During my time after coming home from school jumping on to my PS1 playing the Crash Bandicoot series, but I never played the first Crash Bandicoot when I was younger but when I got my new phone 3 which was an Xperia Play it had already Crash Bandicoot installed on the phone. Crash Bandicoot was also released on the PSN store to download on both the PS3, PSP and Vita as well, after all Naughty Dog didn't know much about making video games back in 1996 but their games improved more and more nearly every year on the PlayStation hardware.
With this being the very first game in the series there were a lot of good and bad things about the game but it was still a good platformer for the launch of the PlayStation. I didn't think the story for the first game wasn't that important, Crash must rescue his girlfriend Tawna from the evil clutches of Dr Cortex. Along the way, Crash can gather fruit for extra lives, smash boxes for random prizes and gather tokens which can be used for bonus rounds. This is where the frustrating moments start to kick in if you don't getting beaten by a game that easily, in order to save your game you must either clear a bonus round or smash all boxes in any level without dying.
What really makes Crash Bandicoot stand out is that its outstanding level design and visuals used for its level environments on its 26 levels for a 3D platformer, back in 1996 this was the scrolling like one level you are getting towards the end of the level in the Jungles or getting to the top of Slippery Castle. But some of its do throw in some good challenges here and there plus some of its bosses you encounter at certain levels are simple enough to beat. The soundtrack makes a great touch for the first game with some memorable music added in, but certain moments in the game easily make the game crash at certain levels such as Slippery Castle which makes it impossible to complete the level but it depends on which version of the game you've bought it on either on disc or digital download but this shouldn't affect all versions of the game in total.
It's been 18 years since it was first released and as we are on the 8th generation of gaming this still holds a special place for many gamers who have played this game when they were younger, this is still a classic that should be checked out by all if you don't mind the odd frustrating moments and challenging levels. It can be a little short but it does offer some replay value especially if you want to try and collect everything on 100% when it comes to collecting the gems and keys.