''Neo Cortex the crystal fan vs. N.Brio the based gem enjoyer'' the game.
I'm happy to report that yeah, I liked this one more than the first game... but I still didn't love it as much as I hoped, which it really pains me 'cause in most areas this one hell of an upgrade from the last entry!
A story that picks up from where the last game left on and has much more presence with mini-cutscenes through the game, ditching the world map and introducing the warp rooms, an incredibly cool way of presenting levels with more variety and letting you play them in the order you prefer, much more build-up before the boss fights and a BANGER of a soundtrack are the most noticeable improvements, and all of them plus what was already good from Crash 1... but I just can't say with a good conscience that I see it as a monumental achievement and a sequel that solves all of the problems the original had, in great part because of its own nature of being... well, more Crash Bandicoot.
The levels do appear to be more interesting, with far more varied themes and the objective being not only reaching the end, but also grabbing the crystal, tho this one doesn't appear that much of added challenge or a deal-breaker, they just are on a part that tends to be half-way through the level and are anything but hidden, but hey, collecting the gems you get by breaking all the boxes and the colored secret ones was much more fun than it ever was in the first game, so that's that. And while yeah, there are much more interesting and varied level themes, they aren't particularly interesting, mainly because they tend to repeat a similar structure: all ice levels have a 2D section, all temple levels have the same obstacles, all the bee levels are my worst nightmare, and so on and so forth. I can't say that I really liked the levels when the ones that pop up in my head when I think of the game are the ones I got incredibly frustrated instead of the ones where I had a ton of fun, and that's just 'cause there aren't that many exceptional levels here (Except the Jet Board and Jet Pack levels, those are incredibly fun a total blast to beat and complete).
And while I do like the presentation and design on the bosses, once again they all are by far the easiest part of the game, and they are mostly really uninteresting, the final boss specially us surprisingly easy and simple. At the same time, the only boss that isn't painfully easy it's painfully tedious and long, so I guess it could have been worse.
The hitboxes are once again a mixed bag, tho in this case it wasn't a matter of missing jumps and the collision being clunky (tho that could be because I got used to it, as it did happen a few times), but rather the enemies and obstacles hitboxes where the problem this time around, the most noticeable being the 5 or 6 times I died to fire after it clearly disappeared.
It really makes me sad to not be able to love this as many other people do, because I do see what could make this game so special and as a sequel it does improve a lot on the original, but I just can't go past many of its problems and I can't classify it as something more than just a fun but flawed 3D platformer.
I'll say that I'm honestly quite excited to play Warped, 'cause if they keep improving I could find it to be the definitive Crash Bandicoot game, and finally say that I really love the crazy marsupial.
Also, one last thing: Fuck. Jumping. Nitro. Boxes.
That's all I'm gonna say about that.
I'm happy to report that yeah, I liked this one more than the first game... but I still didn't love it as much as I hoped, which it really pains me 'cause in most areas this one hell of an upgrade from the last entry!
A story that picks up from where the last game left on and has much more presence with mini-cutscenes through the game, ditching the world map and introducing the warp rooms, an incredibly cool way of presenting levels with more variety and letting you play them in the order you prefer, much more build-up before the boss fights and a BANGER of a soundtrack are the most noticeable improvements, and all of them plus what was already good from Crash 1... but I just can't say with a good conscience that I see it as a monumental achievement and a sequel that solves all of the problems the original had, in great part because of its own nature of being... well, more Crash Bandicoot.
The levels do appear to be more interesting, with far more varied themes and the objective being not only reaching the end, but also grabbing the crystal, tho this one doesn't appear that much of added challenge or a deal-breaker, they just are on a part that tends to be half-way through the level and are anything but hidden, but hey, collecting the gems you get by breaking all the boxes and the colored secret ones was much more fun than it ever was in the first game, so that's that. And while yeah, there are much more interesting and varied level themes, they aren't particularly interesting, mainly because they tend to repeat a similar structure: all ice levels have a 2D section, all temple levels have the same obstacles, all the bee levels are my worst nightmare, and so on and so forth. I can't say that I really liked the levels when the ones that pop up in my head when I think of the game are the ones I got incredibly frustrated instead of the ones where I had a ton of fun, and that's just 'cause there aren't that many exceptional levels here (Except the Jet Board and Jet Pack levels, those are incredibly fun a total blast to beat and complete).
And while I do like the presentation and design on the bosses, once again they all are by far the easiest part of the game, and they are mostly really uninteresting, the final boss specially us surprisingly easy and simple. At the same time, the only boss that isn't painfully easy it's painfully tedious and long, so I guess it could have been worse.
The hitboxes are once again a mixed bag, tho in this case it wasn't a matter of missing jumps and the collision being clunky (tho that could be because I got used to it, as it did happen a few times), but rather the enemies and obstacles hitboxes where the problem this time around, the most noticeable being the 5 or 6 times I died to fire after it clearly disappeared.
It really makes me sad to not be able to love this as many other people do, because I do see what could make this game so special and as a sequel it does improve a lot on the original, but I just can't go past many of its problems and I can't classify it as something more than just a fun but flawed 3D platformer.
I'll say that I'm honestly quite excited to play Warped, 'cause if they keep improving I could find it to be the definitive Crash Bandicoot game, and finally say that I really love the crazy marsupial.
Also, one last thing: Fuck. Jumping. Nitro. Boxes.
That's all I'm gonna say about that.
8 Comments
Can't compare it to Spyro yet (tho I have plans to play the Reignited Trilogy) but yeah, I totally understand why you would stop after this. I really want to play Warped and It's about time but this one does feel a tad derivative, even tho I enjoyed it more and found the things it changed really welcoming, but it shares many of the same flaws the first one had and it isn't fun enough for me to looks past it.
Yeah, I've heard that it tries a handful of new gameplay ideas and vehicle sections, tho I should clarify that I actually like Crash's core gameplay design, or at least the idea for it. It's a cool and interesting way to design a 3D linear platformer, but my problem is more related how the levels themselves are designed, so if they keep improving on that I'd be more tham pleased. I just really hope I like Warped, everything I've seen about it just seems so original and fun.
I mentioned it a few times but I'm the oddball 3D platformer fan that's actually a fan of vehicle and minigame sections and I know the ones in Warped are structured in such a way they're a compliment to the design of crate crashing and item rewards, which I much appreciate. Just waiting for the time to dive in again with the PS1 versions, is all.
My personal opinion about Crash is that he's best when he's driving a go kart rather than platforming, CTR solos all the mainline games despite my nostalgia toward the first one.
That remids me I really need to try CTR, I'm not that into racing games but that one looks extremely hard but fun to master, one of these days I'll give it a try.
Your criticism about clunky hitboxes and collision is spot-on, the N. Sane Trilogy remakes have a problem with that across the board imo. Feels like they made some slight adjustments to the physics and size/scale of Crash in an attempt to "standardize" across the three games, but without adjusting any of the level design to accommodate the changes. The result is some less than ideal handling and overall game feel compared to the originals
Absolutely. As BlazingWaters pointed out in the comments of my review of the first Game, for the N'sane Trilogy they changed Crash's foot hitbox and that basically resulted in all the new problems with platforming innthe remakes, but it also appears that enemies hasve janky hitboxes, so it all results in making this game not the best feeling and making some parts not exactly fun.
BlazingWaters
1 year ago
Maybe people are right in saying Spyro was the better series