The guys who worked on this really nailed being faithful to the original games. It feels like this could be a Naughty Dog tech demo if they still owned the IP. What puts this above other Crash Bandicoot fan games for me would be the visual style, namely Crash's design. I don't think any other post-PS1 Crash model has ever portrayed him simply as a goofy yet perpetually frightful stupid little animal, which is my favourite iteration of his character. Coco and Cortex looked great too. The animations are superb and really charming, being both faithful to the originals and also taking creative liberties with some of them.
Crash controls mostly very well and the controller support is great! The movement is a bit floaty and slow for my liking, but it doesn't really hinder the gameplay. The level designs are clever and offer some nice challenges, especially in Demo 2. The Coco kart racer level though... I'm not sure if I'm just bad at it but the controls felt a bit off. Jumps were difficult to pull off and it was frustrating not being able to backtrack at several points if you missed boxes. But I appreciate them trying something different with a vehicle level, even if the inclusion of it wasn't really necessary imo since the platforming is as good as it is. I thought the mine cart sections were okay, albeit very easy. The ice/oil physics seemed more tricky than in the PS1 games, at least when combined with precise jumps. They did improve how the momentum works from the originals though (at least Crash 2, not sure about 3), since jumping after coming to a stop on the material doesn't launch you forward.
All in all the two demos were super solid and undoubtedly made by talented people who know how to make 2D Crash Bandicoot work while retaining all the lighthearted charm of the (good) 3D ones. Not sure if the devs are still working on this or not, but hopefully N. Tense comes to full fruition some day!
Crash controls mostly very well and the controller support is great! The movement is a bit floaty and slow for my liking, but it doesn't really hinder the gameplay. The level designs are clever and offer some nice challenges, especially in Demo 2. The Coco kart racer level though... I'm not sure if I'm just bad at it but the controls felt a bit off. Jumps were difficult to pull off and it was frustrating not being able to backtrack at several points if you missed boxes. But I appreciate them trying something different with a vehicle level, even if the inclusion of it wasn't really necessary imo since the platforming is as good as it is. I thought the mine cart sections were okay, albeit very easy. The ice/oil physics seemed more tricky than in the PS1 games, at least when combined with precise jumps. They did improve how the momentum works from the originals though (at least Crash 2, not sure about 3), since jumping after coming to a stop on the material doesn't launch you forward.
All in all the two demos were super solid and undoubtedly made by talented people who know how to make 2D Crash Bandicoot work while retaining all the lighthearted charm of the (good) 3D ones. Not sure if the devs are still working on this or not, but hopefully N. Tense comes to full fruition some day!