Developer : Vicarious Visions Universal Interactive
Release date : 2003
Synopsis :
Crash Nitro Kart is a 2003 racing video game developed by Vicarious Visions and published by Universal Interactive for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and Game Boy Advance; versions for the N-Gage and mobile phones were released in 2004. It is the second racing game in the Crash Bandicoot series after Crash Team Racing and the first game in the series to feature full motion videos.
The game’s story centers on the abduction of Crash Bandicoot, along with other characters in the series, by the ruthless dictator Emperor Velo XXVII. Threatening to destroy the Earth if they refuse, he forces them to race in his gigantic coliseum for the entertainment of his subjects.
Crash Nitro Kart received mixed reviews, with reviews varying from version to version. The home console version was met with generally fair reviews, which dismissed the game as a generic kart racer, but commented positively on its “power slide” mechanic. The Game Boy Advance version earned slightly better reviews than the console version, while reviews for the N-Gage version were middling, with much of the criticism going to the game’s “tunnel vision”. Content from the game, including all of its characters, race tracks, battle arenas, karts and battle modes, was remastered as a part of Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled on June 21, 2019.
Crash Nitro Kart features around twenty-seven characters, sixteen of which are playable.[10] The sixteen characters are split into four teams of four with each team driving karts of a matching color.
“Team Bandicoot”, which pilots blue karts, is led by Crash Bandicoot, the titular protagonist of the series. His kart is an all-round performer with exceptional acceleration. Coco Bandicoot, Crash’s younger genius sister, programmed her kart’s wheels to balance their speed better, improving her kart’s turning ability. Crunch Bandicoot, Crash’s friend, originally created by Doctor Neo Cortex to destroy Crash, pilots a kart with amazing momentum and speed but slow acceleration. Fake Crash, an imperfect duplicate of Crash, becomes accessible as a playable character if the player performs 50 consecutive speed boosts on any track in Adventure Mode as a member of Team Cortex.
“Team Cortex”, which pilots red karts, is led by Doctor Neo Cortex, Crash’s archenemy and main antagonist of the series. Like Crash, Cortex pilots a kart that excels in acceleration. Doctor N. Gin, Doctor Cortex’s right-hand man, is a mechanical genius who pilots a kart that specializes in turning ability. Tiny Tiger, Doctor Cortex’s most faithful henchman, is a hulking giant who pilots a kart with a high top speed like Crunch. Doctor Nefarious Tropy, the self-proclaimed master of time, becomes accessible as a playable character if the player beats all the time records in Race Time Trial Mode.
“Team Oxide”, which pilots yellow karts, is led by Crash Team Racing’s main antagonist Nitrous Oxide. His henchmen, Zam and Zem, become accessible as playable characters if the player wins the Purple and Green Gem in Adventure Mode respectively. “Real Velo”, the form Emperor Velo is seen at the end of Adventure Mode, is a part of the Yellow Team and becomes accessible as a playable character if the player wins the Adventure Mode twice: once as a member of Team Bandicoot and once as a member of Team Cortex.
“Team Trance”, which pilots green karts, is led by N. Trance, the egg-like master of hypnotism. Dingodile and Polar, whom N. Trance has hypnotized, becomes accessible as playable characters if the player wins the Red and Blue Gem in Adventure Mode respectively. Pura, whom Trance has also hypnotized, becomes accessible as a playable character if the player performs 50 consecutive speed boosts on any track in Adventure Mode as a member of Team Bandicoot.
The main antagonist of the story, Emperor Velo XXVII, is the confident, dominating, bullying and contemptuous ruler of his own galaxy; he threatens to destroy Earth if Crash and Cortex’s teams refuse to compete in his Galaxy Circuit. Velo is the final boss character of the game and races alongside two advisors who lay down offensive measures to slow the player down. Preceding Velo are four boss characters who possess “World Keys” that are needed to race against Velo. In order, the bosses consist of the following: Krunk, a hulking creature who feels that Earth is a copy of his home planet, Terra, and races to prove which planet is superior; Nash, a genetically engineered shark-like creature who was created to always move; Norm, a goblin-like mime who races alongside a larger and more obnoxious version of himself; and Geary, a robot as much obsessed with perfection as he is with cleaning.
Aku Aku and Uka Uka serve as helpers throughout the game, giving tips and hints regarding driving skills, info on objects in the hub world, tips on how to use weapons effectively, and occasional warnings during races.
Story
Crash, Coco and Crunch Bandicoot are relaxing while their nemesis, Doctor Neo Cortex, ponders his next course of action in regards to defeating the Bandicoots and achieving 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 teams race for the entertainment of his subjects. He promises the Earthlings that winning the races will win their freedom, but 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.[16] When Krunk, Nash, Norm, and Geary, the champions of Terra, Barin, Fenomena, and Teknee respectively, are defeated, the Earth racers go up against the galactic champion: Emperor Velo himself. The racers defeat Velo, but he refuses to send them back to Earth unless they win all of the time relics and defeat him again. Velo loses 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. If Team Bandicoot win the race, Velo, having lost his influence over his subjects, dejectedly relinquishes his empire to the Bandicoots. Crash considers becoming the next emperor of the galaxy, but decides otherwise and gives control back to Velo in exchange for sending the Bandicoots back to Earth. If Team Cortex 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.
Source : Wikipedia
