End of a Nitro-Fueled Era!

Last February marked the release of the very last free DLC Grand Prix for Beenox’s ‘racing game of the year’ Crash Team Racing: Nitro fueled. 

Beenox has very impressively managed to release a completely free-to-download Grand Prix a month, starting from last July all the way to March 2020. This kind of love and attention hasn’t gone unnoticed by fans, as it has managed to keep players coming back to the charming, bombastically speedy kart racer month after month since the release of the game last year.

Beenox’s ability to listen to fan’s demands, whether on a mechanical level or enthusiasm for character inclusion, has been second to none. It’s been uncanny how closely it has managed to follow fan’s wishes; the Crash Bandicoot subreddit has seemingly been scripture for Beenox, with pretty much every single wanted character added to the game at this point, and more! Whether it’s fan-made characters like Yaya Panda, or even characters Naughty Dog didn’t have the chance to put in the original PlayStation racer like Hasty the high flying moose, are all here to drift and dazzle.

Beenox has managed to do what all online games aim to do and rarely succeed with the racer: to release a good game, constantly balance it and add in whatever the fans are clamouring for that month, and it's not been done half-heartedly either. Beenox has added a feature that was asked for since the inception of the game, which clearly would’ve taken time to implement and balance, that being the ability to choose your driving class regardless of character selection.

Indeed Beenox thought of everything, and it is said with a heavy heart that the latest Gasmoxia Grand Prix will officially be the final Grand Prix Beenox release. This final Grand Prix isn’t without its merits; we have a long-awaited galactic ruler coming back into the mix, CTR: Nitro Kart’s Emperor Velo, along with his classic hover kart to ride in too. Beenox has also added a Velo ghost time trial, to add to the infamous list of infuriating ghost trials to the game, most definitely the hardest thing to screech your tires into since the boss battles from Diddy Kong Racing. Even though this is the last Grand Prix, Beenox will be adding its own staff time trials to beat at a later date too, so there is still some more fun to be had for fans of the game.

Every Grand Prix thus far has come with an original track to race on as well, and the track for this Grand Prix has got to be the hardest yet. Think of Rainbow Road - no barriers and all - and you’re on the right track (wink wink), with spaceship dogfights and unenthusiastic fast-food clerks sounding off your every race, the track oozes (quite literally) with Beenox charm and charisma.

Beenox has officially stated that this is its final Grand Prix, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be adding characters or challenges to the game in the near future. Although the heyday of free content is now over, the game is still there for all to enjoy. For example, the latest update released on the 26th of March added more long-awaited characters (like the Lab Assistant and an IRON CRATE) along with scary developer time trials!

As we celebrate the end of a nitro-fueled era, we eagerly await the next racing extravaganza from Beenox!