Let's forget the fact that Wacky Races is a crusty property that carries little appeal for today's younger players. I'll go ahead and pretend you've been around awhile and that you're a fan of the aged show. I can vaguely remember it -- I've seen the reruns throughout the years, after all. Crash & Dash does successfully capture the off-beat color of the cartoons via its in-game race-calling and through a variety of short animated cut-scenes that lead into a host of mini-games that separate the race segments. Even the visual presentation, while plain, looks like the simple drawings direct from the late '60s. So if you love Dick Dastardly and Muttley in the Mean Machine, the Slag Brothers, the Gruesome Twosome, or Penelope Pitstop, you will find them all plus a dozen more in the game, which is sure to reignite some memories, if nothing else.
The game itself, however, is a little too simple for its own good. The DS version of Wacky Races was shown to us well before the Wii iteration and it turns out the two offer more or less the same experience, from controls to characters and tracks. Instead of using the stylus, you use the nunchuk to control your vehicle of choice across zigzagging roads, always fighting to stay ahead of the racing pack. You can gain and use power-ups for temporary boosts or special moves. For example, the slag brothers will activate a huge boulder that can be moved to squash nearby racers. All of the 10 different controllable racers (Dastardly is not playable) feature unique power-ups and if you so dare, you can play through the 24-track tournament again and again exploring the benefits and drawbacks to each. But I wouldn't recommend it, for three races in, everything starts to look the same and the overall challenges rarely change. It all becomes very repetitive, very fast. And waggling the Wii remote like a crazed monkey to activate certain boosts gets old just as fast.
To the game's credit, the controls are tight and the framerate smooth. Some of the mini-games that separate the action are even enjoyable. For instance, Dastardly and Muttley -- always out ahead of everybody else in homage to the show itself -- set booby-traps for those behind them. To avoid these traps, you'll need to successfully complete a handful of different minis. One of my favorites involves the simple process of using the Wii remote to draw a line across a zigzagging path. In another, you'll need to swat flies using the Wii remote and nunchuk. That these games even use the pointer's infrared capability is more than I expected. That it actually uses it well on some occasions is downright shocking.