AAN reviews Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D for N-Gage

[Tzer2]

Crash Bandicoot's racing game Nitro Kart 3D finally hit the new N-Gage platform at the end of 2008, and now All About N-Gage looks at the game for our first review of 2009. Is CBNK3D up to speed, or does it have a flat tyre? Find out by clicking on the link...

Read on in the full article.

[argh]

Hopefully they'll re-release this if/when n-gage with the 3D SDK comes out (the SIS version already has 3D acceleration, so it's probably not a lot of work). The accelerated version is silky smooth with nice (well... low-res, but filtered) textures. Looks good on a TV too.

Great review Tzer2. Just to echo really that yeah shame about the lack of multi-player options and single player longetivity. I would slightly disagree with the term, 'spectacular' to describe the graphics, as phones are very powerful now.. But its just down to taste i guess.

I'm sure all of the game's foibles will be addressed in Crash Nitro 2 courtesy of newer SDK's, and i look forward to seeing the little critter in a more traditional platform setting should he do so?! Probably not much scope for multiplayer in that context but still fun regardless.

[Tzer2]

Robg79, I agree this game isn't pushing the limits of smartphone technology, I suppose what I meant by "spectacular" was the amount of trouble they've gone to in decorating the courses. They look really pretty, like tracks from Mario Kart, which is something special on phone games.

It's like Reset Gen is technically just a 2D board game, but the amount of trouble they went to with the animations and dialogue gave it a sense of really high production values.

I hope they do put multiplayer in any sequels, if they'd included multiplayer in this game it would have received a much higher score. Multiplayer karting games can be great fun, especially if the client can be downloaded onto other phones without everyone buying the game (which should be possible through Bluetooth).

Yeah and I guess the thing about incorporating a solid multiplayer into any game is that it can change a game from a 'rent' into a 'purchase'. Everybody benefits.. The consumer, the publishers, the platform..
That said, & with the platform not currently supporting real time, bandwidth-heavy multiplayer, I think its a shame Polarbit didnt take the System Rush approach & at least include a two player online race where u can't see the other player but can use power ups and downs to influence their progress. I think it was a real missed opportunity there but i'm sure they had their reasons.