Many people have asked me, "What are the negative aspects of the PSP?" It's an odd question and one that makes you ponder sometimes. There are so many positives to this wonderful device that there can't be any negatives. But then I got it… The only negative aspect of owning a PSP is that you can't play Mario Kart. Well, thanks to Vivendi Universal we can get now that little bit closer with Crash Tag Team Racing.

When developing Mario Kart: Double Dash, Nintendo asked for ideas of what fans wanted. One element was a platform aspect between races. Nintendo said this would be impossible to integrate. Impossible, eh? So how come Crash Bandicoot can do it and the all-powerful Mario can't? Either way, this is what we are presented with.

Taking place in Von Clutch's amusement park, Crash and his band of crazy characters must help find the power crystals that have been stolen. Clutch decides to hold a number of races for… well, it's never really explained. But between races you must find these crystals, which help to operate the various machines in the park. During this time you can play games that include target shooting along the old NES Duck Hunt lines. The platforming element is surprisingly fun. Yes, the camera can act all weird and not show you what you need to see and sure, at times, the controls make you do things you really didn't want to, and you will spend most of this time dying. Despite all this, it's still fun to play. As you do, you can collect many unlockables, find hidden areas and this can keep you busy for many hours.

The ultimate negative that this game must contend with is the loading times. Now this isn't at Smackdown vs Raw 2006 levels, but still far too long. A track can take up to a minute to load and when the race is only two or three minutes in length, it makes you wonder whether it was all worth it. The only saving grace is the fact that when you do finally get to the races, they are great fun. As with Mario, you can collect weapons to combat your opponents, which include such delights as exploding chickens and monkeys! One element that just makes this game so much fun is the concept of Clashing. By pressing a button you can connect with another kart and become a Battlekart. One player controls your movement and the other controls the big gun that has appeared. This is a wonderful idea that could have been a great feature of Double Dash, but Crash got there first. These races are fast and furious, you are given very little chance to think and this makes them unpredictable, but still exciting and great fun.

Graphics and sound are both wonderful. The cute cartoony graphics of the characters get the job done and make me want to watch the cut-scenes, rather than just clicking past. These are certainly one of the highlights of the game, with the chicken announcers sounding like mock-ups of Howard Cosell and Charles Barkley. As a bonus, a number of cut-scenes are available to unlock as you go along and they certainly bring a smile to your face.

Apart from typical races, you also are given time trials, a number of combat races and a stunt mode. These are all encountered in the main game. But now you have the chance to perfect them or just play for fun. It's nice to have so many options, as this really helps the longevity of the game, which is one of the few poor elements here. Even on the hardest level, it's still too easy. But this makes the game even more accessible, as I found (especially with Mario) that once you turn on the Hard difficulty level you need the reactions of an advanced god to get any higher than fifth! This game didn't reduce me to frustrated tears once, which is nice.

After completing the main game you have all tracks available for multiplayer gaming. Sadly, there is no online feature, but you can play with eight other players ad-hoc. As the racing part of this game has been looked as a secondary feature, this element doesn't feel as good as it should. Battle mode can be great fun as always, but a normal race isn't that great. This is a real shame and should really have been one of the major priorities to get perfect.

Sure, this game isn't Mario Kart. It certainly isn't Ridge Racer either. But for sheer fun and ease of play, I don't think that you can find a better game than Crash Tag Team Racing. I only hope that next time, they put a bit more effort into the racing and then we really can rub our PSPs in a DS owner's face!

Reviewed by David Simpson for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).