"The Wrath of Cortex" Is A Clone Of "Crash Bandicoot: Warped"
The graphics are the sharpest and clearest yet. I remembner when I first saw this Crash model and I so freakin' jumped. Later on, though, as I played I found it was somewhat harder then "Warped" (especially the relics, which were pretty damn hard to get in "CTR" and just got harder).
Pros.
-"The Wrath of Cortex" is stunningly beautiful in visual effects. Crash has gotten much puppy dog cuter, with the exception of his removed belly button. On the case and stuff VU Games used an old model that was pretty cute, but once you play the game, you see he's much cuter. Also, Cortex is sharper around the edges and Coco and Aku are clearer and easier to see. The old models were pretty cluttered, basically meaning that they've reduced some of the old features, like Coco doesn't carry her laptop everywhere she goes.
-This game has more rides and vehicles then ever before. I mean you get to fly a space ship, a glider, a heli-pack, a dragonfly, drive a jeep, ride a scooter and a snowboard, and a space fighter (for the 4th boss).
-More characters is always a great addition. I've always wondered how deep the world of flying, magic masks goes and now we get to peak into Aku's world. Besides Uka, you've got Ro-Ko, Py-Ro, Lo-Lo, and Wa-Wa, the Elementals, as well as Crunch. 5 new characters. Cool.
-The game maintains the wide variety of backrounds and ideas, as well as the ever-classic chase scenes where Crash flees from a life-threataning object or sometimes many objects.
-Crash games have always been kind of fuuny, but this one seems to be getting better at it then before. Besides the witty introductions (from the Elementals) and basic breaks where Cortex speaks to you, all tjhe way to how the loading screens are. My favorite line is when Ro-Ko says: "Back off and leave the crystals, 'cause if you don't, I'm gonna bury you alive."
-The fully playable Coco should've happened ages ago, so it's a welcome addition. Unfortunately, it didn't carry through to any of the games so far. I hope they'll not only break in a fully playable Coco more often, but that they'll introduce a fully palyable Crunch sometime soon.
Cons
-The game's loading times are so long and so frequent, you'll get sick and tired of it in 1 hour flat. I don't think, personally, that you should overlook this game just because of that, but it is something to be warned about.
-The game ranks up the challenge level too much. Seriously, some of the relic times are insane, and this is the first game to demand all platinums before you can have your 100% ending. As far as I'm concerned, they should've never added relics, or if they had too, they should've never added more then sapphire. We only need one variety, people.
-Some of the animations, though all are very sharp, have lost their cartoony feel. Crash's new spin get's the job done but it looks like crap. The way they jump has revisited the ugly version of Crash 1, where they only flip as they begin to fall down. They go much quicker in this one, so it doesn't look very realistic either.
-VU Games has a problem with letting other characters live up to Crash's status. He is the only character, up-to-date, who can double jump. What, do you fear to give Coco a double jump. Also, it might be nice if Coco had some form of every move. One of the things that makes other games annoying is the way they make each character different. Give 'em all the same moves, just make some of them a little different, like Coco stomps instead of body slamming. That's good.
-Since Coco's full playability is worth celebrating, why didn't we give her a boss, like the 2nd one maybe. I mean, we should give her an on-foot boss.
-The game sticks fairly well to the liner path, but it also half-branches out to a fully 3-D envoronment, which makes it hard to understad which way to go, particularly when youre after the gems.
"Wrath of Cortex" wasn't a fabulous breakthrough in the Crash series, but it's worth getting if you like Crash Bandicoot at all.