E3 '07: Crash of the Titans Updated Impressions

The team that made The Simpsons: Hit and Run and Crash Team Racing are back in the upcoming installment of the Crash Bandicoot Series. The title Crash of the Titans isn't just a clever take on a popular film; it's also an apt name referring to one of the game's core game mechanics. Want to know more about what Crash can do? Read on!

First, a warning: Crash has been working out, and has apparently been taking lessons from Mr. Fantastic in the years since Crash Twinsanity. Crash is more muscular and more agile than ever, but it's more than just a new look. His agility impacts the gameplay, and you need to look no further than the good, old spin attack for proof. Crash's limbs stretch as if he's made of rubber, and it's amusing to watch him in action. His new, toned look fits the game well and makes him look and feel powerful. But what exactly is he doing back in action, anyway? Well, Neo-Cortex has returned, and in a fun (and funny) cutscene, we watched him kidnap Crash's brainy sister Coco for the apparent purpose of looking like a jerk.

On the way to Cortex's evil lair, you'll have an opportunity to lay the smackdown on baddies in all the traditional ways using a full-featured combat system. You will also be pulling off all sorts of platforming moves, including some new ones. Chimney climbing, wall running, and rope swinging are all accounted for, though you aren't limited to just those moves. In one scene we saw, Crash jumped on Aku Aku's disembodied head and rode it to the bottom of a hill like a skateboard.

In actuality, you have dozens of more moves than you might at first think, thanks to the jacking mechanic, which is new to this installment. Any enemy you see and fight can be jacked in the way you would carjack a vehicle. To jack a baddie, you first need to stun it using your standard moves. Once it has the requisite number of stars circling its head, you can take it over in a sweet-looking move that shows Crash leaping onto the monster in bullet time. Once atop your foe, you're in control and have access to a brand-new set of attacks.

We saw this mechanic in play several times. Jacking a smaller enemy gave us projectiles to throw; a larger one could do a pound attack with its flaming scorpion tail. On the Wii, many of these attacks are done via the remote. For example, slamming the remote downward executed the aforementioned ground pound. One jacked creature was able to roll forward, which was accomplished by spinning the remote. And in one ingenious move with Crash atop a large ape, you could pound your chest with remote in hand to simulate the same simian behavior onscreen. But developer Radical Entertainment feels strongly that remote gesticulations shouldn't be thrown in just for the sake of doing it. If you're looking to grab Crash of the Titans on the Wii, expect the motion controls to make sense in their contexts.

A lot has gone into the game's presentation. It will feature more than 7,000 lines of dialogue from well-known voice actors, for starters, as well as the kind of silly humor you would expect from a Crash game. The good news for franchise fans? Crash of the Titans is due for release this October. Stay tuned to GameSpot for more information as it develops.