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Crash Nitro Kart Review - Xbox

Mario Kart has been a game in its own league for many years now. Diddy Kong racing never quite made the cut and other various kart games, including CNK's predecessor Crash Team Racing, never quite made the name that Mario Kart holds. Does Crash Nitro Kart (From now on, CNK) have what it takes to take the number one spot in the Kart racing genre? GameBiz brings you an in-depth review on the latest instalment in the Crash Bandicoot series, as the series leaves its platform tradition once more, and takes a twist around a Galactic Circuit.

Crash and the gang along with the evil Dr. Kortex and his no-good villains have been abducted by the almighty Emperor Velo to participate in his own private kart racing tournament. If you don't race, your home will be destroyed. So the teams have no choice but to go head to head in some co-operative kart racing. 12 hot races will get you to battle the boss, but don't expect it to be easy to save the Earth from the cruel mastermind Emperor Velo.

Gameplay

CNK offers you a few different gameplay modes, most of which are part of the Adventure mode. After beating a race, you can challenge the CNK mode on that same course, where you have to find the 3 letters C, N, and K. Different rewards are given for completing the race and completing it with the letters, allowing for multiple areas and levels to be unlocked. There is actually quite a lot to Crash Nitro Kart, and although you can finish the basic adventure and beat the boss in a little under 3 hours, there's a lot more to the adventure, like an RPG.

Find all your favourite characters including Crash himself, Coco, Crunch, Dr. Neo Cortex, N. Gin, Tiny, N. Oxide and N. Trance. All characters have different statistics in the form of Acceleration, Top Speed and Turning. They can either be Average, Good or Excellent, and there isn't any player that is lacking in an uneven amount of skills. Controls are very user friendly and unnecessary to be mentioned in a review, but you can always go to the Main Menu options if you can't work them out.

The karts handle well and the learning curve is about as easy as Tetris, especially with a little helper giving you hints throughout the whole game. There is a boost meter, or a Nitro meter that comes into play when you're at a stop position waiting to go, or when you turn using the R trigger. Useful boosts can be given to allow you that extra bit of room ahead of opponents. A nice trick you learn early on is when you go off a jump, if you hit the jump button just before you leave the ground and get enough air, when you land you'll get a (continued next page)