Well, it's different. But not necessarily in a good way.
User Rating: 5.5 | Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex XBOX
I loved the Crash games on the original Playstation, yes, I even found Crash Bash to be mildly entertaining. Most of the GBA games are pretty good as well, but the first three games on the PS1 is where it's at. Now, this was the first attempt to introduce Crash to next-gen, now last-gen consoles. Like the PS2, XBOX and GC. Unfortunately something was lost in translation, the whole "Crash" feel was suddenly lacking. And yes, this was developed by Traveller's Tales and NOT Naughty Dog. Now, they have made some pretty good games, or at least somewhat entertaining games. But they are also responsible for Sonic R, A Bug's Life and dare I say it? Sonic 3D. "The Wrath of Cortex" is nowhere near as bad as those games. But it's not a great or highly memorable platformer by any means. It ultimately doesn't feel like a "Crash" game. However, there's a great new addition called the "atlasphere" or something like that. Some of those levels are really fun. Unfortunately you also get some really boring levels with Coco. The main bad guy this time around isn't Cortex, yes he's involved in the end boss battle. But there's this new guy called "Crunch", nicely voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson BTW, and he's the only boss you actually fight throughout the game. What's worse, is that the battles aren't that special. In fact, they're lame. Some of the original bad guys do appear, in a cutscene at the beginning. I wan't to fight N. Gin, N. Trophy and Tiny Tiger. Not a guy called "Crunch" and 5 weird masks. Nonetheless, it's an okay platformer. The level designs aren't that great, but the graphics are colourful and there's a nice solid framerate. If you're desperate after a platformer, this might manage to keep you entertained, but it's nowhere near as good as the original Crash Bandicoot games.
