generally have a well-earned distaste for video game remakes, especially with how N. Sane Trilogy turned out. unlike that game, this game is pretty and the music isn't butchered. in fact, it's better than the original and one of my favorite games ever.

Beenox was smart. they knew that Naughty Dog already made the greatest kart racer of all time. what can they do? copy the tight controls, except make it faster and add more stuff. Beenox further developed mechanics like u-turning and blue flame, allowing you to use both with less restrictions. it makes the game fast as hell, while still feeling like you have complete control.

the tracks and roster are both great, and do something I wish more remakes would do: use the good from the bad in the good. sorry for the stroke. what I mean is, take characters or tracks from less than good Crash games and put them in a good game. they did this perfectly, reaching across Crash's entire (except Twinsanity) history. finally, I can play Nitro Kart tracks without falling asleep

there are definite issues: Activision are greedy little piggies that added microtransactions to buy inflated cosmetics, 30fps, and long load times being the big ones. playing on Switch emulator is the best option and fixes the former two, but sadly the load times still suck, some textures are N64 level shit, there's minor emulator bugs, and obviously there's no online. one day my endless prayers for a PC port will be answered.

they even added the placeholder line accidentally left in the original by having the character voice it himself!! that’s so cool! this game rules!!