Kinda reminds me of the Atari Jaguar days.

Crash Nitro Kart for the Nokia N-gage is not really a bad game. It's just that I'd like to get the negative parts of the review out of the way first, since they are few but important nevertheless.

Ok, we all know that there's issues with the narrow screen. And it doesn't help in this game, of course. But that's not the big problem. The main issue I have with this game is that you simply cannot change your viewpoint in the game. Not to first person or to high view. I mean, man! Just a little further away would be great. But you feel just a bit too close to everything. It's kind of like looking at a tiny race on a slide under a microscope and just a slight turn to the left or right seems to move really fast! I can get used to it, of course. But steering is very awkward in this game.


But of course, the graphics are great. Everything moves with great detail and the shadowing looks real and seemless. The music quality is much better than earlier games, and if you are fine with how it controls, than you'll have plenty to do with this one. The game features some fun bluetooth action that can hook up 4 players together for a single race at a time. And with the N-gage Arena, you can race against other people's ghosts to gain some real recognition in the N-gage Arena.

1 player has his own fun too. The 1 player mode features three modes (Adventure, Arcade, and Time Trial). In Adventure mode, you will follow a Mario-like story where your goal is to guide either Team Bandicoot or Team Evil as they race for their freedom and the safety of Earth in Emperor Velo's Galactic Circus. You'll get to race through all the different tracks from the 1 player modes and you'll run special missions like in Mario Kart, collecting as many Trophies, Relics, Boss Keys, and CNK Tokens as possible.

In Arcade mode, you can play a simple Single Race, or a Quick Race, and there's also a good fun Arcade Cup Race, great for those moments outside the doctor's office where a good 20 minutes will be fulfilled. Also in Arcade, the 2 player modes Vs. Single Race, Vs. Cup Race are available which bring the same content of the 1 player versions, but multiplayer races get a special mode called "Vs. Wumpa Race" where the object is to be the first to cross the finish line with 20 wumpa fruits. Caution, this mode is intense!

Time Trial mode is what N-gage Arena support is all about. You'll race your fastest and best times and they will be uploadable to the N-gage Arena where others will compete against your ghost. Ghost racing is where you can feel more comfortable racing without worrying about bumping into every little jerk racer because .... it's a ghost. :)

What do I mean when I say this game "reminds me of the Atari Jaguar days"? Well, Atari Jaguar was Atari's last hunk of junk, which it was because of it's lame games. Atari made Checkered Flag and Sony made Gran Turismo. The difference between the two companies is that Jaguar set out to make good graphics but failed at making great gameplay. Gran Turismo sailed into the future with the best of both: Incredible graphics and revolutionary gameplay. But Crash Nitro falls short in gameplay, even though it's graphics are very nice. Crash Nitro Kart is actually fun on the Playstation 2 because there's lots of variety in gameplay: you can race upwards on a magnetic clock, you can go through loops, the are switches you can flip to unlock different paths, etc. You see what I mean? Crash Nitro on N-gage is alright. Not bad, but alright. But I don't feel the variety and control I do on the PS2 version. There are a few different paths here and there and a little variety in the way your car takes off. But it feels like Virtua Racing and not Gran Turismo. I know, I know, this is just Crash Bandicoot! It's not supposed to be Gran Turismo. I know. But then again, I've got many more levels to play of the pleasant 12 levels it gives you just at the start with more to unlock so maybe I'll see more in the future that'll change my mind.

There is just one more little ish I have with CNK. On levels like the Terra for example, the textures of the trees and plantlife that go by are incredibly great, but the colors of the 2-D background art beyond the polygons have the same hues and colors of the polygonal runway and sometimes I get a little confused which direction is the right way to go. Ya see: the 2-D background moves all over the place while the road is moving all over the place and sometimes my eyes just don't know where to look. The polygons don't load up right away here and there and I'm going full speed towards the 2-D background thinking I'm running towards a tunnel, and then the polygonal wall just pops up 2 feet before me and I scream AHHHHHH!!!!!! and steer the heck away from it into some ditch. But don't worry, this barely ever happens and it isn't a defining reason not to buy the game. I just wish the backgrounds were "photo realistic" and didn't mesh together with the polygonal graphics.

I was pretty quick to judge this game on it's control and camera view, but I've begun to grow into it and even though I've yet to see all the "unlockable things" that it promises to have hidden inside, I look forward to playing this game for all it's worth. Not the best racer yet for N-gage, but N-gage is getter better.