Back in 1995, games were still transitioning into 3D, racing had proven to be leagues better through it, Virtua Fighter was doing it with the fighting genre, and platformers were up next. While Nintendo worked on a 3D title for Mario, Sony didn't have diddly-squat, and Naughty Dog, back then pretty much just two guys, came up with an idea they jokingly called "Sonic's A**", after one asked what a Sonic game would be like in 3D, the other replied "Well, you'd see Sonic's a** a lot!" And sure enough, you do see this game's protagonist's derriere for most of the game.
Graphics: This game's graphics are very early era Playstation, low on polygons compared to later releases due to system restraints, the characters have very simple, exaggerated designs because of this. Thankfully, they look much better in motion, the animation is very fluid, Crash himself is expressive and shows a lot of personality, and is also one of the least obnoxious mascot characters ever made. The stages themselves aren't particularly noteworthy in terms of graphic design, but don't look that bad. The character design is also pretty cartoony, but somewhat forgettable.
Sound: The music is basically so-so, with no particularly memorable tracks. Crash himself has a few voice clips, and they thankfully have no dialogue in them, limited to "Woah!" and "Yeeee-ha!". The bosses have similar voice clips, from Ripper Roo's manic laughter, to Koala Kong's grunting, they're what you'd expect. The sound effects, such as, boxes smashing, beating enemies, and collecting fruit, are all very cartoony, appropriate for the setting.
Addictiveness: The game's pretty linear, apart from some extra hidden bonus stages, there's nothing worth revisiting often. You might come back often enough to finish it, as this is a game meant to be played in short pieces at a time.
Story: Very typical platformer fare. Seriously, it's ridiculous how many mad scientists want to take over the world. Even more so how many of them are stopped by mascot characters. Ironically, Crash was the creation of Dr. Neo Cortex, the mad scientist in question. Cortex had planned to use an army of mutated animals to take over the world, and Crash was supposedly meant to be their leader, but was either too stupid, too kind-hearted, or both. At any rate, however, he escaped from Cortex's lab, and took on the quest to stop Cortex by beating every mutant the doctor had made. Oh, and rescue his girlfriend Tawna, of course (hilariously enough, she dumped him after the end of this game for one of the guys he had to fight).
Depth: Apart from collecting various hidden items to get to the final area, it's basically a very linear platformer that could easily have been 2D with a simple perspective change. It at least has a fairly decent length, though, and the difficulty should add some extra hours.
Difficulty: This one surprised me, it's actually pretty hard in places, especially bosses, until you figure out what you're required to do to beat them. Some of the ways you can die feel rather cheap, but they thankfully don't happen as often as other platformers. One aggravating thing is the infamous boulder stages where the camera is focused in front of Crash, and you have a very short window of time to react to various obstacles. The "Hog Wild" scenes are also rather frustrating.
All in all, if this were released today, I'd just pass it up entirely, but I can see why it was so popular at the time. Crash himself is pretty likeable, for a mascot, and I might just end up playing some of his other titles. Back in 1995, games were still transitioning into 3D, racing had proven to be leagues better through it, Virtua Fighter was doing it with the fighting genre, and platformers were up next. While Nintendo worked on a 3D title for Mario, Sony didn't have diddly-squat, and Naughty Dog, back then pretty much just two guys, came up with an idea they jokingly called "Sonic's A**", after one asked what a Sonic game would be like in 3D, the other replied "Well, you'd see Sonic's a** a lot!" And sure enough, you do see this game's protagonist's derriere for most of the game.
Graphics: This game's graphics are very early era Playstation, low on polygons compared to later releases due to system restraints, the characters have very simple, exaggerated designs because of this. Thankfully, they look much better in motion, the animation is very fluid, Crash himself is expressive and shows a lot of personality, and is also one of the least obnoxious mascot characters ever made. The stages themselves aren't particularly noteworthy in terms of graphic design, but don't look that bad. The character design is also pretty cartoony, but somewhat forgettable.
Sound: The music is basically so-so, with no particularly memorable tracks. Crash himself has a few voice clips, and they thankfully have no dialogue in them, limited to "Woah!" and "Yeeee-ha!". The bosses have similar voice clips, from Ripper Roo's manic laughter, to Koala Kong's grunting, they're what you'd expect. The sound effects, such as, boxes smashing, beating enemies, and collecting fruit, are all very cartoony, appropriate for the setting.
Addictiveness: The game's pretty linear, apart from some extra hidden bonus stages, there's nothing worth revisiting often. You might come back often enough to finish it, as this is a game meant to be played in short pieces at a time.
Story: Very typical platformer fare. Seriously, it's ridiculous how many mad scientists want to take over the world. Even more so how many of them are stopped by mascot characters. Ironically, Crash was the creation of Dr. Neo Cortex, the mad scientist in question. Cortex had planned to use an army of mutated animals to take over the world, and Crash was supposedly meant to be their leader, but was either too stupid, too kind-hearted, or both. At any rate, however, he escaped from Cortex's lab, and took on the quest to stop Cortex by beating every mutant the doctor had made. Oh, and rescue his girlfriend Tawna, of course (hilariously enough, she dumped him after the end of this game for one of the guys he had to fight).
Depth: Apart from collecting various hidden items to get to the final area, it's basically a very linear platformer that could easily have been 2D with a simple perspective change. It at least has a fairly decent length, though, and the difficulty should add some extra hours.
Difficulty: This one surprised me, it's actually pretty hard in places, especially bosses, until you figure out what you're required to do to beat them. Some of the ways you can die feel rather cheap, but they thankfully don't happen as often as other platformers. One aggravating thing is the infamous boulder stages where the camera is focused in front of Crash, and you have a very short window of time to react to various obstacles. The "Hog Wild" scenes are also rather frustrating.
All in all, if this were released today, I'd just pass it up entirely, but I can see why it was so popular at the time. Crash himself is pretty likeable, for a mascot, and I might just end up playing some of his other titles. |
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