This review contains spoilers
I went into this game with full knowledge of its unfair reputation of it being bad because of the character redesigns… yeah it’s about as dumb as Live & Reloaded being called bad because it censored a few swears… Really goes to show that popular opinion is not worth following…
Anyway, as for this game, I went into it with an open and optimistic mind as a long time fan of Crash Bandicoot. I chose to play the PSP version of this game, mostly for the portability factor. It’s basically just a one-to-one downgrade of the console version and keeps everything intact, minus the co-op mode.
To get the character redesigns out of the way, I think they look great. This game has, by far, my favorite design of Crash, with his cool looking mane and stylish tattoos. Everyone else ranges from good to excellent like Cortex’s redefined appearance and Uka Uka’s incredibly menacing appearance. The only redesign I’m not a fan of is Crunch, since his appearance does not match his Mr. T personality and he honestly looks like a deviantart redesign (Thankfully the sequel fixed his design immensely). I guess I should also mention Tiny as well, who is probably the one that most people seem to agree is bad. The design itself I can get past, a tiger with army fatigue. The problem is that not only is Tiny a completely different species, but his personality has also changed drastically to the point that he is pretty much unrecognizable. The actual character himself isn’t necessarily bad, in fact I think the voice was pretty funny and surreal when paired with an army tiger, it’s just not at all like the character it was supposed to represent, a dimwitted brute. I don’t want people to mistake this for being “different and therefore ruined” because that’s not what I’m getting at. It’s different to the point of not being familiar.
When it comes to the gameplay, a lot of people are quick to say that it’s “not a Crash Bandicoot game.” In reality, it does retain several familiar elements of classic Crash gameplay. The level design is straightforward and linear, there are crates to break open (though they aren’t required anymore) and wumpa fruit to collect, there are bonus rooms in every level, and there’s a healthy amount of good platforming to be had.
The one thing that separates Titans from traditional Crash is the combat. Typically combat in games is very last minute and amount to nothing more than just beating up an enemy with a button or two and you win. Examples being Pac-Man World 3 and TLoS: A New Beginning. Crash of the Titans does appear to have that typical combat at first, but as you collect mojo, you will unlock more combo moves and upgrades to already existing moves, such as a move that can attack enemies that are blocking as well as an unlimited spin attack which is really useful if you want to complete all the combo king scores. The cherry on top of the combat is the new Titan jacking mechanic. Basically this system works like a food chain, where the game encourages you to work your way up to the bigger enemies by starting with the smaller ones, while every enemy has their own set of moves to further deepen the combat mechanic. There are enemies that move fast but are weak, strong enemies that are slow, and enemies that can shoot projectiles. The food chain aspect really comes into play during bosses, which are admittedly pretty disappointing as bosses since you’re mainly fighting the Titans and not the actual boss themselves. The only exceptions being the two last bosses, Uka Uka and Nina, which are the best bosses in the game.
Crash of the Titans is a game I was fully invested in from start to finish. I had no nostalgic attachment to this game and yet I do for the Naughty Dog games. Despite that, I still came out really enjoying Titans a lot. I’d say it ranks in my top 5 best for Crash Bandicoot. If I’m being honest, I would probably play it over Crash 2. I strongly recommend this game to any Crash fan that is looking for something new.
Anyway, as for this game, I went into it with an open and optimistic mind as a long time fan of Crash Bandicoot. I chose to play the PSP version of this game, mostly for the portability factor. It’s basically just a one-to-one downgrade of the console version and keeps everything intact, minus the co-op mode.
To get the character redesigns out of the way, I think they look great. This game has, by far, my favorite design of Crash, with his cool looking mane and stylish tattoos. Everyone else ranges from good to excellent like Cortex’s redefined appearance and Uka Uka’s incredibly menacing appearance. The only redesign I’m not a fan of is Crunch, since his appearance does not match his Mr. T personality and he honestly looks like a deviantart redesign (Thankfully the sequel fixed his design immensely). I guess I should also mention Tiny as well, who is probably the one that most people seem to agree is bad. The design itself I can get past, a tiger with army fatigue. The problem is that not only is Tiny a completely different species, but his personality has also changed drastically to the point that he is pretty much unrecognizable. The actual character himself isn’t necessarily bad, in fact I think the voice was pretty funny and surreal when paired with an army tiger, it’s just not at all like the character it was supposed to represent, a dimwitted brute. I don’t want people to mistake this for being “different and therefore ruined” because that’s not what I’m getting at. It’s different to the point of not being familiar.
When it comes to the gameplay, a lot of people are quick to say that it’s “not a Crash Bandicoot game.” In reality, it does retain several familiar elements of classic Crash gameplay. The level design is straightforward and linear, there are crates to break open (though they aren’t required anymore) and wumpa fruit to collect, there are bonus rooms in every level, and there’s a healthy amount of good platforming to be had.
The one thing that separates Titans from traditional Crash is the combat. Typically combat in games is very last minute and amount to nothing more than just beating up an enemy with a button or two and you win. Examples being Pac-Man World 3 and TLoS: A New Beginning. Crash of the Titans does appear to have that typical combat at first, but as you collect mojo, you will unlock more combo moves and upgrades to already existing moves, such as a move that can attack enemies that are blocking as well as an unlimited spin attack which is really useful if you want to complete all the combo king scores. The cherry on top of the combat is the new Titan jacking mechanic. Basically this system works like a food chain, where the game encourages you to work your way up to the bigger enemies by starting with the smaller ones, while every enemy has their own set of moves to further deepen the combat mechanic. There are enemies that move fast but are weak, strong enemies that are slow, and enemies that can shoot projectiles. The food chain aspect really comes into play during bosses, which are admittedly pretty disappointing as bosses since you’re mainly fighting the Titans and not the actual boss themselves. The only exceptions being the two last bosses, Uka Uka and Nina, which are the best bosses in the game.
Crash of the Titans is a game I was fully invested in from start to finish. I had no nostalgic attachment to this game and yet I do for the Naughty Dog games. Despite that, I still came out really enjoying Titans a lot. I’d say it ranks in my top 5 best for Crash Bandicoot. If I’m being honest, I would probably play it over Crash 2. I strongly recommend this game to any Crash fan that is looking for something new.