While it's not as good as its predecessors, it's still a pretty good game.
Gameplay, 7. If you've ever played any of the Crash Bandicoot trilogy then you probably know how the game works. You have to get the crystal in each level while avoiding death. Throughout each level there are crates you can break open that either have Wumpa Fruit, an extra life, or an Aku Aku mask to protect you with. If you get 100 Wumpa Fruit then you get an extra life. Aku Aku masks give Crash and extra hit point. Besides the crystals you have to get there are also gems. To get a normal, white gem you have to break all the boxes in the level. There are also colored gems you get by going to hidden areas in certain levels. There are also relics you can get after beating a level, goint back to it, and hitting the Time Clock. After hitting the Time Clock you race through the level as fast as possible while hitting crates that stop the clock, how long all depends on the number on the crate. Every 5 levels you have to fight a boss, which is always Crush, Cortex's newest creation, and some evil elemental mask. Once you beat the boss you get a new ability. All the abilities from Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped made it back to this game. There is now a new ability you get that lets you tip-toe across rows of Nitro Crates that don't bounce in place. Sometimes you'll get to place as Coco, Crash's sister. You got to use Coco in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, but in this one you actually get to use her unlike in Warped where you just used her for riding vehicles.
The game generally plays pretty good. Although there will be cases where you couldnt' properly judge how far away a ledge was and you'll sometimes die because of this. The game doesn't add anything new to the series. All Traveller's Tales did here was add a new ability, some vehicles, and the usage of Coco.
Despite these faults the gameplay is still good. As long as you're not expecting some big new things you should be able to forgive the game for these drawbacks.
Graphics, 9. The graphics for this game, this early in the Playstation 2's life time, are spectacular. There is a lot of detail in all the levels. Some levels you might just want to stop for a moment and look at it. The characters and enemies too look great.
Sound, 8. The sound is good also. There's nothing bad about it and there are some great songs in here. The voice acting is also great.
Value, 8. This game is defintley going to take a while to beat 100%. After you get all 25 crystals, you have to get all the gems and relics, some of which are very hard to get.
Difficulty, Just Right. The difficulty is pretty well curved. You might say that this game is a little harder than the ones Naughty Dog made. The levels are much longer. There are also a lot more boxes to break also, most levels have them in around the one hundreds. One level has over 200 boxes. I can't say anything for the bosses however.
Tilt, 8. As one of Crash Bandicoots's early games I still like it despite some of its cons. If you're looking for a platformer, or are a Crash Bandicoot fan, then you should be sure to pick this one up.