Saved from a Crash
User Rating: 7 | Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex (Platinum) PS2
Crash Bandicoot has become one of the biggest platformers of the 32-bit era, much like Sonic and Mario did before him. However, Crash's days of glory seems to have gone since the appearance of Sonic Adventure, Rayman 2 and even Jak and Daxter. Since Naughty Doy have decided to quit from developing, Crash's destiny seems like the spinning days has came to an end. Luckily, Traveller Tales, the developers behind the dreaded Bug's Life and Sonic 32-bit games, decided to work on the Wrath of Cortex, the latest incarnation of the half ferret, half Tasmanian devil rodent and surprisingly, even if it doesn't stand a chance against Jak and co., The Wrath of Cortex is still a pretty good game. After having a nice vacation, Crash is stunned to discover that Uka-Uka and Cortex created an evil, bigger and nastier clone of himself known as Crunch. But besides being big and bulky like Tiny Tiger, he can also harness the power of the Elemental Masks that hold an immense power in them. So it's up to Crash and Coco to collect crystals again (yes... again...) and stop Crunch and Cortex before something bad will happen. If you have ever played any of the Crash Bandicoot games, you'll have no problem getting used to this one. The control interface is the same as always and it'll be no problem to control our bandicoot properly. Crash can jump, spin, slide, body slam, double jump and even rodeo jump. Also after beating a boss, he'll gain new powers such as a higher double jump, spin glide and of course the number 1 favorite gadget of the Crash games: The Bazooka. I know what you're thinking: "But Shadow, how does WoC differs from other Crash games, what's the big difference?" The thing is, there isn't a difference. Not a single one. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but if you wish for new powers for Crash, forget it. Oh! Actually, after you defeat the first boss, you can have a TIP-TOE SNEAKING so enemies can't know where are you! Yeah... But this is Crash Bandicoot, NOT Metal Gear Solid. There are as much as levels as you can expect. However, there are many of them so the game never feels dull. You'll cut through the jungles, swim in the icky sewers, brawl in the middle of china-town and this is only a sample. Each level is different enough to keep player interested in playing it several times. You'll also have to jump on boxes so you can collect apples, 1ups, Aku-Aku masks and even a new Invisibility Box so you can become translucent and dodge some nasty lasers. Moreover, except for those same old crystals, you'll have to collect the... same-old gems. In order to get these you'll need to smash all of the boxes in the level so in the end you can rewarded for doing all that work. But this time it's much easier than the previous games, since the death routes aren't as hard as they used to be. Maybe a better addition to the game is the vehicles. Those mean machines are useful gadgets that will help Crash th. From a plane that shoots apples and a jeep that helps you escape from raging rhinos, you won't be bored. Hmm... I've seen planes, jeeps and even a jet pack, but what's really new? Well you can use a submarine this time that is packed with the latest torpedoes and bombs and even better, A MECH! Hold your hoses Gundam fans, this is not exactly that kind of mech, but it does the job pretty well, even if pretty much the same like controlling Crash's Bazooka... Furthermore, how can a Crash adventure can be complete without his fellow sibling, Coco? Coco has become a much more active character since Crash 3, and this time she actually have platform levels. Unfortunately, her levels are short and banal, not to mention that because of her slow movement, it's not as fun as playing with Crash, not to mention that she only has about a quarter of his abilities. The best addition in the game that is actually a blast to play is the roller ball levels. Much like in Super Monkey Ball you can control Crash who's stuck in a plastic ball and you have to navigate through the crazy levels in order to reach the goal. Those levels, even if there are only three of them, are much bigger and fun than any of the other levels. Too bad about the quantity, but renting the game to play these levels, worths it. While the levels are a bit on the easy side, the bosses (which is only Crunch, but he has a different elemental mask on his side every time) are a lot more harder. They are especially hard when you must dodge at the right time, like when you encounter your second boss, which you can only pass him if you know how to jump above his lighting attacks AT THE EXACT SAME SECOND IT PASSES NEAR YOU! One of the biggest weaknesses of the game is the fact it's unbalanced. Crash looks better than ever. 60 frames per second really helps the game look better and the lush and vivid environments are really cool. The cartoony animations work great and it's nice to see that some of the character look a lot more different than they used to be (like say, Tiny Tiger). However, the game suffers from very long loading times which can get to one minute and believe me, it's even longer than it sounds. Although people say there's a minigame while gazing on the loading screen, I don't know what they're talking about. WHAT MINIGAME?! IT'S A STUPID LOADING SCREEN! Let's hope that the next game will have shorter loading times. On the sound department, the voice acting is pretty good (you can't go wrong when you have MARK HAMILL). The music is still "Crashy" as it used to be, and it has some memorable tracks. However, most of the music isn't as catchy as I hope it'll be. Much like Crash Bandicoot 3. You'll need to find all the gems, relics and the secret stages, but it's a short experience. You can finish this game completely in 10 hours, 6 if you are a good platform player. In conclusion, The game is fun, yet repetitive. Crash Bandicoot 4 is a good addition to the franchise and it's worth renting. I do not recommend that you should buy it unless you like Crash that much. But if you like the gameplay, you won't be disappointed. If you don't, you'll constanly feel that you have already been there and done that.
