Well, well, well. This game... WAY, WAY, WAY better than the game people say it rips off. A Mario Kart: Double Dash rip
Graphics:
Not the best, but not bad either. They are good for the size of the game, and the amount of stuff goind on in the action of the track, and crowds of the MotorWorld park's midway.
Gameplay:
This game is more than just a game, it's a cartoon in it's own right as well. There are your simple jump, double jump and spin moves, but you also have your interactivity. The sheer amount of stuff to do in this game is almost unbelievable. There are 34 hidden objects called Die-O-Rama which show small short 10-15 second movies of Crash getting killed by things around the Die-O-Rama point. You can also run missions for characters you find in the midway, and can unlock new cars and skins for each character.
The racing is also very fun. You can go it solo, and try and live til' the end of the race, or you can press triangle and join with the nearest other car. Once joined (or Clashed) you can use your ally's 360 degree turret, or your own, and each character has their own turret, and there are MANY combinations.
You can do things in the on-foot areas to unlock shortcuts in the driving sections, too, which really helps.
You can also go into battle arenas and fight to the end (usually first to *Number*) to get crystals and coins, and go into Stunt Arenas (Get *number* score before XX:XX time is up) for the same thing.
Sound:
The band that did Twinsanity's music, SpiralMouth is back, and they've REALLY gone all out with the amazing music in this game. It's catchy, and it will sometimes leave you wanting to mute the sound effects and dialogue just to listen to it. My personal favorite is the one that plays whenever Cortex and the gang are attacking Crash and friends. (First off, in the game, and later on, towards the end, but inbetween that, they don't really fight, but just barely cooperate.)
The sound effects themselves seem to be from Crash Twinsanity, but with plenty of new ones, too.
Rent or Buy: BUY IT. It is so much better than any other arcade styled racer out now, and it also has plenty of platforming and exploration.