User:Superstarxalien/Sandbox 3

Crash Nitro Kart, commonly abbreviated to CNK for short, is a video game developed by and published by  in regions outside of Japan, where it was otherwise published by. It is the second racing game in the Crash Bandicoot series, being a direct sequel to Crash Team Racing. It was released on the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox in 2003, along with a Game Boy Advance tie-in release in the same year. The Game Boy Advance tie-in received an N-Gage port in 2004 and a separate mobile phone tie-in was released in the same year.

Being a successor to Crash Team Racing, Crash Nitro Kart retains the concepts and mechanics first seen in the former game, such as the Power Sliding mechanic and the platform-oriented design of the racetracks, along with introducing some of its own, namely with the addition of anti-gravity, which lets players drive up certain maglev surfaces of any angle. Alluding to the name of its predecessor, the game also introduces team-based game modes which pit players together with a teammate against several other teams; the Adventure Mode seen in CTR also gets expanded to feature a more character-centric story depending on the team of characters the player has chosen. It is the first Crash Bandicoot game to feature full-motion video cinematics, instead of rendering animated cutscenes with the console's hardware.

Content from this game was remade and included in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, a remake of its predecessor Crash Team Racing.

Gameplay
Crash Nitro Kart is a kart racing game in which the player takes control of one of the playable characters from the Crash Bandicoot series, all of whom drive karts of various specifications, on obstacle-based racetracks. Much like in most kart racers, the player can accelerate, brake, steer, and use items obtained from Power-up Crates in order to finish first out of the eight racers found in the game's racing modes. The player can collect Wumpa Fruit to increase their speed. Wumpa Fruit can be found by breaking Wumpa Crates or hitting other drivers with items, from which Wumpa Fruit will drop on the ground. If all ten Wumpa Fruit are collected, the player's items will be Juiced Up, making them more powerful.

As in Crash Team Racing, the game is unique for featuring techniques that allow players to retain continuous speed boosts for an indefinite amount of time in the form of the Power Slide technique, in which players can fill up a bar while steering that will give them up to three speed boosts, which can be chained with other forms of speed boosts in the game. The game also features certain mechanics inspired by platformer games: most of the shortcuts in the game can only be accessed by hopping off of certain parts of a track, much like in a platformer, and the player can also get speed boosts from hopping off of high altitudes in what's known as a Hang Time Boost.

New to this game is anti-gravity, which opens up the general design of racetracks by allowing players to drive on surfaces previously rendered impossible to drive on in CTR. This addition is, for the most part, visual, as its only effect on gameplay is via the presence of seamless sections of track in the form of tubes players can steer indefinitely on or inside; furthermore, there aren't any shortcuts to be accessed in any of the anti-gravity sections players race on. The game also features the addition of two new types of crate that can be found on racetracks: Multiplier Crates contain three of a certain item and are found in hard-to-reach spots of a track, and Activation Crates alter certain elements of a track, such as the activation of ramps or traps.

Crash Nitro Kart features team-based modes, available for both racing and battle, in which players ally themselves with a teammate and compete against teams of two drivers. Teammates are invulnerable to each others' items and can score wins for the entire team regardless of position. Team-based racing modes feature the Team Frenzy mechanic, where the player can fill up a bar present on their screen by driving close to their respective teammate, and once it's full and activated, they will automatically obtain random items one after another for a temporary amount of time. Teammates that are computer-controlled will always correspond to the team of the character that the player chose belongs to.

Characters
Crash Nitro Kart features a total of 16 playable characters: 8 available by starting the game and 8 that can be unlocked through the game's various modes. The 16 characters are split in teams of 4: Team Bandicoot, headed by the titular protagonist Crash Bandicoot, Team Cortex, headed by the evil scientist Dr. Neo Cortex, Team Oxide, headed by the villain of Crash Team Racing, Nitrous Oxide, who makes his debut as a playable character in the game, and Team Trance, headed by master of hypnotism N. Trance, one of the main antagonists from Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced, who makes his debut as a playable character in the series of Crash Bandicoot racing games. Each team features a unique kart which all members of the team drive, and each team is protected by a certain mask: Team Bandicoot and Team Cortex are protected by Aku Aku and Uka Uka respectively, while Team Oxide and Team Trance are protected by the newly-introduced Velo Mask.

The game features the return of Crash Team Racing's starting roster of 8 characters, with Dingodile, Polar, and Pura being moved to unlockables, as well as Dr. N. Tropy and Fake Crash, who remain unlockable characters. For the game's new additions to the roster, it introduces 2 characters that have appeared in Crash Bandicoot games following Crash Team Racing to the series of Crash racing games: Crunch Bandicoot from Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, who forms part of Team Bandicoot, and N. Trance from Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced, who heads his own team with characters that he hypnotized; as previously stated, Nitrous Oxide also makes a playable appearance after remaining a boss character in Crash Team Racing, heading his own team with characters that are new to the Crash Bandicoot series overall.

The Adventure mode also features boss characters with attributes identical to that of playable characters, in the form of Velo's champions and a version of himself. These characters are, however, not available for use.

Plot
On Earth, Crash Bandicoot is asleep while Coco works on Crash's Kart as Crunch complains to Aku Aku about a diet he's on, while their nemesis, Dr. Neo Cortex, paces across his laboratory floor wondering how he can defeat the Bandicoots and achieve world domination. Suddenly, both groups are abducted by a mysterious white light that takes them to a large coliseum somewhere in another galaxy. This galaxy is ruled by Emperor Velo XXVII, who plans on having the group race for the entertainment of his subjects, after hearing about their racing skills and overall prowess from Nitrous Oxide and N. Trance. He promises the Earthlings that winning the races will win their freedom, and threatens them with the destruction of Earth if they refuse to race. After both teams accept the challenge, Velo explains that the racers will compete on four worlds of his choosing, and promises a race against the galactic champion if the champions of those worlds are defeated.

When the champions of Terra, Barin, Fenomena and Teknee are defeated, the Earth racers go up against the galactic champion, who turns out to be Velo himself. Velo is defeated, but he refuses to send the racers back to Earth. When the Earth racers angrily demand a rematch, Velo readily accepts, on the condition that the Earth racers must first collect all his Time Relics. Velo loses once again to the Earth racers and literally explodes in a bout of fury, revealing himself to be a robot suit controlled by a small gremlin-like version of himself. The following events are determined by which of the two teams the player used to win the race.

If one of the Team Bandicoot characters win the race, Velo, having lost his influence over his subjects, dejectedly relinquishes his empire to the Bandicoots. Crash seriously considers becoming the next emperor of the galaxy (and having Velo's planet carved into the shape of his head), but decides otherwise and gives control back to Velo in exchange for sending the Bandicoots (with Polar, who was kidnapped by N. Trance ) back to Earth.

If one of the Team Cortex characters win the race, Velo struggles with Cortex over the possession of his scepter, only to be stopped by Tiny. Cortex uses the scepter's power in an attempt to return to Earth, but the scepter breaks and sends Cortex, N. Gin and Tiny to Terra instead. When they are confronted by the natives, Tiny repairs the scepter and is subsequently revered as a king, much to Cortex's annoyance.

Development
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Reception
Overall, Crash Nitro Kart has received mixed reviews, being dismissed as a generic kart racer while commented positively on its Power Slide system.

Manny LaMancha of GamePro concluded that the gameplay of Crash Nitro Kart was addictive though not innovative. Playstation: The Official Magazine said that Crash Nitro Kart was "satisfying and challenging at the same time" and "a great way to fill that need for speed." Nintendo Power praised the karts as "fast" and the power-ups as "creative". Official Playstation Magazine concluded that "Vicarious Visions did all it could to emulate the Naughty Dog classic (Crash Team Racing) and just added a PS2 coat of paint." Play magazine said that the game was "a little generic and heavily recycled, but the powerslide system from CTR pulls it together." Matt Helgeson of Game Informer dismissed the game as "probably one of the least exciting racing titles I've played recently." Demian Linn of Electronic Gaming Monthly noted that the gameplay was "nearly identical to Crash Team Racing's, even down to the speed-boosting wumpa fruits, so if you loved it before, you'll still love it, and if not... not."

The game's controls were well received. Manny LaMancha of GamePro concluded that the controls were easy to pick up, but hard to master. Official Xbox Magazine praised the game's "solid control" and "innovative boost system". Michael Laffery of GameZone said that the interface was "simple to use" and that the game requires no learning curve. Tony Guidi of TeamXbox noted that the "simplistic" controls allowed the game to be played by anyone and that due to the different boosting and sliding techniques, "mastering the control will separate the great racers from the newbs." Ryan Davis of GameSpot stated that while the powerslide system "can give you a serious advantage in the race ... [it] is also very difficult to pull off, requiring flawless timing." Steven Rodriquez of Nintendo World Report said that the karts "control pretty nicely, but can be hard to handle consistently at top speed," and added that power sliding was "easy to do".

The graphics of the game were positively received. Manny LaMancha of GamePro said that the visuals were brightly colored and smoothly animated and noted that the Xbox version's graphics were slightly cleaner than the PlayStation 2 version. Michael Lafferty of GameZone praised the environments as "lush and richly textured" and the cutscenes as "very well done". Tony Guidi of TeamXbox commended the graphics as "clean and crisp" and added that the cutscenes were "beautifully polished". Ryan Davis of GameSpot noted that "Crash Nitro Kart maintains the brightly colored, cartoony look that has been the hallmark of past Crash Bandicoot games, though with slightly upgraded graphics. Ed Lewis of IGN said that the graphics for the single-player modes were "bright and cheery and smooth", but decreased in quality in the multiplayer modes. Kristan Reed of EuroGamer concluded that "CNK stays in exactly the cutesy ballpark you'd expect from the Day-Glo series, neither straying in any way from the generic cartoon worlds of old nor providing any graphical trickery that surprises hardened gamers looking for a splash of eye candy with their cartoon frippery." Steven Rodriquez of Nintendo World Report noted that "if you've played any of the other Crash Bandicoot games out there, then you have a pretty good idea what this one looks like." Russ Fischer of GameSpy said that the game "some nice graphics, which use a solid framerate and loads of color to capture the old Crash magic."

The audio received mixed reception. Manny LaMancha of GamePro said that the in-game voice acting (provided by such stars as Debi Derryberry and Billy West) was "clear and entertaining". Tony Guidi of TeamXbox also noted that the character voices were "done well" and that the music "isn't annoying". However, Michael Lafferty of GameZone stated that the music can become "a little tiring" and "annoying" after a while. Ryan Davis of GameSpot concluded that the sound was "respectable", but added that the "attitude" of the character sounds bites seemed "forced". Ed Lewis of IGN said that the "saving grace" of the "Looney Toons-style repartee and sound effects" is that "it was done professionally and while it's pretty silly if you listen to it, it doesn't grate and get under the skin as other games can." He added that the music was "bouncy and peppy and, once again, cartoony". Steven Rodriguez of Nintendo World Report described the music and sound effects as "generic" and "plain" respectively, and noted that the best part of the game's audio was "that sexy talking mask that gives you advice between races, but even he gets rather annoying."