Crash Bandicoot: Warped was extremely innovative from its predecessor while also maintaining the fundamentally solid gameplay and platforming that garnered the series a high amount of popularity in the first place. The objective is pretty much the same as other games; collecting crystals and going for 100% completion with gems while going through 25 main levels with numerous secrets and with the addition of time trials, upgrades, and more variety in level types with many vehicle levels and more experimental level designs, this game is incredibly versatile and covered a lot more ground compared to the previous games in its trilogy. The controls work great, the level design is to the standard this series is known for, and the concept, characters, soundtrack, and levels themselves are so vibrant and full of life, giving its time machine concept justice. However, this game's pacing suffers quite a bit due to the amount of added vehicle levels, and while most of them are fun and control just fine, they vary so wildly between each other that it begins to feel jarring progressing through the game. On top of this, the number of quality-of-life changes and differences in controls are VERY noticeable when comparing this to the N. Sane Trilogy (besides the vehicle levels, those are somehow worse in the remakes) and these inconsistencies add up to the playthrough being frustrating at times. Not to mention, there's quite a lack of level variety towards the end of the game, with despite the levels technically being unique, they feel so goddamn redundant during the home stretch.

It's always tough ending a trilogy when the 2nd game already improves a lot on the 1st one. Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped now has the tough task of trying to follow that up, so what does Naughty Dog do exactly?

TIME TRAVEL!! I see this as an absolute win.
Yes, Crash and Coco now have to stop Cortex, and new character Uka Uka (the evil twin of Aku Aku) by going through one of his henchman's time machine, and find the Crystals scattered all over through time!
Whether it be Ancient Egypt, the Middle East, deep underground waters or the future, Crash 3 is no slouch when it comes to stage variety, and I absolutely love it!
Crash 2 already made some efforts to bring in more environmental diversity, but Crash 3 easily trumps it, and it's one of my favourite things about this game.

This goes right alongside the presentation of this game. While in terms of graphical prowess, Crash 3 doesn't look much different from Crash 2, there are now some new elements added in that make this game look better than 2, especially the water seen in the Jet Ski levels.
The voice acting is absolutely fantastic for the year this was released, with even more voice actors jumping in, and Aku Aku now having a voice, which is always nice.
And once again, Clancy Brown kills it by not only returning as Cortex, but also voicing Uka Uka!
And the music is still as good as Crash 2, with the world map theme being one of the best tracks in the original trilogy, in my opinion.

But of course, what about the gameplay?
Well, I'm glad to say that they've kept everything from Crash 2. Jumping, sliding and spinning all feel like before, and it's great.
But this time around, you get a new power-up after defeating a boss, whether that'd be a Double Jump, a Super Belly-Flop, or a fucking Bazooka!
The Double Jump and Super Tornado Spin are definitely my favourites, because with great timing, you can do some cool shortcuts, and that feels awesome to pull off.

But jumping through levels is not the only thing this game has.
One of the most contentious aspects of this game is the fact that you'll be spending a good chunk of it riding vehicles. Whether that be racing in a motorcycle, riding a Jet Ski or shooting down blimps in an old-school airplane, Crash 3 makes you do quite the number of diferrent tasks.

I can definitely understand why people don't like this much, considering the lack of consistency, but not only do these vehicles control great, I think they allow for greater gameplay variety, that was not seen previously.
I also think that Naughty Dog might've added those in to prevent the overall Crash formula from getting stale.
Of course, whether you agree with this notion is up entirely to what you felt before, but once again, I liked playing as these vehicles... even if I wasn't the biggest fan of getting Crystals in the Motorcycle stages.
Oh well.

Also, Coco is playable, which is nice, but her levels are just most of those vehicle levels, so you don't get to play around as just her much.
Oh well. (x2)

The biggest thing that I love about this game though is, outside of going back to go to the Colored Gem pathways in previous levels... there is next to no backtracking within the levels themselves, which makes the act of collecting gems so much easier!
Although I decided to not go for 100% this time, mainly because they also added the Time Relics!

New to this game is the ability to, after beating that level once, to do a time trial of it, and by betting it under a certain time, you can get either a Sapphire Relic, a Gold Relic or the holy shit, this is so difficult Platinum Relics.
Short into the point, I don't care about them, but to get 100% (or 105%), you need to at least get Gold Relics on every stage... and I just don't feel like it.
But kudos to the game, it gives you more replay value, which is nice.

Overall, while it may lack consistency, Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped makes up for it by providing really fun gameplay, and trimming the bad parts of previous games!
Definitely my favourite in the original Crash Bandicoot trilogy!

a game that i will always adore. it's impossible to divorce this game from how it made me feel playing it as a 5 year old, and any time i replay this game, that precious joy is evoked. level design peaked here with levels that end up being the perfect length so they don't overstay their welcome, and the variety of levels aids this game, despite what popular modern consensus says. i do share the sentiment that they could've likely cut off a jet ski and motorcycle level or two to make room for another platforming level, but my playthroughs of this game never leave me feeling unsatisfied. i especially love how time trials are handled here, as the changes in boxes and added element of time stopping radically change how you'd view a level compared to the initial run.

i dunno man! i just love this game. i love the level themes, i love the bosses, i love the music, i love the graphics. . . it's just one of my favorite games i've ever played. i have very little negative things to say about this game, and i can only say that there will always be a deep reservoir of love in my heart for this thing.

C'est quand même dommage, comparé aux deux premiers jeux je trouve celui-ci plus agréable et mieux fait dans ses niveaux de plateforme...
Mais il remplace la moitié de ces niveaux par des véhicules pas maniables et des passages aquatiques pas funs (surprise).

On note une amélioration au niveau des Boss et ça fait plaisir, et des ajouts QoL agréables comme les emplacements des gemmes dans les mondes ou tout concentrer dans un seul hub et s'éviter les 50 ascenseurs de Crash Bandicoot 2.

Je pense que c'est le plus compétent de la trilogie mais son manque d'équilibre dans les niveaux en font celui que j'aime le moins je pense (ça et ce double saut qui marche quand il veut, connard). Dommage, mais toujours un bon jeu à découvrir.

Alright Crash fans, you've officially lost me again. I'm not seeing what others do in this one. I guess the devs really wanted to add more variety, but instead of expanding on Crash's gameplay and levels, we get a bunch of nonsense. Underwater Crash levels? Boring. Jet ski stages? Why. Motorcycle races? Kinda annoying. A bi-plane dogfight??? I can't fuckin' stand it anymore!

There is one big addition to Crash's gameplay. Actually, it's more like five additions. Every time you beat a boss, you get a new powerup. They're a little superfluous, but I did notice that the level design going forward accounted for whatever new powerup you just earned. It's minor things, like occasional chasms that require the super tornado spin to glide across, but they're there. The game also introduces time trial relics for every stage, and I will come clean right now, I couldn't give a shit about these if I tried. The level design in this game feels weaker in general, and I have to wonder if Naughty Dog designed the stages with the expectation that you'd come back for the relic races. For me personally, gaining access to a couple more levels by earning relics isn't nearly as fun as seeking out cryptic hidden exits like in Crash 2.

Presentation's about as good as the last game. Being taunted by your enemies before stages begin is a really nice touch. Cortex sounds so dejected for most of this game, it's genuinely kind of hilarious, and a bit sad. They take full advantage of the time warp theming with the enemy and area designs too. Shoutouts to the water during the jet ski stages. I honestly have no idea how the geniuses at Naughty Dog got the water looking that good. MARIO WiiU would be proud.

Yeah I got nothing else. Cortex and his gang can keep their gems. I've had enough, personally.