Sometimes we have to start small...


Hello peopleses of whom I have never met, never will, and don't intend to! This little bunch of typery here is my Crash Bandicoot review - Which I am doing after my Crash Bandicoot 2 review... because I am a complete ponce and also because I played that game first. This was in fact the second Crash Bandicoot game that I played, and I had immediately learned to hate it after the colossal bar that was set by Crash 2. Back then, I never really cared what order games would come in, and just played them for the game – similar to what I do now, except I do care slightly what order they are in. I had never owned this game when I was young, and played it at my cousin’s house. I could never grasp how he could play that game instead of Crash 2. I was young, and I am better than that now.

Crash started out as a way of trying to have an image for Sony. They needed someone to represent them, similar to how Mario is with Nintendo, so he needed to be very child friendly. (Unlike Nathan Drake, who seems to be Sony’s mascot these days) The character that was made was originally called Willie Wombat, which I don’t think works as well as Crash Bandicoot, that and he is also the wrong colour to be a wombat – but then again we have Sonic the Hedgehog. Speaking of Sonic, when this game was in development, it went under the working title of ‘The Sonic’s Arse Game’ since it was a 3D platformer in which you would be looking at a blue rear end. The game surfaced in 1996 (the year that I was born) and I did not know, and did not care because I was a bloody Kit at the time. The game was a huge hit almost immediately and sold a million billion trillion copies which meant they had to make another one, but I have already reviewed that. (No it did not.)

The story consists of Cortex and N. Brio putting Crash into the Cortex Vortex with the intention of turning him into a slave. Crash is rejected by it and (somehow) escapes from it and falls out of the window. Cortex disregards this as no problem and then turns to Tawna, who is Crash’s girlfriend. In other words, hero must beat bad guy and save girl – it does not get more standard than that. Strangely, she appears in the bonus stages lifting her arm and then just standing there until Crash leaves. Also, she is twice the size of him, which is weird. The story is clearly just adapting the one to Mario games, replacing Mario with Crash, Bowser with Cortex, and Peach with Tawna. (Who appears in none of the other games as far as I know) The likely reason for the simple story is likely because the game was made with hope that it would be popular – the story in the second game is much better.

The game begins on a map screen and gives you nowhere to move, just allowing you to press X to start the first level. I guess it was nice to show that the levels are all strewn together on a 3D map early, but it’s a bit pointless when it can’t be used – the game should have skipped this and started the first stage and after that shown the map, (Somewhat like the second game) but that’s just nitpicking. I do however like the attention to detail at this part where Crash gets up from a daze, linking it to the intro. The map consists of three islands each with about 8 levels and some bosses.

The majority of stages in this game usually consist of both 3D and 2D platforming and others are based around riding a warthog. I will explain the latter first. In the warthog stages the player is forced to go forwards at quite a surprising speed, yet not too fast that it’s impossible to react. In it there are obstacles which usually consist of being on the correct side or jumping to dodge – but here’s the thing about these stages: They are just a memory game similar to how Punch Out is. That is in no way a bad thing though as both the Warthog stages and Punch Out are very enjoyable, although the warthog stages are even less forgiving if you smeg it up. In the warthog stages, everything will kill you and your only second chance comes from hitting the checkpoint. Most of the obstacles are a very distinct object (such as a spiked pole) on one side which just needs to be walked past. There are the really annoying obstacles which WILL hit you the first time playing. They are usually either a tribeswoman walking left and right with a shield which is really hard to time which direction to go in and also a pig that looks like it is getting spit roasted, but without the fire – even harder to time.

The regular platforming stages are the main attraction for the game – and they both rather kick arse and rather crappy – I shall explain. Initially, levels are pretty straightforward: fun forward, kill enemies, and break boxes. The levels have a surprisingly large range of themes and when they change it seems to only compliment the game and makes sense, the theme even being shown to you on the map before you start the level. The thing about level themes is that this game can go for whatever it bloody well wants and yet somehow will find a way to make it work. It can go from a jungle themed level to a technology themed level to a castle themed level and yet it still feels like the same game. The difficulty in the game is incredibly fair and scaled very well with length except for one thing…

Most of the levels are rather easy, or at least would be if it weren’t for one problem that makes the entire game so much harder: the saving. Most games have saving at the end of a level or on the level select (such as the second game) but this one has the most ridiculous, most heinous crimes that is the worst idea for saving a game ever! There are two ways of saving, both of them ridiculous. 1) Get every box in the stage, and beat it without dying even once or 2) Find 3 Tawna icons hidden in boxes to get to the bonus stage, and get through that first time without dying. Not even beating a boss without dying lets you save. The problem is, this really ruins how it feels to play the game because you are always scared that you will die in it so you are forced to play incredibly cautious, and this makes the game drastically less fun and just stupidly frustrating.

To add to the embarrassment of the difficulty enforced by the worst saving mechanics ever devised is one of the nicest controls in a PlayStation game. The game only uses two buttons, X and square to Jump and Spin respectively. Like in most platformers Crash kills enemies by jumping on them, unless they have spikes on their back in which case he spins into them. An interesting mechanic that they did not need to add but did anyway was sending an enemy flying into the background when spun into. It sounds cosmetic, but if they hit something (or even several things) then it would give an apple (or as the game calls them, Wumpa fruit) for each enemy hit. This mechanic is pretty cool and made me want to plan my direction of attack instead of just running through and spinning if they happened to be there.

Despite such simple controls, both have a problem: They are really floaty, and because of this it can be hard to judge things like jumps. There is a small delay when turning on the ground or in the air, this is usually so Crash can rotate, but is really unnecessary. True that Mario does it, but in that one it does not need perfect jumping. (Or at least not as much as this one does in the later stages) Also, when a spin is done on the ground while moving, Crash will keep going even if you let go of the button which will cause many frustrating deaths.

Through each level are tons and tons of boxes which need to be broken, apples (or wumpa fruit as the game calls it) which need to be eaten, and enemies that need to be brutally slaughtered – pretty standard stuff. The boxes have many different types which NEED to be learned else you will die, and I will laugh. Most boxes have apples, these give you lives after 100, some have a ? on them which gives you a random amount of apples or an icon. There are Crash boxes which give an extra life, there are Arrow boxes which are bouncy and there are ones with weird vertical lines that are also bouncy, but break after 10 bounces and give apples. Finally there is the TNT which explodes after 3 seconds. Getting them all can be challenging because a lot of them are put in stupid places and some where you have to get it first time or you will have to restart the level.

The game has 1-2 bosses on each of the islands and they are depressingly easy. Their attack patterns never really change and they are incredibly predictable, telegraphing all of their attacks. Most of the bosses are killed in 3 hits and don’t reward anything except for access to the next level. The bosses are not particularly memorable and serve little purpose and make little impact on the game. The only interesting boss was Cortex, but he was still as easy and predictable as the other bosses.

The soundtrack is bloody brilliant. There are tons of songs for each type of level and every single one of the fits perfectly into its respective level. I find the themes however to not be very memorable and just end up blending into the background, but through doing that it makes the rest of the game stand out. Most of the music is very bouncy and very well sets the mood for the game. Like the stages, it seems to be able to go whatever genre it wants and somehow never feels out of place.

The games graphics are rather impressive; easily beat by its sequels, but considering how brilliant they look that is not an insult to this game. Each of the different themed stages have plenty of details and secrets that could easily be missed. The way the graphics are displayed goes brilliantly with the way the stages are designed and help improve the feel of them, providing a strange bridge between cartoony and realistic – it’s something you would have to see to understand. The only real downside to the graphics is that the characters, including Crash, look rather sub-par and could easily be better. Crash has this weird stretchy mouth thing going on that just looks weird when he poses after getting a gem.

Sorry, I could not really say too much on this one without overly repeating everything that I said in my Crash Bandicoot 2 review. The game is really, really good, but falls short with its loose controls and poor saving. The game both looks and sounds great and was a well done start to a series that would only get better. I can guarantee that if you lived through the ‘90s then you will remember this game since everyone back then had a PlayStation. Sorry this review is not that good, especially since I took about a week writing it. (But I was mostly distracted so I did not get that much time on it.) I hope my next one will be better. From your friendly neighbourhood British Fox, thanks for reading.

  Graphics 7   Sound 8   Addictive 6   Depth 6   Story 3   Difficulty 9

Dr. Neo Cortex and Dr. Nitrus Brio, two evil doctors determined to take over the world, create two devices to turn innocent creatures into genius destroyers of the world.
One particular animal, a Bandicoot, is chosen to be the leader of the pack, but when the devices fail in their attempts, the animals are turned into crazy monsters. Only Crash Bandicoot survives with brain intact, now knowing that Neo Cortex is the real bad guy.
Cortex notices the threat that Crash may cause, and banishes Crash to another island. So it is up to Crash to find his way through the islands monster population and stop Cortex from destroying the world, as well as saving his girlfriend who is next on the devices list.In Crash' first appearance on the Playstation, you must run, jump and spin your way through this part 3D platform/part Side Scroller/part Mario 64 style adventure.

Overall 9.4    Graphics 8.3    Sound 8.3    Addictive 6.8    Story 6.9    Depth 7.9    Difficulty 7.8

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A decent game for its time.   Popful
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Extra Ending

If you manage to collect every gem in the game (including the coloured ones and the gems in the secret levels), then you will notice a clear gem platform in the Great Hall level. If you jump on that, then you will be transported to a line of clear gem platforms! On gem platform for every gem you have collected. Get to the end to see the secret ending.

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