Crash Bandicoot: Warped review

by SaikyoBro on Apr 5th, 2013

Crash Bandicoot is a series that had the misfortune of being handed to a developer that just didn’t care. While it had a strong start on the PS1 and the character became one of Sony’s biggest mascots at the time, Naughty Dog lost the rights to the character around 2000 and he faded into obscurity not long after. He got a fun PS1 party game in the form of Crash Bash, some decent platformers in the form of Wrath of Cortex and Twinsanity, and…well, after that, it wasn’t long before he gave out and the character was more-or-less retired. The only other games he got were some mediocre kart racers and the mutant series, which received mixed reviews and wasn’t enough to pull the character out of the hole he had fallen in. Just the last year or so, a lot of interest has come back to the character. People are making lots of fan-games, he’s easily the most requested DLC character for Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale, yet Activision seems completely ignorant of the fact that they own a beloved IP and haven’t done anything with it since 2008. So as of March 2013, the character is pretty much dead at this point. It’s a shame, but we can still enjoy his classics! I decided last night to play my favorite of the series, Crash Bandicoot: Warped.

It’s the third-installment of the series, and Naughty Dog had learned a lot through the course of creating 1 and 2. While the character became a hit and arguable Sony’s biggest mascot of the time period, the first game actually got pretty mixed reviews, mostly due to an obnoxious save system and controls that were pretty bad since there was no analog stick. The 2nd game fixed both of these issues and got massive praise. Where would Naughty Dog go from there? Taking the formula from 2 and absolutely perfecting it.

The plot is fun and creates an interesting setup; Dr. Cortex, the villain of the previous 2 games, is revealed to have been working for an evil mask all along. The mask, named Uka Uka, is tired of Cortex’s failure and decides it’s time he steps in himself and assists Cortex in killing Crash Bandicoot and taking over the world. Uka Uka gets the help of Dr. N. Tropy, who creates a large time machine that allows the villains to go to the original points in time that the crystals and gems (great sources of power in the Crash universe) were in and collect them. It’s up to Crash to get to them first!

So basically, there are 5 areas in the time machine inspired by different time periods, with a boss controlling each. While the areas themselves are styled after different time periods (Roman, Chinese, Futuristic, etc.), the levels within and the bosses don’t actually take much inspiration from them. Instead the levels are based on one of  9 themes, which is actually a lot considering what Crash 1 and 2 had. You’ll be going through medieval times, futuristic levels, Arabian cities, ancient Egypt, prehistoric caves, and underwater levels. There are also several levels that branch away from the platforming path, like dogfights, 1950’s motorcycle races, jetskiing, and riding a tiger, which are all actually really fun and do an excellent job of giving you a break between the platforming.

The game reminds me a lot of a 3D Donkey Kong Country. In that game, you’re going through levels that share themes but all have a unique gimmick to understand and require lots of trial and error to master.  You have to play patiently and think before making a move and you’ll often have to try several times before passing a level. Same deal here! (Heck, you even find bonus rooms where you collect fruit and extra lives). The other series this game shares a lot of elements with I’d say is Mega Man. You can choose which level you play in what order and after defeating every boss you receive a power-up. THIS is what makes Warped my favorite Crash game; receiving power-ups for beating a boss is awesome. They’re all super useful; the first boss grants you a super powerful belly flop that destroys hard crates, the second grants you a double jump, etc. They aren’t just optional moves that make the game easier, they’re downright necessary and change the way the game is played. Later in the game you even receive a bazooka, giving you ranged options. It’s a lot of fun going back to revisit older levels and seeing if you can find hidden secrets or complete them faster or more effectively with powers you get later in the game.

The difficulty is high, but at the same time not really. You’ll die several times on most of the levels, but the game throws more 1-ups at you than you know what to do with. The length is also pretty short with only 25 levels and 5 bosses required to beat the game (I was able to finish it this morning after beating only the first set of 5 levels last night). However, THIS is where Crash 3 shines. Its levels are short and the game itself is too, but there are many unlockables and secrets. Beating the game will take you just a few hours, but getting 100% will take days or weeks. Getting every gem will require you to break every box in every level. This is challenging your first time through, but you’ll find it a lot easier after getting your power-ups from later in the game that allow you to break more crates, run faster, and shoot from a distance. You’ll also be collecting relics, which you get by completing time trials. These are not only fun, but do add a lot to the game. It’s not like other games where you 100% for a slightly better ending or anything like that, you unlock bonus worlds and other fun things as well as a hilarious new ending by getting more and more unlockables. And not just all at once, they’re slowly given to you to continue to motivate you to collect every last thing.

Another thing I absolutely love about Crash 3 is the atmosphere. Everything is hilarious and addicting. The bosses are all memorable and funny, and communicate with you between every few levels of theirs you complete which helps build them up. Their fights aren’t always challenging but they’re fun and you’ll likely go back and replay them. The enemies themselves are often hilarious, just animals or scientists repeating goofy animations that Crash has to dodge. If you get hit, almost every enemy has a funny and unique death animation. My personal favorites are the frog that kisses you and turns into a prince, the scientists madly swinging swords around that cut Crash in half, and the blowfish that cause him to swell up. Crash is, in my opinion, one of the most likable characters in video game history. He’s goofy and oblivious to everything around him, which goes well with the obstacle course like gameplay. He’s also completely silent so that his ignorance is funny rather than annoying, which is something they sadly seemed to have forgotten about in later games. His idle animations include him playing with a yoyo and doing wacky dances, and it’s like, he’s just so cool. You also play as his sister Coco in the jet skiing and tiger riding levels, and she’s now silent as well, making her actually kind of cool instead of obnoxious as she was in Crash 2 with her constant communication with you where she’d do nothing but state the obvious in an annoying voice. The music is sometimes goofy and catchy and sometimes actually pretty badass, which does an awesome job at setting the tone to the varied levels.

I’m trying really hard to think of things I don’t like about this game and struggling. The controls sometimes feel delayed or slippery, which I would blame on me playing on my PS3 on my HD TV, but I recall having similar issues even as a little kid. This doesn’t usually become a huge issue but it does unfairly cost you a life or two several times. Luckily this isn’t so bad since checkpoints are scattered through every level. Other than that…I can’t think of much. It looks and sounds awesome, the characters are all super-likable, the levels are fun and diverse, and the replay value is enormous. It’s linear for sure, but each level still feels unique and there are lots of secrets to find and tons of exploring to do. Elements from other awesome platformers like Donkey Kong Country and Mega Man are put into 3D and combined with lovable characters and diverse levels, and the result is one of the best games on the Playstation.

4.5/5

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