This game is fun to play, which is why I have decided to not rank it any lower. At its core, it is another Crash game that follows the formula of Crash 3 to a tee, which is one of its biggest issues. "Crash 3 but worse" is a pretty apt description. This game has plenty of vehicle levels which are of mixed quality. I genuinely do like the Atlasphere and see it as a positive inclusion. The water levels, jeep level, and mech suit sections all have very questionable controls that have me questioning how much this game was playtested. Some of the hitboxes in this game are just atrocious (ex. nitro crates in Atlasphere, horizontal lasers in Cortex Vortex, sea mines in water levels), and can make achieving platinum relics frustrating for the wrong reasons. The best parts of this game are simply ripped off and I cannot give this game the benefit of the doubt for that reason. As for controls, I do like how Crash controls generally, disregarding some very jank movement occasionally. For some reason, the tornado spin blows in this game and barely lets you glide, which is an interesting feature. Crash has a new power-up, being the nitro sneak shoes which are useless, and frankly insulting as a power-up. Forcing a player to use a boring gimmick is not a power-up. Otherwise, the power-ups are literally recycled from Crash 3. As for graphics and performance, this game looks pretty decent for a PS2 game.. most of the time. Some of the cutscenes and sprites look awful likely due to the development of this game being crunched (haha). I like the lore additions of this game, being Crunch. Overall, this game is another victim of crunch time in video game development, as the developers originally wanted to do something new with the Crash IP as an open world game. Crash would likely be in a completely different place now if that game was made without compromises, and it is certainly an interesting thought. This game is decent, but I would only recommend it to someone who has played the original Crash trilogy, the better games in this formula.