Creative, ambitious, fresh, and unique. At the same time, clunky, glitchy, and not so fine-tuned. Crash Twinsanity brings a lot of new ideas to the table for the Crash Bandicoot series, such as an open world setting with collectibles to find. In hindsight, it seems inevitable for the series to go in this direction but this game was the first to do it, and it does it well. I love that this game is focused primarily on the story and the gameplay is based around that. The settings/level themes in this game are lovely to see - a fully explorable N Sanity Island, the iceberg labs, N Gin's ship, and all of the Evil Academy, as well as Twinsanity Island. Almost all of the settings in this game are top notch. The level design, art direction, and great music coalesce into an experience that was just extremely enjoyable. The bosses are great: not particularly challenging, but creative and enjoyable. The final level along with the boss are very memorable and a tough but great ending to the game. As a long time Crash fan, I had not played this game until now, so I have no nostalgic connection to it. After seeing how safe Wrath of Cortex played it, Twinsanity is a breath of fresh air. The controls are good, most of the time. There are instances where too much precision is required for how imprecise the controls are (the rolling ball puzzles, cortex-boarding sections, etc.), but it does not affect most of the experience. What does affect the experience are the glitches that run rampant in this game. This game was completely rushed out the door which is why this game is either loved or hated. I personally am willing to look past the glitches and general jank that the game provides, but it was definitely there. That being said, this game was such a good direction to bring the franchise into. It is truly a shame it couldn't live up to its potential due to its rushed development. I am willing to appreciate what's here and admire the ambition and passion displayed by the developers.

Reviewed on Feb 24, 2024


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