crash-universe

Crash Tag Team Racing (Crash Bandicoot Gatchanko World in Japan) is a racing game for all three sixth generation video game consoles and the PlayStation Portable. Developed by Radical Entertainment, it was released in North America, Europe, and Japan in 2005.[1] A Nintendo DS version was also to be released, but was eventually scrapped. The reason for this is unknown.

Crash Tag Team Racing is the third installment in the Crash Bandicoot racing games, succeeding Crash Team Racing and Crash Nitro Kart. Unlike the previous two, it combines the elements of platforming and racing games, with Crash being the playable character during the platforming segments of the game.

This is the first Crash game to have a rating higher than E in the US or a 3+ in Europe.

Crash Tag Team Racing is both a platformer and a racing game, the racing segments featuring eight drivers racing in individual vehicles in an old dilapidated amusement park. Players can "clash" with an opponent during a race and fuse their cars together, with one player controlling the car, and the AI controlling the turret, a feature that has often been compared to Mario Kart: Double Dash!!.[2] The player can also switch seats between the driver and the gunner at any time, and even switch weapons to the ones pertaining to the person you're clashed with. Unclashing can be done at any time as well. The first person to unclash gets ahead of the other.

The sections out of the car occur in Ebeneezer Von Clutch's amusement park, and feature Crash as the selectable character. They're free-roaming styled, so the player has a large amount of land to explore. The player can also interact with the many people walking around the park by talking to them or attacking them. Also present in these sections is the "Die-O-Rama", in which instead of avoiding to get killed, the player will seek death in order to unlock a humorous cutscene with Crash getting killed in a cartoon style.

Asides from these two main genres, the game also includes various mini-games, such as bowling with penguin pins. The're also some scenes where Crash will treat the Park Drones badly, like giving them a poison apple or dumping them in shark-infested waters.

The game opens with a Howard Cosell/George Foreman-esque pair of chicken sports commentators named Chick Gizzard-Lips and his hip co-worker Stew, welcoming us to the farewell race of Von Clutch's MotorWorld. Long ago, Ebeneezer Von Clutch, the deranged German cyborg genius fabricated the ultimate auto-racing theme park. For years, the park's racetracks have wreaked terror on its participants in ways too gruesome for them to describe over the air. But now the park's Power Gems, which have kept the park active, have been stolen, giving Von Clutch only a few hours to get them back, or he'll surely have to turn out the lights on his lifelong dream. In the process of finding more racers to help him, Crash Bandicoot, Coco Bandicoot, Crunch Bandicoot, Doctor Neo Cortex, Doctor N. Gin, and Nina Cortex literally crash in. Von Clutch recruits them for assistance. At first, Cortex is unwilling to help Von Clutch. But then he explains that whoever retrieves all the Power Gems will win the ownership of the park. Even Von Clutch's beloved Black Power Gem, which is his life source, is gone. Without it, Von Clutch will die in a matter of hours. N. Gin informs Cortex that this strange theme park is fertile grounds for them to "plant their new seed of evil", which means that if they win, they'll have a new evil base, all the churros they can eat, and rid themselves of the Bandicoots all at the same time. From there, we are introduced to Pasadena O'Possum, a professional racer hired by Von Clutch to ensure his continued ownership of the park, and Willie Wumpa Cheeks, the "jolly park mascot" of Von Clutch's MotorWorld and the producer of "Wumpa Whip", the parks most popular beverage. The game begins.

After Crash recovers all the Power Gems and officially wins himself the ownership of the park, Coco deduces that whoever stole the Power Gems in the first place had some connection to Wumpa Whip, because there's been a trail of Wumpa Whip at every crime scene of the park. Willie Wumpa Cheeks admits that he stole the Power Gems and the Black Power Gem (though without any given motive as to why he stole them). Von Clutch is struck with disbelief. With the Black Power Gem in his possession, Willie flees to Astro Land, saying that they can "look for him in the sky". He is planning to blast off into outer space through Astro Land's largest rocket. Crash Bandicoot decides to stop Willie Wumpa Cheeks, retrieve the Black Power Gem, and save the weakened Ebeneezer Von Clutch. In Astro Land, Crash sees Willie entering the rocket, preparing for liftoff. But when Crash pulls a nearby lever, the launch is aborted. Crunch opens up the rocket door and grabs Willie by the nose. Just when they're about to interrogate Willie about the location of the Black Power Gem, somebody shoots him from afar, resulting in a dead Willie, liquefied in a puddle on the ground. The culprit is Neo, N. Gin and Nina inside a battleship. Cortex is prepared to obliterate the Bandicoots for ruining his plans for using Von Clutch's amusement enterprise as the ideal strategic cover. After Cortex attempts to destroy the Bandicoots with an M2 machine gun mounted on his ship, Crash tosses a chicken into the ship's main rotor, causing the ship to behave erratically and unpredictably. Cortex promises Crash they'll meet again as he flies off in his malfunctioning ship.

As the Bandicoots are handed the deed to the park, Coco decides that the deed should be returned to where it belongs: with Ebeneezer Von Clutch. But Pasadena informs them that that's an impossibility. Because the Black Power Gem was never recovered, it is apparent that Von Clutch will remain deactivated. As everyone mourns the loss of their dear friend (all except Crash , who is attempting to find and consume more Wumpa Whip), Crash starts choking on something. He coughs up Von Clutch's Black Power Gem, which jettisons into the slot, reviving Von Clutch. He thanks Crash for all he's done, and gives free lifetime passes to Von Clutch's MotorWorld to all the Bandicoots. Unfortunately, Crash inadvertently ejects the Black Power Gem (thus deactivating Von Clutch) after giving V.C. a friendly slap on the back. Before anyone has a chance to react, Crash jumps into the orange car he was seen driving at the beginning and drives off, leaving Coco, Crunch and Pasadena behind. The three just stare for a second, realising too late what has just happened. Pasadena then silently groans and look at Crunch, who smiles weakly and shrugs his shoulders. Coco holds, and shakes, her head.

When the game arrived into stores, it was met with generally mixed reviews. One complaint about the game was that it somewhat mimicked Mario Kart: Double Dash!!'s dual kart system.[1] And though many critics praised the game's Voltron-esque "car-clashing" element, their main complaints were the game's framerate issues and overall lack of challenge (i.e. the inability to really die in the platforming sections of the game). The game is rather controversial among Crash fans due to the changes made to the characters' personalities and the plot hole-filled storyline.

Reviews Publication Score
GameSpot 7.3 of 10
GameSpy 3 of 5
IGN 7.4 of 10
Eurogamer 7 of 10
Yahoo! Games 3 of 5
Game Freaks 365 7.7 of 10
Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine 2 of 5
PSM 6.5 of 10
Electronic Gaming Monthly 4.5 of 10
Compilations of multiple reviews
Game Rankings 68 of 100 (based on 29 reviews)
Game Ratio 66% (based on 11 reviews)
Metacritic 66 of 100 (based on 21 reviews)[3]

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