Considering my extremely harsh opinions on a game like Enter the Dragonfly for its unfinished and incomplete nature, me liking Twinsanity was both surprising and not surprising to me in the slightest. This is a game where, at every turn, you can feel that something more was planned for it. I like this game for the same reason I (kind of) like Sonic 06.
This truly feels like a next-generation leap for Crash. I loved the open-ended nature of the game progression and world design. The almost-entirely acapella soundtrack provided by the musical group Spiralmouth is memorable and distinct. The laugh-out-loud writing of cutscenes and the way it perfectly weaves the entirety of the franchise's mythos together kept me thoroughly entertained. The cutscenes, however, are this game's strength and its weakness. The game is blatantly unfinished, as I said, and that goes for the story as well. Quite a lot of the game's unused cutscenes (all available on YouTube via FakeNina) explain things that left me scratching my head regarding story beats that come up and are very quickly dropped, and that really stinks that I feel like I have to pause my game and go look up what the REAL scene was supposed to look like on YouTube while I erase the unfinished version I witnessed in-game from my mind.
There was even an instance between the airship level, fighting off Ant Drones with Cortex, and it abruptly cuts to Crash at the Academy of Evil. There wasn't even an unused cutscene to explain this when I tried looking it up. I thought I accidentally skipped a cutscene or something (which you can't do btw. They removed cutscene skipping to prevent crashes).
While playing, I had a feeling that this game could be even more fun if it was a couch co-op game akin to the Lego games made by Traveler's Tales after Twinsanity. I did some research and the game WAS planned to have been co-op all along. There are so many points where I could see having two players doing things independent of one another, helping each other defeat enemies and throwing switches, would've been more fun than if you did it alone, waiting and relying on Cortex's AI to do things after you toss him. Any time a level that has nothing to do with teamwork comes up, Cortex awkwardly vanishes or teleports away, which feels clearly unintended.
Don't get me wrong, this game is FULL of jank and things I don't like. Right before the bee level starts with Cortex, I hit an invisible death barrier in a spot with absolutely no indication of there being ANYTHING there that would kill me. I'm unsure if this is an emulator issue, but drop shadows would not render over crates, making lots of platforming sections on iron crates, bounce crates, or TNT far more difficult than they needed to be. TNT kills you instantly. Invincibility barely lasts very long and isn't useful because you don't even do contact damage to enemies or TNT/Nitro. In fact, you can DIE while invincible by touching Nitro or TNT. TNT ignores Aku Aku/Uka Uka protection.
But for most of my playtime, I really enjoyed myself and I saw the vision they were going for. 90% of the problems I had, I recognized likely stemmed from the game being rushed and unfinished. Whether I was playing as Nina in the escape from the Academy or using Cortex like a snowboard down mountains, I still had the biggest smile on my face while playing nearly the whole time. It's so full of heart and soul, and it's just DRIPPING with veneration for the entire franchise up to this point what with all the fan-service. So often, I felt as if this game would've been perfect as an anniversary title, and the extra 2 years of dev time surely would've helped this game come out as a true next-gen experience. Although inexperienced and amateur at the time, I have great respect for those at Oxford Studio who managed to get the game out the way it is.
As I said in my Wrath of Cortex review, I typically do not advocate for remakes or remasters of games over new products instead. But this is an even rarer situation where, given the choice between a sequel to It's About Time and a full remake of Twinsanity that implements all the cut levels, refines the gameplay, and makes the story feel a little more complete to the original vision, I would choose Twinsanity in a heartbeat. It obviously loses some points from me for being an unfinished, buggy game, but it speaks volumes to the potential this game had that this ends up being one of my favorite Crash games. If it gets this good a score as is, imagine how great it could be if it were finished.
This truly feels like a next-generation leap for Crash. I loved the open-ended nature of the game progression and world design. The almost-entirely acapella soundtrack provided by the musical group Spiralmouth is memorable and distinct. The laugh-out-loud writing of cutscenes and the way it perfectly weaves the entirety of the franchise's mythos together kept me thoroughly entertained. The cutscenes, however, are this game's strength and its weakness. The game is blatantly unfinished, as I said, and that goes for the story as well. Quite a lot of the game's unused cutscenes (all available on YouTube via FakeNina) explain things that left me scratching my head regarding story beats that come up and are very quickly dropped, and that really stinks that I feel like I have to pause my game and go look up what the REAL scene was supposed to look like on YouTube while I erase the unfinished version I witnessed in-game from my mind.
There was even an instance between the airship level, fighting off Ant Drones with Cortex, and it abruptly cuts to Crash at the Academy of Evil. There wasn't even an unused cutscene to explain this when I tried looking it up. I thought I accidentally skipped a cutscene or something (which you can't do btw. They removed cutscene skipping to prevent crashes).
While playing, I had a feeling that this game could be even more fun if it was a couch co-op game akin to the Lego games made by Traveler's Tales after Twinsanity. I did some research and the game WAS planned to have been co-op all along. There are so many points where I could see having two players doing things independent of one another, helping each other defeat enemies and throwing switches, would've been more fun than if you did it alone, waiting and relying on Cortex's AI to do things after you toss him. Any time a level that has nothing to do with teamwork comes up, Cortex awkwardly vanishes or teleports away, which feels clearly unintended.
Don't get me wrong, this game is FULL of jank and things I don't like. Right before the bee level starts with Cortex, I hit an invisible death barrier in a spot with absolutely no indication of there being ANYTHING there that would kill me. I'm unsure if this is an emulator issue, but drop shadows would not render over crates, making lots of platforming sections on iron crates, bounce crates, or TNT far more difficult than they needed to be. TNT kills you instantly. Invincibility barely lasts very long and isn't useful because you don't even do contact damage to enemies or TNT/Nitro. In fact, you can DIE while invincible by touching Nitro or TNT. TNT ignores Aku Aku/Uka Uka protection.
But for most of my playtime, I really enjoyed myself and I saw the vision they were going for. 90% of the problems I had, I recognized likely stemmed from the game being rushed and unfinished. Whether I was playing as Nina in the escape from the Academy or using Cortex like a snowboard down mountains, I still had the biggest smile on my face while playing nearly the whole time. It's so full of heart and soul, and it's just DRIPPING with veneration for the entire franchise up to this point what with all the fan-service. So often, I felt as if this game would've been perfect as an anniversary title, and the extra 2 years of dev time surely would've helped this game come out as a true next-gen experience. Although inexperienced and amateur at the time, I have great respect for those at Oxford Studio who managed to get the game out the way it is.
As I said in my Wrath of Cortex review, I typically do not advocate for remakes or remasters of games over new products instead. But this is an even rarer situation where, given the choice between a sequel to It's About Time and a full remake of Twinsanity that implements all the cut levels, refines the gameplay, and makes the story feel a little more complete to the original vision, I would choose Twinsanity in a heartbeat. It obviously loses some points from me for being an unfinished, buggy game, but it speaks volumes to the potential this game had that this ends up being one of my favorite Crash games. If it gets this good a score as is, imagine how great it could be if it were finished.
flan a medio cuajar, bastante divertido en todo aspecto pero demasiado corto y sin rejugabilidad
Honestly, so much better than I remember. I just wish it had more time in the oven.
Crash Twinsanity's development has been talked about a lot. From its switch from a more mature tone to a more comedic one, to the butt-load of things they had to scrap to meet the deadline.
There are people who love this game. There are people who hate this game.
Personally, I've always had an interest in this one. Not just because I'm a fan of Crash, but because some of the cutscenes were really funny.
And I think I'll start right there. The comedic tone that they went for really paid off! There were a lot of times I laughed my ass off! From Cortex's falling into a spiked pit, to Crash's dumb facial expressions, to Crash having a very interesting look when looking Cortex's behind.
Cortex even spanks Crash, nice to see they're getting along.
And that's the main gimmick with this one. Crash and Cortex have to team up to defeat an even greater evil... the Evil Twins.
I feel like that generic name might've been intentional.
You'll playing as Crash and Cortex throughout the adventure, either as just one of them, or both of them. Launching Cortex and smacking his head into boxes, or using him as a sled, and hurting his balls on rails.
There's also a new playable character in Nina Cortex, the daug-- niece of Neo Cortex, and she... just kinda exists, to be honest.
I liked her gameplay style of using a hook on certain objects, but you don't play as her much.
The level desing has also seen a big change. While the game is linear like previously, the stages are bigger, and you can explore around them to get the game's gems, as they are no longer tied to boxes.
Getting these can be fun, because obtaning them is kinda like a puzzle. But I didn't feel like gathering them all, especially in the Slide levels, which are the hardest to obtain all of the gems.
Regardless, this change in level design is a welcome one, and I wouldn't mind future Crash games returning to this style. And it also does not come at the sacrifice of the game's platforming, as it's very well designed and fun to go through!
One thing that I think should be said about this game, and probably is the biggest point of contention of it... is the fact that you can clearly see that this game is unfinished.
Examples include, but not limited to:
- Collision detection being all kinds of wonky.
- Story jumps around a lot, and some plot threads are wrapped up out of nowhere.
- Characters like Evil Crash and Nina just kind of exist, and don't have much of a presence.
- Plenty of sound effects simply not existing in various cutscenes.
- A stunned Coco has a hitbox.
By collecting the gems, you receive a lot of the game's concept art, and it serves to also confirm that there's a lot of cut content.
Now, is this a 100% bad thing?
Not necessarily. I still think the game we got is pretty serviceable, but it definitely needed more time in the oven. I wish certain things got expanded upon, like the two characters I mentioned earlier.
Outside of the comedy and the gameplay, another thing I really liked about this game was the overall presentation! Compared to The Wrath of Cortex, this is night and day. Crash Twinsanity's graphics and art direction still hold up to this day, and I love how the game looks!
Character animations are also pretty good, especially Crash's and Cortex's.
The voice acting is also very good, but it came with a change. Clancy Brown is no longer the voice of Cortex, now Lex Lang is at the helm.
Simply put, I love the voice he brought to Cortex! His line delivery is on point, and it enhanced the comedy that much more.
What I find weird is that Crash never emotes anything in Twinsanity. Like, there are no grunts... at all. Weird, considering Crash is pretty expressive in this game, you'd think he'd "talk" more, but I guess not.
Also, Nina is pretty much a mute until her "Huh?" at the final cutscene. Most likely a consequence of the rushed dev time.
Speaking of voices, you'll be hearing plenty of them in the music, as it was composed by a band called Spiralmouth, an accapella band. Since it's accapella, which only involves voices, the game's soundtrack has its own unique vibe. It's not for everybody, but I really enjoyed, and I think it enhanced the game's tone nicely.
Overall, Crash Twinsanity, while definitely flawed, was a really fun game to play through, and I can see myself playing this again sometime in the future.
There are people who love this game. There are people who hate this game.
Personally, I've always had an interest in this one. Not just because I'm a fan of Crash, but because some of the cutscenes were really funny.
And I think I'll start right there. The comedic tone that they went for really paid off! There were a lot of times I laughed my ass off! From Cortex's falling into a spiked pit, to Crash's dumb facial expressions, to Crash having a very interesting look when looking Cortex's behind.
Cortex even spanks Crash, nice to see they're getting along.
And that's the main gimmick with this one. Crash and Cortex have to team up to defeat an even greater evil... the Evil Twins.
I feel like that generic name might've been intentional.
You'll playing as Crash and Cortex throughout the adventure, either as just one of them, or both of them. Launching Cortex and smacking his head into boxes, or using him as a sled, and hurting his balls on rails.
There's also a new playable character in Nina Cortex, the daug-- niece of Neo Cortex, and she... just kinda exists, to be honest.
I liked her gameplay style of using a hook on certain objects, but you don't play as her much.
The level desing has also seen a big change. While the game is linear like previously, the stages are bigger, and you can explore around them to get the game's gems, as they are no longer tied to boxes.
Getting these can be fun, because obtaning them is kinda like a puzzle. But I didn't feel like gathering them all, especially in the Slide levels, which are the hardest to obtain all of the gems.
Regardless, this change in level design is a welcome one, and I wouldn't mind future Crash games returning to this style. And it also does not come at the sacrifice of the game's platforming, as it's very well designed and fun to go through!
One thing that I think should be said about this game, and probably is the biggest point of contention of it... is the fact that you can clearly see that this game is unfinished.
Examples include, but not limited to:
- Collision detection being all kinds of wonky.
- Story jumps around a lot, and some plot threads are wrapped up out of nowhere.
- Characters like Evil Crash and Nina just kind of exist, and don't have much of a presence.
- Plenty of sound effects simply not existing in various cutscenes.
- A stunned Coco has a hitbox.
By collecting the gems, you receive a lot of the game's concept art, and it serves to also confirm that there's a lot of cut content.
Now, is this a 100% bad thing?
Not necessarily. I still think the game we got is pretty serviceable, but it definitely needed more time in the oven. I wish certain things got expanded upon, like the two characters I mentioned earlier.
Outside of the comedy and the gameplay, another thing I really liked about this game was the overall presentation! Compared to The Wrath of Cortex, this is night and day. Crash Twinsanity's graphics and art direction still hold up to this day, and I love how the game looks!
Character animations are also pretty good, especially Crash's and Cortex's.
The voice acting is also very good, but it came with a change. Clancy Brown is no longer the voice of Cortex, now Lex Lang is at the helm.
Simply put, I love the voice he brought to Cortex! His line delivery is on point, and it enhanced the comedy that much more.
What I find weird is that Crash never emotes anything in Twinsanity. Like, there are no grunts... at all. Weird, considering Crash is pretty expressive in this game, you'd think he'd "talk" more, but I guess not.
Also, Nina is pretty much a mute until her "Huh?" at the final cutscene. Most likely a consequence of the rushed dev time.
Speaking of voices, you'll be hearing plenty of them in the music, as it was composed by a band called Spiralmouth, an accapella band. Since it's accapella, which only involves voices, the game's soundtrack has its own unique vibe. It's not for everybody, but I really enjoyed, and I think it enhanced the game's tone nicely.
Overall, Crash Twinsanity, while definitely flawed, was a really fun game to play through, and I can see myself playing this again sometime in the future.
rushed to absolute shit mut yllättävän hassu