Filed under: Gaming, iPhone, App Store
First Look: Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D
A racing game featuring Playstation perennial Crash Bandicoot, Nitro Kart 3D is sure to wear out your iPhone batteries quickly. This app uses the accelerometers in the iPhone for control; turn the iPhone left or right like a steering wheel to turn, and tilt the phone up or down to accelerate or brake.
The entire time you're racing against the other characters, including the nefarious Brio, you need to avoid oil slicks and weapons used by your opponents, try to pick up a little time by hitting rainbow-colored "hyperdrive spots" on the track, and hit boxes containing weapons (like surface-to-surface missiles, my personal favorite) so you can slow down the other racers.
The game is localized for English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish, and you can adjust the sensitivity of the accelerometer to keep you from over-controlling your kart. With smooth 3D graphics, fun sound effects, and the enjoyment of waving your iPhone around to steer, Nitro Kart is well worth the $9.99 price in the App Store.
Gallery: Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mat Lu said 2:34PM on 7-17-2008
Has anybody out there played all of the big racing games: Crash, Cro-Mag, Moto Racer, etc. If you were only going to get one which would it be?
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mitch said 9:38AM on 7-18-2008
I am disappointed in the motoRacer game, haven't bought Crash yet, but plan to... i think it is more my line than the motoracer one.
stainboy said 10:43AM on 7-18-2008
i've played Cro-Mag Rally and it's fun and very similar to the desktop version. i think it comes down to individual preference between the current racing apps.
kabura said 10:53AM on 7-18-2008
i bought the crash game and i like it. It's well worth its 9.99 price tag. tilt steering takes some getting used to, and the frame rate gets choppy at times, but overall the game is fun to play. i gotta say, it gets me nauseous when i play it on the bus or train.
motech said 9:14AM on 7-18-2008
this game sounds a lot like mario kart,
which i love!
i just wish it was multi player over wifi or something . .
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Bob Y said 9:38AM on 7-18-2008
motech - I wouldn't be surprised if a future update allows gaming over the net or wifi, I was reading a review for something yesterday that said an update was coming out that would enable online gaming.
Bob Y said 9:36AM on 7-18-2008
I haven't played them all, but I downloaded Crash last night. I was watching a baseball game (Go Mets) and playing Crash during the commercials. I gotta admit, I was pleasantly surprised with how good this game is. It really brought back memories of N64 mario cart racing and I'd say it borderline copies it, with everything this game entails. For being a mobile video game, I played it off and on for about 3 hours without losing interest. There's 3 cup modes based on difficulty, so about 12 levels all together. After I played the 12 levels, I opened up "story" mode, which presents different objectives you need to complete while racing. The replay value on this game seems to be very good! All the hype for super monkey ball was just silly as this game blows that out of the water! As far as being a battery drain, I don't know, as I had it plugged into the USB the entire time. Very entertaining game!
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jjmoho said 10:27AM on 7-18-2008
I guess I'm confused where the "smooth" graphics description comes from. I have the game and I find it to be quite choppy at times. Especially when multiple racers are visible on the screen.
I haven't quite adjusted to the controls yet. I find it difficult to perform the jump and slide without twisting the iPod so much its difficult to see the screen. This may be just due to a learning curve regarding the controls. I need to play it more before making a final judgment.
David said 9:45AM on 7-18-2008
Wow after looking at the screen captures, I didn't realize that there were any 16bit new games being produced.
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Ben said 10:44AM on 7-18-2008
@Steven, Did you actually play this game or is your "first look" review simply based on what you've read/seen in user reviews and screenshots?
I ask because you don't use the accelerometer for acceleration and braking. The "gas" is full on at all times unless you touch/hold the bottom of the screen, which acts as a brake and then reverse.
@Mat: While I haven't tried MotoRacer, I do have both Crash and Cro Mag. They both have their pros and cons. Crash feels more fun to me. It is easier to steer than Cro Mag (maybe because the the accelerometer is only used for steering) so to me, that makes it more fun. I also think Crash has a more polished feel to it than Cro Mag. On the other hand, there are some issues that I hope will be addressed with an update. At times, the frame-rate drops below an acceptable level (I'd guess 10 or less fps). Also, there are certain areas on the touchscreen that are used for different functions. Tapping high on the screen is used for jumping. Tap/holding on the bottom of the screen is used for braking/going in reverse. Tapping in the on-screen weapon box (usually located in the upper right corner of the screen) is used to activate that weapon. For the most part, these work well, but there have been many times I have been unable to jump when I needed to. I can only guess this was either because I didn't tap in the correct area or because the frame-rate dropped so low that my tap didn't register. Either way, it makes it feel inconsistent. I don't know if it's technically plausible, but I would have preferred they used the approach MarioKart for Wii uses for jumping. I think it would be great if you could move the iPhone up quickly to perform a jump.
Cro Mag doesn't have the production value that Crash has, but it does perform well and does have online play. While not as hard as Super Monkey ball to control, the steering is harder to get good at than Crash is. In my opinion, the weapons and tracks aren't as fun in Cro Mag as in Crash.
Hope this helps.
There's also something I've found a little frustration with for ALL iPhone games. I assume this is more a reflection on Apple's SDK than on the developers, but the "standard" for landscape based games is that you have to rotate your iPhone to the left. I understand this because it feels natural. However, when you rotate left, the iPhone's speaker is on the bottom (right) corner, so your hand often blocks this speaker when you're playing - causing the sound to fade in and out when you rotate the phone to steer, etc.
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Steven Sande said 10:50AM on 7-18-2008
Yes, I *DID* and *DO* play Crash on my iPhone 3G. I guess I wasn't paying attention, 'cause it felt like I was speeding up when I tilted the screen away from me and slowing slightly when I tllted it towards me. I guess your comment explains why I'm only coming in 2nd and 3rd, and never 1st!
I love this game. Can't wait to get an extended battery pack so I can waste more time with it!
TUAWSteve
Ben said 11:00AM on 7-18-2008
How long does it take to load the game, or resume after a phone call?
Why does it seem like none of the iPhone games are good at occasional play.
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kleinias said 1:49PM on 7-18-2008
While it's certainly not a racing game, "Dizzy Bee" is a fun "casual" game that can be picked up and put down, at a moments notice. It starts up quickly and can be paused both during a level and at the end of a level.
http://igloo-games.com/db/Dizzy_Bee.html
Ben said 2:31PM on 7-18-2008
@Ben (guess we should've used our last initials ;-): Initial launch takes a while because of the annoying habit of game publishers, developers and anyone else who had a hand in the game's production displaying a splash screen prior to everything else. Following the splash screens, you'll be presented with a movie. You can tap the screen and press "Done" to move on to the main menu, but I'd rather it weren't there at all. So, for an initial launch, if you don't bypass anything and just let it do its thing: About 35 seconds. For an initial launch where you bypass everything you can by tapping (and pressing "Done" on the movie): About 20 seconds.
I found "resume" to take about 5 seconds. Thus, even when I'm not just pausing to take a call, I just dump the app by pressing the home button while it's showing the ranking (thus the "race" still isn't over according to the game design). This then gives me the option (on launch) to resume the game.
Hope this helps.
Ben S.
ZeroCorpse said 11:26AM on 7-18-2008
Something tells me we're in for a lot of racing games on the iPod touch/iPhone. . .
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