In my restless nightmares, I see that level. Sunset Vista.
Ah, I remember, I remember it clear as day; it was 2016 when the N'Sane trilogy was announced and a corner in the internet gaming community exploded out of sheer excitement, I felt really happy for them! I was never able to get the chance a PlayStation, and even if I was, as a kid I was full Nintendo mode so I probably wouldn't have had one either, but the point is that I had never in my life played a Crash Bandicoot game, but I recognize its importance as a series for Sony's first console and a character that many hold very dearly, as it was one of the first 3D platformers to fall into the genre of ''being pretty good''.
When it released in 2017, I knew that I would end up playing it sooner or later, I really wanted to, but as with many, MANY other games, the I never really had the chance and when I had it, I was paying attention to other games that caught my attention, but no more! It's about time I played these classics with a fresh new look, starting with the first one, time to dive into a series I never got to really explore, let's go!
3 Hours Later
...I mean, it COULD have been worse...
Look I'm not gonna go around and bash this game without rhyme or reason 'cause not only it doesn't deserve it, but it also has amazing things that elevate it for me.
Visually it's a treat, for what I understand some fans are a bit torn that in some places it distances itself from the games original style, but I don't know man, this looks so good. All the level and characters ooze charm, the levels being full of detail and each new theme is very striking and works really well, and everything looks straight out of an animated show, which was obviously the idea, but man did they go far and beyond. The animations and the music too, all of it works and makes this game's presentation an absolute home run for me... and then you actually play the game...
Crash Bandicoot's strengths and weaknesses are apparent from the first level, and as the game progresses, these become more and more obvious, specially the weaknesses. The wonderfully called ''Sonic's ass'' style of gameplay actually works quite well considering the context: they wanted to make a 3D platformer for a console that its original set of controllers didn't even had joysticks, and how do they do that without also implementing tank controls? Simple: we take a more lineal approach, akin to the 2D platformers of the past generation. When ''Crash Bandicoot'' asks you to go forward, you bet your ass the level it's gonna be awesome, dogging obstacles, defeating enemies, it's a blast!.. And then turns out if you want to get all the boxes in the first level you must go back, and the problem with that become very apparent.
It really feels like the game withholds visual information from you; sometimes perception of depth can be difficult, sometimes random things appear just a second before you can react to them , and this being a game in which you tend to only one hit point that can be VERY problematic. Level themes start repeating, the bosses go from, easy, to boring, to sometimes even annoying, and, this perhaps being my biggest gripe with the game, for an adventure that's filled with boxes, hit-boxes sure are janky as all hell. The collision system in this game is all over the place, sometimes i fall through platforms I should be able to stand on and sometimes things that shouldn't hit me end up killing over and over again. I understand this can sound as me being salty at the game because I died a lot, even tho yeah, I died my share of times, I actually never got a game over screen and didn't had to repeat any levels from the beginning, and I'm not a person that you could call ''gifted'' at videogames, like, at all, so it's not a problem of the game being too hard, it's more of matter of being annoying as all hell.
At a certain point I just wanted it to end, some levels over-stay their welcome are others are just a nightmare to go through to and repeat a section over and over again because of a janky part, and it got tiring encountering the same obstacles, fighting boring bosses without build-up, and having to endure all of the design problems.
Did I hate the game? Not at all, even as a Remake, it's a product of it's time and that in itself has value... but, will I play another Crash game after not really liking this one?
YOU BET. I've heard the next two improve quite a lot upon the original, and I really want to play the fourth one that came out not that long ago, so yeah, this is only my first step in the marsupial's line of adventures, and it may have been rough, but that only means it's all up from here!...
...I hope...
Ah, I remember, I remember it clear as day; it was 2016 when the N'Sane trilogy was announced and a corner in the internet gaming community exploded out of sheer excitement, I felt really happy for them! I was never able to get the chance a PlayStation, and even if I was, as a kid I was full Nintendo mode so I probably wouldn't have had one either, but the point is that I had never in my life played a Crash Bandicoot game, but I recognize its importance as a series for Sony's first console and a character that many hold very dearly, as it was one of the first 3D platformers to fall into the genre of ''being pretty good''.
When it released in 2017, I knew that I would end up playing it sooner or later, I really wanted to, but as with many, MANY other games, the I never really had the chance and when I had it, I was paying attention to other games that caught my attention, but no more! It's about time I played these classics with a fresh new look, starting with the first one, time to dive into a series I never got to really explore, let's go!
3 Hours Later
...I mean, it COULD have been worse...
Look I'm not gonna go around and bash this game without rhyme or reason 'cause not only it doesn't deserve it, but it also has amazing things that elevate it for me.
Visually it's a treat, for what I understand some fans are a bit torn that in some places it distances itself from the games original style, but I don't know man, this looks so good. All the level and characters ooze charm, the levels being full of detail and each new theme is very striking and works really well, and everything looks straight out of an animated show, which was obviously the idea, but man did they go far and beyond. The animations and the music too, all of it works and makes this game's presentation an absolute home run for me... and then you actually play the game...
Crash Bandicoot's strengths and weaknesses are apparent from the first level, and as the game progresses, these become more and more obvious, specially the weaknesses. The wonderfully called ''Sonic's ass'' style of gameplay actually works quite well considering the context: they wanted to make a 3D platformer for a console that its original set of controllers didn't even had joysticks, and how do they do that without also implementing tank controls? Simple: we take a more lineal approach, akin to the 2D platformers of the past generation. When ''Crash Bandicoot'' asks you to go forward, you bet your ass the level it's gonna be awesome, dogging obstacles, defeating enemies, it's a blast!.. And then turns out if you want to get all the boxes in the first level you must go back, and the problem with that become very apparent.
It really feels like the game withholds visual information from you; sometimes perception of depth can be difficult, sometimes random things appear just a second before you can react to them , and this being a game in which you tend to only one hit point that can be VERY problematic. Level themes start repeating, the bosses go from, easy, to boring, to sometimes even annoying, and, this perhaps being my biggest gripe with the game, for an adventure that's filled with boxes, hit-boxes sure are janky as all hell. The collision system in this game is all over the place, sometimes i fall through platforms I should be able to stand on and sometimes things that shouldn't hit me end up killing over and over again. I understand this can sound as me being salty at the game because I died a lot, even tho yeah, I died my share of times, I actually never got a game over screen and didn't had to repeat any levels from the beginning, and I'm not a person that you could call ''gifted'' at videogames, like, at all, so it's not a problem of the game being too hard, it's more of matter of being annoying as all hell.
At a certain point I just wanted it to end, some levels over-stay their welcome are others are just a nightmare to go through to and repeat a section over and over again because of a janky part, and it got tiring encountering the same obstacles, fighting boring bosses without build-up, and having to endure all of the design problems.
Did I hate the game? Not at all, even as a Remake, it's a product of it's time and that in itself has value... but, will I play another Crash game after not really liking this one?
YOU BET. I've heard the next two improve quite a lot upon the original, and I really want to play the fourth one that came out not that long ago, so yeah, this is only my first step in the marsupial's line of adventures, and it may have been rough, but that only means it's all up from here!...
...I hope...
6 Comments
I am not an expert related to the more technical side of games, but I do know a couple of things and this is super interesting and would explain quite a lot! According to the article it seems that type of hitbox is the default in some engines, so that would explain why it's how it is, bu it's still a shame that what should be such a small change ends up damaging the whole experience.
Tank you so much for sharing this! It's always really interesting to learn these kinds of things. And yeah, it was a given that they would modernize the saveing system, but either way thank god there's a way to play this game withoud the password system.
Tank you so much for sharing this! It's always really interesting to learn these kinds of things. And yeah, it was a given that they would modernize the saveing system, but either way thank god there's a way to play this game withoud the password system.
I'm honestly sad that I didn't like it as much as I hoped, but it still has great thing and I appreciate for what it is! It's just its flaws really hold it back for me, but hey, at least it looks very, VERY nice.
I'll play the other two very soon, and I'm really excited! I watched a gameplay of Warped when I was young and since then I always wanted to play it, so I'm excited to finally get closure and finish it.
I'll play the other two very soon, and I'm really excited! I watched a gameplay of Warped when I was young and since then I always wanted to play it, so I'm excited to finally get closure and finish it.
I usually hear people say each one gets better, just a straight upwards slope from 1 to 3, but 2 is my personal favorite. I can't imagine you'll find that or 3 worse than this, at least.
I was also there in 2016, excited for these remakes and went out of my way to buy a PS4 for them.
Then it came out, and I found myself falling off platforms with jumps I would've made in the original PS1 release and the game was a complete chore to get through. I could play as Coco, but what was the point when the game literally felt like it was broken?
I despise these remakes tbh, the sequels aren't as bad in N.Sane Trilogy, but the way it did the original dirty with it's terrible hitboxes will forever make me detest their existence.
Then it came out, and I found myself falling off platforms with jumps I would've made in the original PS1 release and the game was a complete chore to get through. I could play as Coco, but what was the point when the game literally felt like it was broken?
I despise these remakes tbh, the sequels aren't as bad in N.Sane Trilogy, but the way it did the original dirty with it's terrible hitboxes will forever make me detest their existence.
@Weatherby I heard the exact same thing, incluiding people that prefer the second over the third as you do, so I'm extremely excites to keep going and find out if some of my gripes are fixed.
I do know that in Crash 2 there are penguins, so that's quite the upgrade un my book XD.
@Vee Oh man, that sucks a lot, I at least had little experience or attachment to the franchise, but I imagine being a fan and get hit with all the changes that hamper the experience must have been a bummer. I'm glad that the sequels seem to not be affected as much, but still I totally understand why would you feel that way towards the remakes.
It's still mind-boggling to me how such a small change had such an impact on the games overall experiences, and being something that fans caught up pretty quickly, it surprises me that they didn't tried to fix it, tho i imagine fixing a thing that affects the engine itself could pretty hard, but who knows...
I do know that in Crash 2 there are penguins, so that's quite the upgrade un my book XD.
@Vee Oh man, that sucks a lot, I at least had little experience or attachment to the franchise, but I imagine being a fan and get hit with all the changes that hamper the experience must have been a bummer. I'm glad that the sequels seem to not be affected as much, but still I totally understand why would you feel that way towards the remakes.
It's still mind-boggling to me how such a small change had such an impact on the games overall experiences, and being something that fans caught up pretty quickly, it surprises me that they didn't tried to fix it, tho i imagine fixing a thing that affects the engine itself could pretty hard, but who knows...
BlazingWaters
1 year ago
Only thing I can say is thank god they made saving normal here.