I recently reviewed Sonic Team Racing, another colourful and thoroughly enjoyable kart racer, but the style of that game is generally nowhere near as distinctive as the designs here. All of that translates beautifully to a modern high-definition environment - these deliberately over-blown character designs pop in high definition in a really striking way. Things had to be big and stand-out to pop on that hardware. The designs of the characters of Crash were so over-the-top in part because of the limitations of the PS1 hardware. Instead, every visual element you see has been rebuilt and redesigned for modern hardware, and the result is actually mind-bogglingly gorgeous. This isn't a visual filter, higher resolution and some sharpened textures like you might get in some remasters.
I've seen Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled referred to as a HD Remaster, and while that's technically true like the re-releases of the Crash and Spyro games before it, that doesn't really do it justice. Arguably Naughty Dog's best title for the original PlayStation, this kart racer has it all: handling to rival Mario Kart, a distinct attitude and style to match Sonic's racing efforts and a fleshed-out single-player Adventure Mode that copies the structure of the excellent and now oft-forgotten Diddy Kong Racing.
Once Activision suddenly rediscovered the popularity of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, the return of Crash Team Racing seemed pretty much inevitable. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug - but luckily, Crash Team Racing is as excellent a kart racing experience now as it was in the nineties.