The announcement of the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy initially blew my mind, given my fond memories of playing Crash as a kid. The excitement of revisiting these beloved titles was palpable. However, the trilogy primarily served to revise my perception of the Crash games. Sadly, the games didn't live up to the nostalgia. The platforming, which should be the core joy of any platformer game, felt fundamentally flawed.

The main issues with the trilogy stem from its physics and camera angles. The jump mechanics in the game have zero float, which, when combined with camera angles that do not adequately convey the distance to enemies or obstacles, creates a recipe for frustration rather than challenge. This is compounded by level designs that feature overly tight jumps, transforming what could be challenging gameplay into mere irritation.

Although Crash 2 and Crash 3 introduced new moves to Crash's moveset, offering a slight improvement, they were not enough to elevate the games. The additions made the experience slightly better but the games still remained far from the top of any list of satisfying platformers. The fundamental issues with the gameplay mechanics held them back, solidifying their position towards the bottom in terms of platforming enjoyment.

I didn't grow up with Crash on the PS1, so to me, this just felt like a retro game with updated graphics. Like, the gameplay felt retro. It was okay, but it definitely plays like a product of its time. And since its time was 1996, the same year that Super Mario 64 was innovating in a big way for freedom in a 3D world, Crash feels hollow in comparison. Just a generic "reach end of level" platformer with a simple "get touched and die" rule, except the deaths are cartoony and fun to watch. Credit to them for that. I'd love to see other games have that kind of cartoony animation.

I only beat Crash 1 and attempted to 100% but stuck with those time trials.

I'll probably one day return to just enjoy Crash 2 and Crash Warped (only tried each for few levels) being already enjoyable games on their own since the original, but this one is definitely the version to pick up to play a GOOD Crash 1 version.

Great remakes.

I feel like I have never sworn as much in a videogame as I did playing the first Crash Bandicoot. It took me ages to beat because I would need to go do something else having failing over and over on a level, each time slightly closer to the checkpoint I was starting at. Special mention to Slippery Climb for being the level to induce the most rage within me. 

Crash 2 had a good balance between a few new mechanics and familiar difficulty. I liked the hub style worlds, and the ability to take the levels in whichever order you liked (in groups of 5). I missed the character tokens for the bonus levels, but that's alright. you can see them start to experiment with some new things like jetpack levels and nitro crates. 

Crash 3. I don't know if playing the previous 2 unlocked something in me, or if this entry was just easier. I was breezing through levels like they were nothing. There were no walls, no frustrations on deaths, and I only got slightly slowed down by the bike levels. I think the many different types of levels (underwater, bike, tiger riding, etc) made it so the difficulty could only go so high, and the new abilities made a lot of the jumps way easier. Double AND being able to hover in the air was something else, and I could fly over chasms and enemies with ease. I liked the bosses and plot of this one the best by a mile though, having time travel based levels creates some really unique designs, my favorite probably being the dinosaur levels. I beat the entire game in one afternoon, no rage breaks required.

Towards the end of the 1st one I had considered that I did my duty and played a retro classic, and probably wouldn't play the other 2 as I felt these difficult platformers weren't for me, but then I got sucked in and I'm going to start Crash 4 later this week.

If you liked the original three Crash Bandicoot games you’ll have a blast playing these too, because ToysForBob did a wonderful job at making 1:1 remakes in a single package. Additionally, there are two extra levels that were cut from the original games!
These levels were cut for a reason, as they are incredibly longer and harder than the rest of the games.
The graphic improvement is great and bringing these games to PC with a proper port was more than due.

Small things to keep in mind before purchasing:
- There is a bug that locks Crash 1 at 104% completion instead of 105% if Dr. Neo Cortex is defeated before completing the additional DLC level.
- Crash's animations for all three games are shared, which translates to a slightly shorter jump in Crash 1. It's possible to fail some jumps from muscle memory because of this. Some jumps must be done on the edge of the platform, but it’s not that frustrating.
- Crash 3 motorcycle and airplane levels are impossible with keyboard as an input. I had to use a controller to have any chance because it does not take the input and turn towards that direction instantly, instead, it’s a linear ramp-up when the player tries to turn, making tight curves impossible. This does not happen with a controller.

Still, the final work is solid and masterfully remade.
I strongly suggest it to both old and new players as there are never enough good 3D platformers like the Crash games!

7/10

Crash Bandicoot makes quite the remastered return in the N. Sane Trilogy, looking and performing better than ever. This is a very well-done graphical and mechanical upgrade to the original Crash Bandicoot games.

Crash looks and plays very well, and the general design overhaul looks great if you have the graphics card for it. I've actually never played through these Crash Bandicoot games before, and it was just a fun time. It wasn't unnecessarily hard, although there were some challenging levels, but it wasn't an easy trip either.

Overall it was a great platformer with some extra surprises and it looked and played amazingly.