Through the late 90s and early 2000s, Naughty Dog were on the run of their career. Not to discount their phenomenal recent output (as they're one of the most consistently brilliant developers in the industry), but back in the day they went from complete nobodies, through (thanks to Crash Bandicoot) launching straight into helping define the PlayStation's entire image. However, after doing everything they possibly could with the third-person platforming template, it was time for something else; something that *whisper it* might just be better than the game it was inspired by; the Mario Kart-beating, Crash Team Racing. By taking Nintendo's kart racer formula, cranking up the speed of the game engine itself (something it would take Mario and chums up until their eighth instalment to match), they'd compliment it by throwing in some of the best track designs in the history of the genre. Crash hasn't aged a day in 2015; a quality that back in '99 made CTR addictive as hell, the perfect compliment to a trilogy of ace platformers from a developer that's yet to put a foot wrong.
