The perfect day to talk about this game. This time im gonna talk about CTR since i may not enjoy this christmas and this game is the most important in my life, so i would give it the reward it finally deserves while giving someone at least a bit of happiness. I would also focus this review in other aspects so it doesnt seem copy pasted.
Have you ever played a game that feels like an old friend? Im not kidding, just think about the thing you enjoyed the most in your life and share moments with someone. You may think a videogame is not the same, but what if i tell you that without it some of my past memories would be sadder. I wasnt exactly... the most happy person in the world two decades ago, and still i feel bad at times, but every time i come back to CTR all of the bad feelings dissappear and i cant just but feel like its a game that was specifically made for me. Everyone has probably a game that clicks instantly with them, even the ones who arent fan of videogames as a whole.
It is kind of sad that even after the remake and after the community saw the merits of CTR, they still didnt do justice to how well made and groundbreaking this was in a lot of aspects. Even considering other 1999 games which were also innovative, especially in the arcade scene. 1999 was a year of major evolution for videogames, probably where videogames started to feel more modern; (depending which one). But i do believe that CTR at the very least managed to balance its innovations with its refinement, without sacrificing one for another.
CTR is a kart racer, inspired in previous ones like MK and DKR. That may seem like it isnt revolutionary. The truth is that CTR feels like everything but not your typical go kart. And not only just for the hidden depth in the core gameplay which together with the physics engine and the track design makes the gameplay have an incredible skill ceiling while still remaining accessible in a way i never seen before, but something no one ever mentions is that CTR also takes inspiration from actual racing games in some different subtle ways. Starting with the hang time boost which was based on how much a ball in American Football is in mid air (well, thats sports but nevermind). Later we have the boss battles which resembles to me to a slalom test: the bosses throws you tons of items in zigzag mostly, and they remind me to a pace car. There is also some realistic aproach to the physics like the up or downhill sections or how the kart handles different terrains like dirt, grass, water, etc, that wouldnt never be taken into account or at least as much in this genre. Or the spin out caused by drifting too much with the car (its a car not a kart shut up). The physics arent realistic, dont get that wrong, but the subtle realistic aspects that are there makes the entire experience feel more special. Did i also mention that CTR also has a first person hidden camera? Or what about supporting a racing wheel? That just further proves my point. Or also the last two tracks in the game which looks like an actual circuit.
Of course, again, those realistic things are subtle and doesnt take away from what CTR actually is: a celebration of the crash franchise, from the characters, to the tracks, to the items, to everything else. With just three games in 3 years they were able to create an universe from scratch and make them work in a kart racer. Cool.
Aspects of the main series core gameplay are translated here well which again, is something i didnt saw in other kart racers, like the platforming. Yeah! It succeds at being a good racing platformer too, since one of the main mechanics of CTR is jumping and the tracks are filled with shortcuts, crates in harder to reach spots or tracks that are never flat so you could pick up your jumps to gain speed. The kart feels weighty like a platformer.
Most people tend to praise HL2 this days to be consider the first game in history to have incredible physics or a physics engine at all, and while i agree that its great, i cant but feel like its not old enough. In fact, i would argue that one of the games that made revolutionary changes in the physics (even though no one ever used again) is actually CTR, maybe one of the oldest games with a dedicated physics engine that actually uses it in the core gameplay, and (like HL2) without it the game wouldnt be nearly as good. And guess what? They dont aged a bit! In fact, i think this game has better physics than its remake which feels kind of heavy and not in a good way. One of the very few games i played where i have absolute control over the character. And since even the same area on a track is different, with the ground looking irregular from side to side, that means each race could feel a bit different and each player can express themselves in the circuit, getting advantage of the physics engine by bouncing the kart in a different position and playing around with it, for example. I ironically prefer when racing games makes me doing something different than the usual race. This and other things makes me see CTR as one of the most meticulous games ever programmed even after 24 years. Even when taking into account the ninth gen Crash games, they just doesnt seem to have the same level of dedication and polish.
I already praised a lot the controls and physics. What about the graphics? OMG... Lets calm down a bit.
Like i said in my wonderful review (no pun intended) the PS1 in 1999 was starting to show its age. It can do open enviroments with enough effort very well but it always had to sacrifice something. Fix camera, flat textures, limited draw distance, etc. If it didnt had at least one, it would ran like trash. But CTR is literally the only open game i ever seen on the PS1 that has NO sacrifices. I mean, there are optimizations of course, the PS1 had clearly a limit that already peaked with the Crash trilogy, but like this game is so insanely optimized and well coded that those optimizations arent nearly as visible. Yeah, the character models arent exactly great looking (through they really compensate in the podium and cutscenes) and it still uses LOD, but it is not nearly as agressive as Spyro.
Wonderful and CTR (also in 1999) are similar in the sense that they build the open world and the tracks in a strategic way to take advantage of an extreme culling to not render what you arent seeing it, but CTR takes that to the absolute extreme, and puts LOD and culling everywhere, even the asphalt has LOD and the tracks uses even the own non flat road to hide textures, so that makes the level of detail and draw distance to skyrocket to unseen levels on the PS1. Naughty Dog was crazy, just look at how big and detailed tracks like Oxide Station or Tiny Arena are just to give few examples. CTR has easily the best draw distance on the PS1, with the player being able to see other drivers from one point of the track to another, like in Crash Cove. The HUB world also looks very impressive and its actually a seamless 3d world with no loading screens... I think you can see the reference...
Even something that may seem very minor like the boss garage portraits looks insanely detailed. I couldnt BELIEVE the PS1 is handling such complex textures that even for a PS2 game they would look good enough. All of that at a constant 30 FPS while other worst looking games of the late 90s ran worse. In a game that was made in just 8 months! Thats why i dont buy excuses from other companies. Naughty Dog made just the impossible. A great game in a short time.
Seriously, i cant do enough justice to how great CTR looks for 1999. It really is one of the greatest looking games of the era, if not the best. It has the beautiful artstyle of the previous Crash games combined with a superb programming that makes impressive open enviroments on PS1 possible without sacrifices. It can fight one on one even to some of the best looking of the Dreamcast and even some early PS2 titles. Is like if most of the game was programmed entirely into assembly. I know that im repeating myself too much with this review, i admit it, but you have to consider that while the trilogy had more polygons in some places, this was full open world. To be anywhere close the trilogy, or even surprassing it in some areas is really a merit that no one should take it away.
And for last the scrapbook. Simply the best credits screen in history. They know this was going to be the end and Universal would do anything they want with the franchise, so ND wanted to make CTR so special. All i can say is... thank you Naughty Dog... for everything.
There are a lot more things i could talk about but im running out of space and i wanted to make this review as unique as possible. Making you feel like you are in the couch is starting to become my job, lol.
Just to make something clear. Despite thinking this is imo not just Naughty Dog magnum opus but also the only game i gave a perfect score for now, this is not objectively the best game in the world (no one is). This is just... a tribute.
If you read this to the end, all i can say is thank you for reading, i hope you enjoyed this wall of text and merry christmas. Not, seriously. Enjoy it. Because that is the most important thing in the world, enjoying your time with whoever you are with. And if you dont have anyone to share gifts for some reason, then try to share your christmas with Seaman.
PS: There is a chance you wouldnt see this on christmas as intended. Thanks IMDB, youre really helpful. It wasnt enough to spend days trying to cram my reviews into your small space and strict politics?!
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