Crash Bandicoot - Playstation 1
Playstation 1 - Crash Bandicoot April 3, 2006
The story in Crash Bandicoot (CB) will blow you away! It has more twists and turns then your favorite murder mystery. It will leave you spellbound! It will leave you with angst and restless nights as you help poor crash do what no other movie; no other novel and certainly what no other video game has even dared to do before! You will traverse lush jungles and dangerous caves to help Crash…..find his girlfriend!!!!!
I know! How much more interesting and enthralling can a story get? CB is a platform game that will have you frolicking through 30 odd levels in hopes to find the girl. But does the story really matter in these types of games? Not really! In the end all that really matters is the game play and on that account CB succeeds; but with mixed results.
Throughout the game you will spin and jump your way through many obstacles such as floating platforms, icy ravines and beasts of all kinds. The graphics are well done and hold up pretty well some ten years later. Normally the view is from the side but things are mixed up a bit as a 3rd person perspective has you running through levels at break neck speeds to avoid oncoming boulders and other hazards! The controls are ok but it does take some time to get the jumping technique down.
Is the game fun? Sure! But it does wears thin after a while and I think it wore down the developers as well because the last few stages seem like they were put together in about five minutes. Why would I say that? Well, they are incredibly short and incredibly simplistic. In fact, you can rescue the girl without even fighting the last boss! About the only major flaw with the game is the save system. After collecting three special icons you are sent to a bonus stage of sorts. The only problem is that you have to cross hazards just to get to the save point! I can’t tell you how many times I repeated the same stages 3 or 4 times before I was able to finally save the game. This frustration definitely knocked CB down a few letter grades for me!
In the end, I think it is a decent platformer and maybe was a classic at the time; but not ten years later….B-.
Boston