Yet another game can be added to the already crowded halls of unreleased games as we have our first look at a proposed Crash Team Racing sequel. Back in the early days of the PS1 generation Crash Bandicoot became an unofficial spokesman for Sony’s new gaming console and in turn gained legions of fans. Besides the amusing PS1 commercials featuring Crash it helped that the actual games featuring the titular character were fun to play which only added to the popularity of Crash.
After releasing a few sequels Naughty Dog eventually spun the series off in Crash Team Racing, a game which managed to stand up to scrutiny when compared to top-tier kart racers such as Mario Kart. Once Naughty Dog left the Crash series for a bigger and brighter future the once famous franchise subsequently declined in quality thanks to stale gameplay which was blatantly uninspired.
However minimal Crash’s popularity may have been, a PS3/Xbox 360 Crash Team Racing follow-up was nonetheless being prepped. But as fate would have it, Activision eventually shut down the Crash Team Racing sequel, likely in favor of the more broad appeal Madagascar kart racer which was also in development at the time and merely because of Crash's declining stardom.
The news of not receiving another CTR may be a downer, especially since it was being developed by High Impact Games which consists of former staffers from Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games, but the upside is we have our first and possibly only look at the title.
A CTR follow-up has been a known thing for a while now, but this is the first time we’ve seen the game in any form despite it being a bit minimal. There’s not much in the way of groundbreaking detail in these screens, but they do show Crash and a few environments so we can get a small taste of what the full game would’ve offered.
Older gamers such as I may yearn for the classic days of Crash when he was at his prime, but as of now it seems that he’s simply an old relic of gaming that may soon be forgotten. It’s definitely disappointing to see the Crash franchise go nowhere under the guise of Activision since there’s still a place for true platforming games this generation and definitely in the next generation as well.
Maybe one of these days Crash will make a triumphant return, but for now all we can do is latch onto the past and things such as screens surfacing for a game that never was.
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