Vintage video gaming with classic multiplayer elements and the modern day polish and presentation expected of the HD gen
The Good:
-Classic shooting and plat forming elements
-Classic online play that is almost extinct
-Great online
-Fantastic sound effects
-Great graphics
-Intimate choice of weapons
The Bad:
-One sided AI
-Spawn immunity from harm while being able to inflict damage needs to go
-Single player is weak
-Vehicle sections are good but feel tacked on
-Do not waste your money on the DLC
Crash Commando is pretty much the same as what I recently wrote on my Savage Moon review, games like this wouldn't exist without services such as the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live. It's not the fact that they are bad games but they a favour a more simple or old concept of play that can't be rapidly expanded on and are very small in scale.
The fact is that good games do get ignored now in favour of pioneering graphical capabilities and these games would get ignored on store shelves, if they aimed for a full RRP to attract more attention faking it's capabilities it would be a laughing stock for eternity.
Crash Commando is a classic 2D shooter/ plat former in hybrid form with modern presentation and features.
Select a primary, secondary and an explosive weapon from the spawn screen to suit your playing form. Either a Arnold Schwarzenegger 'Commando' by being loud and explosive or Sylvester Stallone 'Rambo' with an array of stealthy and brutal means. The game pits you on a completely level playing field which is becoming a rarity these days with more and more games employing Call of Duty type perks.
Aiming is done with the left analogue stick *shock!* and does feel quite strange to use at first. For example; to aim at the top left corner of the screen you push the stick to the top left position and to for the top right a quick flick to that direction to instantly change. I fear I may be making this sound complicated but it isn't the same as other games where you have complete freedom of a cursor.
If you were aiming at a still target at the right of the screen but the line of sight was slightly too high and you pressed down just a tiny bit you would now be aiming at your feet. Too get it right on target you would have to tilt the stick right and hold it there against the edge while gently rolling it anti or counter clockwise to hit your target. I hope that makes it a bit more clear.
The movement isn't the simple run and jump that is associated with plat forming games. The vast bulk of movement is done with a jetpack. You have a metre that depletes and recharges when/ when not using it as you soar at great speeds across the screen performing acrobatic rolls.
Crash Commando's maps range from the tiny and intimate to the ridiculously big. All are basically two 2D levels that you can swap between by walking through door ways which all have a unique look and feel with a bit of diversity added in. Some are stupidly big for a game of 8 v 8 combat and send you exploring empty sections in the search of enemies for too long and it infuriates when it can only take one or two shots in the space of just a few seconds to die and then repeat.
Turrets feature here too. If you are feeling remote from everyone jump into a machine gun turret and unleash fire from safety onto the opposite side of the map, tread with caution as it doesn't make you immune on your level. The remote missile silo is always a sneaky invincible proof of scoring some cheeky kills.
Even if the turrets can't satisfy your need for diversity there are vehicles available too. A APC with a mounted rocket launcher or a high speed jeep with a machine gun. They operate by sticking within the rails of specified paths but you control where you want to go and you can perform jet pack jumps with them as you can on foot.
You can earn sort of kill streak awards. Racking up kills and hits filling your metre enabling you to move at greater speeds, regain health automatically or turn your rolls into flame death charge attacks. If you are good enough or simply on a great roll you can have all three activated at once.
My absolute favourite aspect of this game is how it remains true to all the old school games from the dawning of online multiplayer games on the pc. Ammo and armour pick ups are back to gaming along with health pick ups in an age of regenerating health and it is such a fantastic taste of retro gaming and reminds you of what some games are missing trying to chase the big names in an attempt to steal their market share. It's also the simple things like picking up spawning weapon power ups that gives you a ridiculously overpowered means of disposal to lay waste against your opponents.
The game play is completely solid but if there is one gripe it is found with the flashing immunity a player gets when spawning or walking through a doorway. I never condone spawn killing but when they re enter combat inches away from you and are able to shoot at you with a weapon of the same calibre as yours and you can't so much as scratch them.
The graphics are great. Comic like in appearance and ultra sharp with a lot of work put into the textures and complimented with a very vivid and bright palette that makes an art piece of explosion you are feet away from and seeing gun fire tear through the back ground.
The best technical piece of this game by a unbelievable country mile has got to be the sound effects. Gloriously exaggerated weapon fire and the faint sound of explosions in the distance showered with jet pack 'whooshing' for added effect.
This game was never intended to be a 'real' or 'accurate' gun fire experience and it adds so much heart and fun to the title with the developers inner child while at the same time managing to be a serious online experience should you require it be.
If you are after a single player gaming experience then this isn't really for you but it does try to implement it for you. If you are the sexually inexperienced, room bound with the lights out stereotype of old you have 'Boot Camp' and 'Custom' game modes open to you.
Custom is exactly as it sounds but doesn't add as much tinkering as you would like or expect. Select the map and game type with the score, time and player limits and that's about it. Endless frag fests against AI controlled bots that tear each other a new one before completely ignoring each other to just double and chase you across the entire map. It is completely forgettable.
The Boot Camp mode is just a very feeble attempt at a story, there isn't one in fact. It pits you as Jarhead or Grunt (the red and blue opponents) in a fight to the death and that is that.
The campaign starts off just versing a few opponents to find your feet and aim and pits you deeper into the torment the further you progress. More enemies on screen that are harder to kill as you race to earn the target amount of points thus being able to advance to the next level.
The AI is equally as bad on your team, they constantly group together and 'zerg' the map which does sound very true to today's online communities but they couldn't hit big pen with a fully automatic, chain fed potato gun and a group of six can very easily get wiped by just one enemy.
The game was always intended as online focused and you can have a great amount of fun with the simplistic and rich combat amongst taunt spam from fellow players.
If you do purchase this title make sure your PlayStation is in complete working order. All your stats and level grinding is saved onto your hard drive as opposed to a server in the developers offices and you can not copy it, ever. I recently lost all of mine with a yellow light glitch.
This game is just further proof of just how much fun you can have with a classic concept and how you can get a sort of infantile thrill from the inclusion of online competition. It's not just that it is fun but there is a lot of work that has gone onto the games innards and presentation and makes for a glorious gaming experience.