rockets and pianos (I'm not even kidding about that) it gets old fast as your partner drives perfectly while you mow down the other racers on the track with your weapons. At least you get to choose who to play as in the races (provided you've unlocked everyone's cars) you're stuck with crash in the platforming sections despite being able to play as coco, cortex and Nina in previous games who have all demonstrated their ability to traverse these rather simplistic environments this game has to offer. Speaking of environments, they’re hideous to look at as is everything else in game due to atrocious graphics. Even on the console version, they look like they were rendered specifically for the psp which of course suffers from graphical downgrades as well as framerate issues that add further insult to injury in terms of this game’s poor presentation.

If I had positives, it would be the soundtrack which is just as good as twin sanity given how it was composed by the same a cappella group. I guess some of the jokes are also well written, particularly the more mean-spirited humour as the characters has all become rather annoying in this game which makes their quips whenever they're attacked rather amusing to listen to (coco, cortex and Ngin being the standouts in this regard.) The story isn’t terrible either, nothing special by any means but a step up from what the franchise previously had to offer as there's an actual mystery to who the bad guy is with it not being too obvious. These positives have their drawbacks however (except for the soundtrack as that remains awesome to this day.) The mean-spirited jokes only work because like I said, the characters are irritating as all hell here. Crunch is now Mr t and is probably the least annoying out of all of them, coco is a spoilt brat, Ngin is an offensive gay stereotype (which I found funny as a kid due to internalised homophobia I've since discarded) cortex is neurotic to the point of it being pathetic, Nina is a typical emo brat that was popular in the 00s, Pasadena is an offensive redneck stereotype and Von clutch is an offensive German stereotype. Despite these racial stereotypes, the game thankfully isn't that racist as the racial humour doesn't extend beyond the most basic troupes from these groups, that and not one of them are representing minority groups except for Ngin who like I said is a gay stereotype. As for the story, you kind of feel bad for the villain given how they have to put up with all of these characters and even find yourself rooting for them even though their plan is rather simplistic.

Basically, this is a game for edgy teenagers from the mid-00s, which explains why I loved it so much back in the day as that's exactly who I was when it came out. I've since grown up and have thus left this game behind, however it's ultimately harmless (barring Ngins portrayal) and is just a low point of a once popular franchise.

Crash Tag Team Racing is a vibrant game full of humour, personality, and life. The park workers are genuinely funny, the open hub areas are varied and interesting (even if the final one is absolutely horrid), and the plot that ties the whole thing together is a fun (if obvious) mystery that doesn't overstay its welcome. The five new characters introduced in this game are all superb.
Then you get to the actual racing. It exists.

Radical would basically take their Hit And Run framework and just throw it into Crash, with slightly better hub integration into proceedings. Somehow it works, with a ton of unlockables and varied progression successfully hiding lightweight platforming for a while, and a kooky soundtrack and great writing further providing some popcorn level enjoyment. Technically, the actual racing is fine, but there was clearly no thought to the actual game design of fusing vehicles; there's no reason not to do it with someone even as you're all competing with each other, as you can then blast each other with complete ease. Balance issues aside, it's some good brainless fun.

So I initially