Great but... GLITCHY! That's all that made me give it nine.
-Basic Story-
Same drill then the other past Crash games. Beautiful day at N.Sanity island (LOL i love this name). Then... Cortex come to ruin the beautiful day... nothing new. UNTIL.... you reach Cortex in the second level in this Crash game! First one to do that i think. As you beat him, you'll meet... the Evil Twins! These guys are mutant parrots from the 10th dimension (LOL!)... and... ok i won't spoil all the parrots story for you who haven't played the game yet... well... all i can tell you is that these weird creatures plan to destroy all the islands in the surroundings. So Crash and Cortex have no choice now - but teaming up rather than continue fighting, so them can defeat the evil force that plan to destroy them all! (and steal Cortex's brain! lol again)
-Gameplay-
As i already said, this game is always fresh, because of the amazing gameplay and characters to use. You can play as Crash (duh), Cortex, Nina or Crash + Cortex. Cool. Ok, Crash has nothing new to show us in the way he attacks. But you never played as Cortex in a platformer crash game, huh? The only way to play as Cortex in the past Crash games were in the racing. Now there's a way to use him AND his ray gun. He can head slide and shoot. There are not much levels that use him and himself. Most of the times he appear is to team up with Crash. THERE'S the fun!!!! Moves moves and moves. Some Super Monkey ball style levels, with Crash and cortex rolling unstoppably in tunnels, Cortex head-bash, spinning, throwing to trigger switches, look, there's even a way to "ride" Cortex in his back like a snowboard in a snow mountain or in a fiery scenario with lava and rocks in the 10th dimension!!!!!! But it don't stop there: there's still Nina, Cortex's goth niece (OR daughter, nobody really knows), that have an enjoyable gameplay too. She can grapple, spin, punch and jump. Too bad there's only one level you use her - and the final boss. Sounds perfect isn't it? But no it isn't! :'( OMG if it weren't the DARN GLITCHEEEESS!! Glitch, glitch, glitch, gliiiiitchhhhheess everywhere!!!! Think about it: there's people making glitch collections of this game and putting it on youtube! With a part 2!!!!!!!!!!! Some of them maybe fun to make happen lol, but others are annoying such as falling all of a sudden. This is the only serious flaw, i think.
-Features-
Mmm. The main feature is Crash + Cortex style of gameplay, ya know. But there's free roaming through levels - which pretty much break the drill from the past titles, with box breaking and spinning enemies. 'ere you spin 'em while exploring a wide scenario, and that's pretty cool. There's some tricky puzzles too, like color patterns, switches, gadgets where you use balls and maybe some more that i forgot, lol...
-Sound-
Oh yes. The sound is important too. And great. Spiralmouth did indeed a good job with the music in this game. You may think it's annoying, but no it isn't!!!!!! Serious, it matches the game, in my opinion. And it's kinda... catchy. Nice tunes ya have there. Cartoony effects, nothing bad, just different then the others, the realistic ones. But Crash Bandicoot definetly asks for cartoony effects, isn't it? Great voice acting.
-Conclusion-
Masterpiece, and perfect if it weren't some little itty-bitty flaws AND the glitches >: But yeah, nice game. Crash fans, i won't tell you to buy it because i know you already have it, lol. Non-Crash fans, buy it. You'll enjoy it!