Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled - Easy Allies Review 

"The drifting is an important mechanic" No drifting in the entire video lol

That's the norm in most reviews, actually. Few reviewers ever display mastery of a game's subsystems. This is mainly because they simply don't have the time to do it for every single one they review, as well as accounting for personal interest as well.

@@EasyAllies Thanks for the insight, Bloodworth!

I'm surprised that Bloodworth didn't review this. He's clearly the most passionate of the crew when it comes to racers.

Yes that's great

And basically no footage of it being used properly. CTR has an incredibly high skill ceiling, so it's disappointing to see so many reviews that show it off only at the lowest levels.

Google it if you're struggling to drift dude.

As of right now the online is even worse than review lets on. It really is the only major setback to what is an incredible game.

That and that they opted for 30fps (like the original) instead of the standard 60fps for kart racers :(

Maztuhmind eh if it's not mario of course it's a lower score

@@robertsunrobert4541... So you think broken online in 2019 (from Activision no less, so it's not like they don't know how it works) is a minor issue? Have you even played the game or are you just here to **** on Damiani?

@@Giru online isnt broken. There are some lobby matchmaking issues but races go pretty smoothly. Or you have bad internet and blame it on the game.

Yeah, Beenox went back and did their homework on every aspect of the game. Naughty Dog provided an incredibly strong foundation to follow but Beenox's execution of the update is to be commended.

Are you deluded there were a few negatives and gripes mentioned.

@@IronsWorks1990 Okay smartass, point the "few negatives and gripes" out then

@@stickydude8921 - not being able to change the difficulty once you chose it - online matchmaking could be better (ranking system)

@@stickydude8921 Watch the video yourself and actually pay attention instead of refusing to listen to constructive criticism.

@@joshetc7999 So yo're calling that "a few negatives and gripes?" okay

CTR and Sonic Racing Transformed ARE the two best kart racers ever made, bar none.

Why would he mention Transformed when there's a more recent entry in that series? Remember Transformed came out nearly 7 years ago. And yes, Transformed and CTR are easily among the best kart racers ever. Both easily have better handling and racing dynamics than Mario Kart. Mainly because both reduce the power of items and greatly reward track knowledge and mastery of boosting (boost escapes, risk boosts, etc...).

@Angel Perez Good point. But the same applies to the latest game. Apparently reviewers stress the game is pretty tough if you don't engage in the team mechanics.

I did, and wasn't that into it.

@@EasyAllies Sweet! I was a member on gt for about 8 years and was my go to website for all things gaming. You're reviews we're the best. Good to know the legacy continues. *subscribed*

@@EasyAllies I'm glad to be back thanks ❤️

Whamfox Really? I thought that was just the switch version. PS4 has about 20 or so seconds of load time. Any load time above 30 seconds is ridiculous for these types of games

Guan Yu Indeed! I timed it out because I was genuinely curious. Most I got was 41 seconds, I believe.

Whamfox Damn, that would drive me nuts hopefully they clean that up. You can complete some races in just over a minute. So the load time is almost as long as some races!

Few other reviews echo any of this, same goes for players who've suck hours into it. This game rewards skill, track knowledge, and those willing to take serious risks for major reward. For those unwilling to learn the tracks this may seem like poor design, but these tracks have been around for 20+ years and are known inside and out. If they had some critical fault it would've been found years ago. The original was an offline affair and it was an all-time classic, and this is an enhanced version of it. It's highly unlikely that this will somehow drop down to "average" because online play will be unavailable at some point in the future.

Due to me playing numerous other moderm Kart racers, that's how I feel when comparing them to CTR. I'm used to the tighter drifting of Sonic karting, I'm not one to like hopping to enter a drift. I've already gotten good with the mechanic, just not a fan. Also, the tracks are definitely an acquired taste. I've heard both sides say they love or hate them. So take it for what it is. Furthermore, perhaps average isn't the right word, but it'll definitely not be as good when the Activisions servers goes down. You need to be connected to Activisions online servers to unlock Nitro Kart characters, and everything else in the pit stop. When that goes offline, basically you're left with just an updated vanilla CTR game and some new tracks. Try playing the game offline now, you'll see what I'm talking about. I guess to people who are die hards for CTR will love the game no matter what, but I'll be definitely disappointed knowing that half the new content is now unable to be obtained.

@@lavantz345 I'm glad you clarified that you think the tracks are bad not that they actually ARE bad, because that's demonstrably not true. And it's also understandable that someone used to the low skill ceiling of Mario Kart's tracks and stages would chafe at the more technical and unforgiving boost system (and how hitting a wall kills your boost entirely). That said, you've started to spout falsehoods. Nothing in the Pit Stop requires the online to buy. You earn Wumpa Coins through offline play as well. Once again: This is an excellent remake of an all-time classic game. Which was entirely offline. It going offline in the future will not somehow make this game a middle of the road affair.

RicochetForce Allow me to further clarify. You need to be connected to the internet to obtain Wumpa coins, which I'm assuming has something to do with Activisions servers recognizing you're connected. You can't obtain the coins without internet currently. Go disconnect your internet and try it out.

@@lavantz345 That's nice. It's still not reducing this game to "average" once servers are down. That's just not how any good game outside of GaaS titles work (which rely on online to even function).I think we've reached the end of this discussion.

You could literally ask that about any review honestly. If you are competent enough to beat the game on medium without any HUGE problems, then you are probably as good if not better than the average consumer who buys the game and thus should be able to review.

@@EasyAllies You can say that, and I understand your mindset, but surely you can understand why one would ask the question. When you guys do reviews, you often get to a section of "criticisms" and, I would even venture to say, "nitpicks". When you say, "the game is great. But it doesn't do this, this and this" it naturally comes off as thought the game is LOSING points. As though each criticism is losing the game points, and were it to have those things, it would score higher. I think this ultimately comes down to the philosophical nature of the perception fo what a "review" even is. I always think about to a reddit comment I read from from a developer AMA where a question asker posed the query, "What do you guys think about reviews?". The developer answers that he thinks reviews can be helpful, and he enjoys reading them, but that ultimately he gets frustrated with reviewers wind up reviewing what they WISH a product was rather than what a project actually IS. He said that it's especially frustrating when a reviewer criticizes a specific game mechanic and says it should be another way, when the developer knows that the core audience the they were targeting wanted just what the developer was doing, and what the reviewer was suggesting they would have hated.

I would also argue that giving a game a lesser score because of difficulty doesn't necessarily make sense because, to someone who does not have a problem with the game's difficulty, the lack of an "easy mode" is irrelevant. And to someone who cannot hang with the games difficulty, the merits of the game are useless because the player cannot experience them. So who is the review for? To the gamer who likes difficulty the score is needlessly low. To the player who can't play challenging games, the score is unreasonable high since the challenge is a complete deal breaker. So what does the number even MEAN that point? Who is supposed to derive any use from it?

@@EasyAllies Then what is the rating a representation of? Is each game assigned a score upon starting it up, and then positives and negatives move the score from there? I guess I always assumed that any game initially is a 10 but bad or negative things moves it down. Not criticising you Blood, just wondering how it works.

@@EasyAllies understandable! Thanks for the replies Blood. Means a lot

Easy Allies this is part of the reason why I really hated that you guys went from stars to numbers. I know you guys said you wanted it for thenuance, but I feel like it just winds up being impossible to communicate what that numerical nuance is or why it exists. I prefer the five whole star method myself. -you should play this game -you should play this game if you like this genre. -this is a decent example of the genre and you should only play this if you’ve played others first and want more from this genre -this is a bad example of the genre -you should not play this game I feel like all other nuance should be confined to the text.

They literally complained about the difficulty as a bad thing, both in online and adventure mode.

Um mario kart is the best selling game on the switch which is the best selling console of the past few years so

Electric Playground knows.

@@alxactly I used to think frame rates were important.. but once i'm immersed I never notice. I only notice when there are inconsistencies/drops. Much rather have a solid 30 than a dodgy 60.

Ok settle down you two but the one thing that has bugged me is some of the load times. I get the game looks good but still... they can be 1.5+ mins sometimes...

I would say frame rate being 60 would've made it a much better remake. Also, much shorter load times. Same goes for Crash Trilogy, but at least they fixed the long initial load time for that after a long while.

Ennur no but adventure mode is considerably longer than any of the Cups in Mario Kart.

@@Atlasfilms08 I see. But there are many games, not only karting/racing games, that won't allow you to chance difficulty mid game. It seemed to me like a bit of nitpicking just to have something negative to say.

@@ennur4208 Well normal will feel harder for people who are new to the game and classis mode is default medium. Hard in this game is super hard in some tracks the A.I. beat N'trophy's time trial. My adivse is for anyone who want to finish the adventure on hard (because their is a trophy for it) first beat beat N'trophy in the time trials and then start on hard.

Ennur you’re the one nitpicking a review when the criticism was completely valid.

@@DeesBees85 I am, as I believe the review was. In my opinion, it being a kart racer, doesn't mean the story mode should be reviewed differently from story modes in racing games or other genres. A lot of games doen't let you change difficulty settings mid campaign, but I've never seen it beeing considered as a negative thing.

@@EasyAllies Oh ok I see, thanks for the answer! I really hate that "smooth motion" setting on TVs nowadays, makes everything look like a nature documentary.

Easy Allies that’s awesome! Loved your reviews guys. Used to watch them all the time back when I was in college. Glad you’re back! Best wished and I’ll keep watching your content for support 🙌

Laziness

Good question to ask the dev. Watch this run easily at 60fps on even a very budget PC, just like the Crash trilogy.

Yes but some feel a bit more difficult especially sewer speedway, you will always see people try it online and fail. I have no other shortcut issue because they are doable in time trials.

@@KonniBel I just looked up Sewer Speedway because that's the most important track to me, and people are pointing out it's harder to make it because the jump works a little differently in the new game? I don't expect NF to inherit everything from the original, as far as I can see they did a pretty good job, keeping some shortcut doable even though they looked like exploits in the past.

@@SoShiBias It doesn't feel consistent. It works better if you go slow but if you go slow you will not beat the time trial. I now basically take the shortcut like the bosses but even I will fail 1/5 tries and I can't point out why.

@@KonniBel sounds about right. I've failed that many times in the original. One of those things you just don't know why

@@EasyAllies 30 FPS is more common for kart games? MK8D and Team Sonic Racing run at 60, so I thought that would be the standard. Thank you for the reply! :)

Other games claim 60 fps but the framerate drops frequently which is worse and more noticeable imo.

I think it’s a matter of time and interest. There are onlynSO many allies who do reviews and there have been a lot of big games out to review. And also e3 just happened. And also Jones had a baby.

JazGalaxy good points, I’ll wait eagerly, and big congrats on the baby Brandon!

I've played those games on Oculus Rift. Robo Recall is too good for a free game and the short and sweet Vader Immortal Episode 1 is worth the $10 price point. It's just nice to see VR games with decent budgets.

quagthias absolute masterpieces, really on a new level for me, I’ve been a console gamer since the SNES era, both these titles blew me away on Oculus Quest.

1:55 "almost"

Yes

Why was he dreading it?

He said he didn't really get on with the mechanics that well when he started playing it. As he's so used to mario kart and didn't play the original ctr. But he can recognise that the game is good and it has a pretty huge fanbase that love it and are really good at it.

Still a fun game, regardless.

People just don't understand the turbo boost/powerslide mechanics. Like in this review. He was definetly playing on Easy mode, because on Hard mode, you have to absolutely nail the 3 laps or you will lose

Well in the original version you had a super hard cheat and that is the difficulty they basically use on this version for hard.

While I'm on your side about difficult games, you say that you beat the game while you were in single digits as though gamers get BETTER at games as they get older. I think most gamers would say that they were better at games when they were younger than they are now. I tried playing Faxanadu and GI Joe fairly recently on the NES. BOTH of those games were favorites of mine when I was a kid and I got extremely far in them. Playing them now, I feel like I'm being assaulted by a gang. It's just a massacre and I can barely get anywhere. (Mainly GI Joe. Faxanadu is just tedious.) The point being: As a kid you had more time to devote to trial and error as well as less things to worry about overall. That being said, if a game isn't challenging, I find it intellectually boring and therefore useless as a piece of entertainment.

JazGalaxy Not at single digits. I think most gamers would say they are better at games now than when they were 5,6,4 or 7 or even 1 years old.

1:53 ..."and it’s something you won’t find in ALMOST any other kart racer."

yup you can!

Accessibility must take a back seat to quality. This game is good enough to put in the effort because my goodness is it rewarding.

@@RicochetForce Sure, but kart racers will always be more fun to me in local multiplayer and CTR just isn't as easy to hand to a new player. As a single player experience, it has much more to offer than Mario Kart tho.

@@alexanderchilton911 We were all new players. We're nothing special. We all learned. The game isn't rocket science and the reward for learning CTR is well worth the minor effort. This is where I feel Mario Kart has done damage to the genre over the years.

Eyad Aleidan I confirm. You are wrong.

Believe it's in the ultimate edition thing. Which only idiots buy. I bought it :(

Yes, him and his cart are unlockable by just playing the game and meeting unlock requirements.

fcukugimmeausername nope, wrong again. he's in all versions.

Eyad Aleidan 👍 You'll have to win against him in Adventure mode to unlock him.

How so? It seems to cover all the aspects of the game

I guess there could have been mention of the planned free DLC (the first of which is coming to morrow). But imo, the review is succinct and says enough for a remake.

@@1bytesnack369 That's understandable, that said they also can't review something that isn't available in the game yet. I do think they should've covered the drip-feed rate at which you get Wumpa Coins.

RicochetForce True. Altho, online I received over 600 wumpas for one race. I really don't understand how the online rewards work. The rewards change seemingly randomly and varies between what you can get in offline mode and hundreds of wumpas. 🤔

@@1bytesnack369 The community is currently trying to suss out exactly how the Wumpa coins are distributed. From what has been gleaned, there appears to be a daily "Wumpa Time/Fever" that lasts for 10 races after the Pit Stop items refresh. This increases the amount of coins you earn, and the amount is increased further based on your placement in a race and the track you raced on. Even then there's often variation within this so there are some other factors at play as well. I think there's also a booster on the weekends as well.

Meh i barely noticed it while i was playing

Watch the DF analysis, the motion blur is masking it very well. It is of course noticeable, but not a dealbreaker by any means.

It's a steady 30 during gameplay. Better than reaching 60 half the time than dropping. The fps is barely noticeable after a short while. Not worse than watching a movie.

It costs 40

@@aqsw57 my bad. I was on PSN and didn't realise that was the Nitros Oxide Edition that costs $60.

@@ceracen yeah they automatically show you the pricy one, they already did this with overwatch

@@aqsw57 sneaky, sneaky.

Yeah, it kinda sucks.

it hurt my eyes watching the gameplay lol

Hell yeah! You better believe it.

@@Great_Scott_ Yep. I got an XBX and there really shouldn't be any reason this isn't 60fps at 1440p.

Having too much fun playing it to care.