Review of Crash Bandicoot: The Marsupial That Started It All

11-20-16 08:39 AM

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Ah, Crash. One of my first contacts with the gaming world, and certainly one of the best. I was just a little kiddo back then but as I always say in my reviews (actually this being the first one where I make such a metaphor), the PlayStation 1 for me is like giving a stuffed animal to a newborn: he/she'll latch onto it and will never let it go. And I felt I was just taking too much time to review my second favorite franchise of all time (first one being OddWorld, third one being good ol' "Sanic"), and it was Sunday morning at the time I was writing this so I thought "eh, why not? It's my only free day on the week after all".

[STORY - 9/10]
So. Crash Bandicoot. Some call it "Sonic's Ass Game". The one that started it all. An Australian marsupial, one of many critters captured by Dr. Neo Cortex, a mad scientist planning on creating an army of super animals to take over the world, with the help of his assistant/rival, Dr. Nitrus Brio, who created the Evolvo-Ray (which I really had no clue at all that it had a name until now, I had to quick-search for it), a machine capable of buffing up intelligence and physical capabilities of any animal. The critters would pass through this "forced evolution" and then be submitted to the Cortex Vortex, a mind-controlling device created by Cortex himself. Crash would be the first one to pass through this experience.

Perfect plan, ain't it? Heh. Go figure. Crash was successfully evolved, but no one expected the brainwashing failed. Cortex then threw Crash at the window as if it was "garbage", and continued the experiment. As Crash was going to be thrown, he met Tawna, a "Jessica Rabbit-esque" female bandicoot. Waking up at N. Sanity Island, at the shore, Crash then starts his adventure to stop Cortex and rescue Tawna.

Two things to consider:

1. Them names. Seriously, I liked the way almost every name in the franchise starts with an "N.", then when you get the full name of those characters, every "N." turns out to be a completely different name from each other. This has a very clever thought to it, whoever had this idea was a genius.

2. Tawna doesn't exist after Crash 1 as far as I'm concerned, she was discarded in favor of Crash having a less "sexy-and-smexy" sister. I wonder why was she even created in the first place then if she was going to be discarded in such a way. It's like the whole "Sonic and Madonna" thing again. *shivers*

[GRAPHICS - 10/10]
As usual, the PlayStation - although having its limitations - was a pioneer on 3D graphic capabilities back at the time, and Crash 1 just felt to me like "the standard game to know how great PlayStation can and will be". Shame Sony never took Crash as its official mascot, because damn. What. An. Art style. Crash 1 manages to make something I can only see in Team Fortress 2: a great cartoon-ish style, but it manages somehow to blend the cartoon-ish feel with a more "realistic" environment. Even being the first one of the franchise (and, consequently, having the most basic graphics), it somehow catches my eye and massages it like a day in a spa.

[SOUND - 10/10]
I believe Crash is responsible for making me love the sound of a didgeridoo (and later on discovering the actual name of the instrument): the soundtrack has a perfect ambience with the Australian setting of the game. It has a great mix of tribal drums, didgeridoos, a sick bass and other non-Australian instruments (gotta love the tribal chanting back at the Great Gate levels). And that's not even the cherry on the cake, there is something in common about all of the PS1 Crash games:

As I said earlier, the PS1 had its limitations, one of them being the fact you had to highly compress your audio, which cutted a great chunk on sound quality. Well, guess what: this actually made the musics better (or at least in my opinion)! Recently, Josh Mancell, original compositor of the Crash soundtracks, posted on his SoundCloud lots of "pre-console" (as in, "before being highly compressed so they could fit into the PS1 limitations") versions of the original musics from the PS1 games, which you can hear here: https://soundcloud.com/joshmancell/sets/music-for-video-games-crash

The difference between "pre-console" and what's in the game is just astounding. I really can't choose a favorite, I love both versions although I tend to side by the "in-game" versions due to nostalgia.

[DIFFICULTY - 8/10]
At the same time being the first in the franchise makes it the less graphic-heavy, it also makes it the most challenging IMO. I would be giving this an overall of 10/10, if it weren't for one thing that actually bugs me: Crash 1 doesn't have analog support, which makes total sense since it was developed and launched way before DualShock was even a thing, but still, I don't really like using a D-Pad for 3D movement, especially the PS1 D-Pad. One word: diagonals. Man oh man how I hate going up-left/up-right/down-left/down-right with this D-Pad, and the worst part is that sometimes this is vital in the game. Yet, it makes for a nice experience.

Aside from that, the game itself has a good exponential curve on difficulty: it starts nice and easy, then it ramps up kinda quickly after passing the first of the three islands of the game. AFAIK, the Crash games on PS1 have an interesting mechanic of "subtly making things easier if you die too many times on the same spot", which kinda counters the "hardness" of it all. An example of this is when you die so much that your next respawn comes with a "free" Aku-Aku mask. Or, even better, at the "Indiana Jones-esque" boulder levels, the boulder actually slows down a bit if you die too much, it's so subtle no one even notices while playing. There's the mechanic in action, and I say this is great for balancing the game, making it playable for everyone, from kids to elders. But, at the same time, it doesn't make the game "child's play", there's still a lot of challenge, which made me give this aspect an 8/10.

Bosses are kind of in the same manner as a Sonic game: hit it X times and it's over. They also follow the same exponential curve, depending on your expertise and reflexes. Some of them can be taken down in less than a minute, while others will make you wait two or three, but all of them are, in a certain way, fairly easy and quick if you learn their patterns.

There's another point which I'l talk about in the next section, which, although being in the next section, it relates to both:

[DEPTH - 10/10]
Besides the main quest, there's still a lot to do in Crash 1: there are lots of crates to break, and some of these are in bonus stages, well-hidden throughout the levels, where you have to collect three special character icons to get there. The bonus stages are of utmost importance due to one thing: they're the only way you can actually save the game in the memory card. Sure, the game has both memory card saving and a good ol' password system, but, as far as I recall, both can only be accessible after clearing a bonus stage. You should be asking now "but Supreme, why do we need these crates in the first place?". You obviously know already since it's an old game but I'm glad you asked either way

If you break all crates on a level, you get a gem, and these gems are essential to completing the game 100%. Note: you have to do it without dying. On future games, this doesn't happen, since progress is saved and you get the gem regardless of dying or not, but I have no idea as to why the first game "wants to be the odd one out". Even if you break all the crates in a level, if you die once, you won't be getting that gem. Some gems are colored, and those are even more special, since they actually open up new paths to certain levels which weren't available before (and which are a must to get another gem on the same level, as a level can have more than one gem). This makes the replay factor quite strong, as collecting all the gems in the game are essential to a specific level in the game, which has an alternate ending. So yeah. The game really has a lot to offer.

[ADDICTIVENESS - 9/10]
Although Crash 1 isn't exactly my favorite in the franchise, I do love it as it is and I'd play it again for sure. I would be reluctant at first because of the whole D-Pad/no-analog situation but our "modern technologies" leave that in the dust. Plus, the nostalgia. I actually never got to fully understand the cutscenes and speeches as I was a kid, but nowadays I guess I'll be able to fully experience it the way it should be (I say this because English isn't my first language and the game doesn't have subtitles, but I'm able to understand enough now).

[OVERALL - 9.8/10]
Naughty Dog should claim Crash back as their property. They've created a legend, and let's just say they're missing a lot nowadays. Crash Bandicoot stood as a fierce opponent to none other than Mario, and he deserves a worthy return to his roots, just as Sonic and Rayman did. Long live the "alternate Tasmanian Devil".

Ah, Crash. One of my first contacts with the gaming world, and certainly one of the best. I was just a little kiddo back then but as I always say in my reviews (actually this being the first one where I make such a metaphor), the PlayStation 1 for me is like giving a stuffed animal to a newborn: he/she'll latch onto it and will never let it go. And I felt I was just taking too much time to review my second favorite franchise of all time (first one being OddWorld, third one being good ol' "Sanic"), and it was Sunday morning at the time I was writing this so I thought "eh, why not? It's my only free day on the week after all".

[STORY - 9/10]
So. Crash Bandicoot. Some call it "Sonic's Ass Game". The one that started it all. An Australian marsupial, one of many critters captured by Dr. Neo Cortex, a mad scientist planning on creating an army of super animals to take over the world, with the help of his assistant/rival, Dr. Nitrus Brio, who created the Evolvo-Ray (which I really had no clue at all that it had a name until now, I had to quick-search for it), a machine capable of buffing up intelligence and physical capabilities of any animal. The critters would pass through this "forced evolution" and then be submitted to the Cortex Vortex, a mind-controlling device created by Cortex himself. Crash would be the first one to pass through this experience.

Perfect plan, ain't it? Heh. Go figure. Crash was successfully evolved, but no one expected the brainwashing failed. Cortex then threw Crash at the window as if it was "garbage", and continued the experiment. As Crash was going to be thrown, he met Tawna, a "Jessica Rabbit-esque" female bandicoot. Waking up at N. Sanity Island, at the shore, Crash then starts his adventure to stop Cortex and rescue Tawna.

Two things to consider:

1. Them names. Seriously, I liked the way almost every name in the franchise starts with an "N.", then when you get the full name of those characters, every "N." turns out to be a completely different name from each other. This has a very clever thought to it, whoever had this idea was a genius.

2. Tawna doesn't exist after Crash 1 as far as I'm concerned, she was discarded in favor of Crash having a less "sexy-and-smexy" sister. I wonder why was she even created in the first place then if she was going to be discarded in such a way. It's like the whole "Sonic and Madonna" thing again. *shivers*

[GRAPHICS - 10/10]
As usual, the PlayStation - although having its limitations - was a pioneer on 3D graphic capabilities back at the time, and Crash 1 just felt to me like "the standard game to know how great PlayStation can and will be". Shame Sony never took Crash as its official mascot, because damn. What. An. Art style. Crash 1 manages to make something I can only see in Team Fortress 2: a great cartoon-ish style, but it manages somehow to blend the cartoon-ish feel with a more "realistic" environment. Even being the first one of the franchise (and, consequently, having the most basic graphics), it somehow catches my eye and massages it like a day in a spa.

[SOUND - 10/10]
I believe Crash is responsible for making me love the sound of a didgeridoo (and later on discovering the actual name of the instrument): the soundtrack has a perfect ambience with the Australian setting of the game. It has a great mix of tribal drums, didgeridoos, a sick bass and other non-Australian instruments (gotta love the tribal chanting back at the Great Gate levels). And that's not even the cherry on the cake, there is something in common about all of the PS1 Crash games:

As I said earlier, the PS1 had its limitations, one of them being the fact you had to highly compress your audio, which cutted a great chunk on sound quality. Well, guess what: this actually made the musics better (or at least in my opinion)! Recently, Josh Mancell, original compositor of the Crash soundtracks, posted on his SoundCloud lots of "pre-console" (as in, "before being highly compressed so they could fit into the PS1 limitations") versions of the original musics from the PS1 games, which you can hear here: https://soundcloud.com/joshmancell/sets/music-for-video-games-crash

The difference between "pre-console" and what's in the game is just astounding. I really can't choose a favorite, I love both versions although I tend to side by the "in-game" versions due to nostalgia.

[DIFFICULTY - 8/10]
At the same time being the first in the franchise makes it the less graphic-heavy, it also makes it the most challenging IMO. I would be giving this an overall of 10/10, if it weren't for one thing that actually bugs me: Crash 1 doesn't have analog support, which makes total sense since it was developed and launched way before DualShock was even a thing, but still, I don't really like using a D-Pad for 3D movement, especially the PS1 D-Pad. One word: diagonals. Man oh man how I hate going up-left/up-right/down-left/down-right with this D-Pad, and the worst part is that sometimes this is vital in the game. Yet, it makes for a nice experience.

Aside from that, the game itself has a good exponential curve on difficulty: it starts nice and easy, then it ramps up kinda quickly after passing the first of the three islands of the game. AFAIK, the Crash games on PS1 have an interesting mechanic of "subtly making things easier if you die too many times on the same spot", which kinda counters the "hardness" of it all. An example of this is when you die so much that your next respawn comes with a "free" Aku-Aku mask. Or, even better, at the "Indiana Jones-esque" boulder levels, the boulder actually slows down a bit if you die too much, it's so subtle no one even notices while playing. There's the mechanic in action, and I say this is great for balancing the game, making it playable for everyone, from kids to elders. But, at the same time, it doesn't make the game "child's play", there's still a lot of challenge, which made me give this aspect an 8/10.

Bosses are kind of in the same manner as a Sonic game: hit it X times and it's over. They also follow the same exponential curve, depending on your expertise and reflexes. Some of them can be taken down in less than a minute, while others will make you wait two or three, but all of them are, in a certain way, fairly easy and quick if you learn their patterns.

There's another point which I'l talk about in the next section, which, although being in the next section, it relates to both:

[DEPTH - 10/10]
Besides the main quest, there's still a lot to do in Crash 1: there are lots of crates to break, and some of these are in bonus stages, well-hidden throughout the levels, where you have to collect three special character icons to get there. The bonus stages are of utmost importance due to one thing: they're the only way you can actually save the game in the memory card. Sure, the game has both memory card saving and a good ol' password system, but, as far as I recall, both can only be accessible after clearing a bonus stage. You should be asking now "but Supreme, why do we need these crates in the first place?". You obviously know already since it's an old game but I'm glad you asked either way

If you break all crates on a level, you get a gem, and these gems are essential to completing the game 100%. Note: you have to do it without dying. On future games, this doesn't happen, since progress is saved and you get the gem regardless of dying or not, but I have no idea as to why the first game "wants to be the odd one out". Even if you break all the crates in a level, if you die once, you won't be getting that gem. Some gems are colored, and those are even more special, since they actually open up new paths to certain levels which weren't available before (and which are a must to get another gem on the same level, as a level can have more than one gem). This makes the replay factor quite strong, as collecting all the gems in the game are essential to a specific level in the game, which has an alternate ending. So yeah. The game really has a lot to offer.

[ADDICTIVENESS - 9/10]
Although Crash 1 isn't exactly my favorite in the franchise, I do love it as it is and I'd play it again for sure. I would be reluctant at first because of the whole D-Pad/no-analog situation but our "modern technologies" leave that in the dust. Plus, the nostalgia. I actually never got to fully understand the cutscenes and speeches as I was a kid, but nowadays I guess I'll be able to fully experience it the way it should be (I say this because English isn't my first language and the game doesn't have subtitles, but I'm able to understand enough now).

[OVERALL - 9.8/10]
Naughty Dog should claim Crash back as their property. They've created a legend, and let's just say they're missing a lot nowadays. Crash Bandicoot stood as a fierce opponent to none other than Mario, and he deserves a worthy return to his roots, just as Sonic and Rayman did. Long live the "alternate Tasmanian Devil".

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11-20-16 07:36 PM

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Another game I loved, but not as much as the second one. I know playing this game was a real headache I mean the levels were killer, and a real challenge to do. I am sure most or some people got fed up of the game. and never finished it. Well I did, and in time finished the game one point which I can't remember when. Great review as always.

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10-28-17 06:54 PM

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This game was one that most people got in the play station systems. It was a huge hit. I remember playing this in the stores as they had it on demo. I had fun playing this game and thought the graphics where amazing. I would have played this game more when I got my Playstation for Christmas. But my parents got me Mega Man 8 X4 and Legends. So yeah I played them more than Crash. I will have to go back and play Crash.