This article originally ran under a different banner/website in August of 2019 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.
HEAR YE!!! HEAR YE!!! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!! LEND ME YOUR EARS!!! For I, the Video Game Doomsayer, come equipped with disgust and contempt. A waft of swinish gluttony came up as I loaded Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled into my PlayStation 4. It eagerly boasted Crash Team Racing was presented by a gracious Activision. It certainly felt like Activision’s way of saying you fanboys better not make a peep when we shove microtransactions into this game. It is a little needlessly unfair to proclaim that you knew microtransactions would come to a game just because a publisher’s slimy fingers drape all over it. I will admit that to be true, but I will be honest and say the Fortnite-styled storefront set off my microtransactions alarm bells. With Activision’s pattern of waiting a couple of months after release before shoveling microtransactions into the recent batch of Call of Duty games, I was worried about Crash Team Racing’s fate. Hence, I decided to hold off the review in a similar vein to Activision holding off breaking the progression in Crash Team Racing. Activision wants to wait until reviews and age ratings have gone out before littering their games with mobile-style purchases. Well, then I will certainly wait to give them the beating they deserve.
Now while I spent most of my opening kicking Crash Team Racing in the stomach, I can’t deny I have had some fun with it. The campaign within Crash Team Racing has the same goofy charm as the Crash Bandicoot: Insane Trilogy, as Crash and his gang, must race Nitros Oxide to decide the fate of the planet. Throughout Crash Team Racing’s campaign, you will be asked to finish first in four tracks before racing a single boss. Each boss is a classic Crash character sporting their own gimmick. Defeat a boss, unlock four more tracks. Crash Team Racing includes similar racing mechanics to other racing titles like Mario Kart. It boasts a colorful array of tracks, up-beat soundtracks, wumpa fruits that increase your speed, and boxes that include power-ups. At its core, Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled can be a fun kart racer.
Unfortunately, the solid core of Crash Team Racing is surrounded by rampant frustrations and tedious grind. During the campaign, you learn tips and tricks designed to help you leave your enemies in the dust, but these tips never seem to come at the right time. Frustrated with a stream of second-place finishes, I would resort to the internet to learn about drifting and jump tricks, only for the game to tell me these tricks three completed races later. These tricks are very much needed because the AI is brutal.
With even a grasp of the driving mechanics, the AI is incredibly unforgiving. Most of my races had me inhaling the smoke of one of my AI opponents. I eventually decided to sit in second place, hoarding a power-up that would disable the racer in first place, use the power-up at the very last second, and speed across the finish line in first as my opponent spins out. In one race, the AI first hit a TNT block that a different AI had placed feet before the finish line. As I was dreading repeating the race, I noticed my opponent spinning out, and cheekily stole the gold medal in a race I had no right to win. I don’t mind, but it doesn’t make me feel like I am getting better. I feel like I am just cheating. Upon reflection, this relentless AI that forces you to use cheap tricks cheapens the whole experience of the campaign.
So with the campaign being a wash, the game allows you to race various other players online. A feature I never bothered with, because I don’t find playing against someone who has played for 400 hours fun. You can play couch co-op with someone who hasn’t dedicated their lives to the game. While I normally praise games with couch co-op, I can’t stand Crash Team Racing’s local co-op play because they split the screen vertically rather than horizontally. If you have played any of the Mario Karts couch co-op you will notice they split the screen horizontally, because being able to see upcoming turns and opponents trying to run you off the road is more important than the skybox. Crash Team Racing’s vertical split-screen means a large portion of both your and your partner’s screen is wasted on the parts of the map that doesn’t help you win the race. It makes couch co-op uncomfortable and a waste of the game’s potential.
Now I originally wrote off Crash Team Racing as annoying but functional, Activison adding microtransactions is just insulting. Crash Team Racing has two different currencies: Nitro Points and Wumpa Coins. You can earn Nitro Points by completing various challenges tied to the Grand Prix events, encouraging players to constantly play. Think of the Grand Prix like Crash Team Racing’s version of a Fortnite season. You build up Nitro Points, which unlocks other cosmetics. You lose all your Nitro Points at the end of each Grand Prix, encouraging players to continuously grind day in and day out for these points because more points mean better rewards. Luckily, you can’t buy Nitro Points, but various configurations will increase the number of Nitro Points you can receive.
Now, some characters, skins, and kart cosmetics can be unlocked through the campaign or Grand Prix, a large majority of them have to be unlocked through the Pit Stop. The Pit Stop is Crash Team Racing’s knock-off Fortnite-styled store that rotates through certain cosmetics to create a sense of urgency. Nearly half of the characters, skins, and kart customization have to be unlocked through the Pit Stop, meaning you are going to be grinding for these wumpa coins. Unless you want to buy them. If you are willing to fork over $2.50, $5, or $10, you will be granted 2,500, 5,000, and 10,000 wumpa coins respectively. While it may seem like a fair deal, I assure you the house always wins.
Recently, the bundles have seemed to become more costly ranging up to 9,600 wumpa coins. Also, the AI using skins, which just feels like the game’s way of psychologically hypnotizing you to buy cosmetics. I can feel the pull to spend when I see the AI Ripper Roo in his Mad Scientist costume. While Activision hasn’t been this bold, they can always make it so players receive fewer wumpa coins from races. With the recent trends of publishers pushing microtransactions, like EA with Apex Legends, I certainly won’t put it past Activision to stack the deck in its favor.
While many might trumpet the tired cosmetic are optional defense, I am frankly sick of games like this. I am overplaying games that are hacked apart just so you can spend more money to get the full experience. I am so exhausted over the mental preparation needed to combat games trying to swindle more money from me. Upon gazing at Crash Team Racing’s blatant attempts to have a Fortnite-style store, my first thought shouldn’t be, well I guess we just have to accept we are never getting any of these skins. Essentially taking my enthusiasm and shooting it in the knee. Part of the reason I got so invested in completing Marvel’s Spider-Man was my enthusiasm to unlock all of the costumes. Knowing I can’t unlock everything in Crash Team Racing unless I grind or pay, slams the brakes on my drive to keep playing Crash Team Racing.
Worse is the fact, Activision crammed in microtransactions, three months after launch. Hoping we all get invested in Crash Team Racing and pay up when the grind became too much. Honestly, I might have even taken the bait if I wasn’t familiar with Activision’s pattern. They pulled the same stunt with Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and a Fortnite-style store screams of Activision’s envy of Epic’s goldmine. An insidious move made by a malicious publisher. A publisher, who I would remind you, boasted record-breaking profits only to follow up with 800 layoffs. A publisher with the game industry’s most overpaid CEO, Bobby Kotick. A publisher that becomes a cancer upon the industry. A cancer that has spread to the lovable Bandicoot and his kart racing game. Play any other kart racer besides this one. I’d recommend the recent Sonic Team Racing which requires you to race with a team of random players, and you know I have begun to loathe multiplayer games. The only thing we can do with Crash now takes him out back and tearfully put a bullet right between his eyes.
