Crash of the Titans review (X360)

Crash Bandicoot has been kicking around for a while now, not as long as Mario or Sonic, who he was originally created to rival, but still quite a respectable character in the world of video games. He never quite took off as the PlayStation mascot he was intended to be though and despite doing well on the original PS was quickly overshadowed on the PS2 by the likes of Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank and Sly Racoon. Going multiplatform may have been better for sales, but on formats where he was up against the likes of Mario his faults became even more apparent, but it’s a new generation, and a new chance for Crash to shine, especially when he’s getting in there before most of the hard hitting competition.

New generation, same old sh…

The general premise of the story is the same as it’s always been, Crash and friends face off against Neo Cortex and his goons, there’s a few twists to the story, but all in all it’s pretty standard fare for a Crash game. The gameplay too is pretty standard fare too, the level designs are quite simplistic, you’re never left thinking what do I do now for too long. This is a bit of a double edged sword really, on the hand you never get those puzzling moments wondering what could you possibly have missed, but it does keep the gameplay flowing, which is always a good thing.

Combat too is pretty simplistic, you get two buttons for it, but unless you’re facing some of the games larger mutant bad guys you only need the one button really. The big bad mutants are where the game introduces something new though, you can always chip away at their health with Crash's standard attacks, or you could use his trusty sidekick, Aku Aku, to use some of his voodoo magic on them in an all new attack.

Jack Attack

Once you’ve chipped away at the health of a mutant enough to stun them you can use this great new power, by ‘jacking’ in to their brains, and taking control of their bodies, immediately making you a more formidable opponent for Cortex’s minions. This makes things easier, to start with, but as you progress through the game the mutants keep getting bigger and nastier, not to mention uglier, and you realize there’s a food chain at work here. There are a wide variety of mutants in this food chain, with differing attacks too, some are just standard mutated animals, with the odd nod to other games, such as a wolf with the power to snipe. But as they get bigger there’s some serious gene splicing at work, like the gorilla scorpion hybrid, who can not only batter with its fists but can also swing it’s tail with lethal results.

The variety of the game's mutants is also a key part in the games puzzles, at times you’ll reach a seeming dead end, and get swamped with various mutants, you just need to work out which mutant has the power to take you further. Fortunately it doesn’t take too long to figure out which mutant will do the job, adding to the games constantly flowing style, it may not take much brain power to get through the game, but you do have to be pretty nimble with your fingers.

Board Stupid

In addition to the food chain of the ‘jacking’ system there are a few added elements to the gameplay tthat raise it above a bog standard plat former. A couple of the elements seem to be borrowed from a certain hedgehog, such as boarding down hills and riding rails, and although they’re certainly not original and they work well enough, certainly better than they do in Sonics latest offerings. This may be something to do with the game's camera, Sonic's games have always suffered from a dodgy camera since they went 3D, but Crash solves this problem by sticking with a fixed camera.

That may sound like a problem in a 3D platformer, but it actually works very well, during my time with the game not once did I ever have my view of the action obscured by the scenery. On occasion enemies couldn’t be seen until they were quite close, but never within close attack range, so that wasn’t really a problem. As well as having a competent camera things are in general pretty reasonable on the visual front, due to the level design the scenery isn’t overly detailed, but fits quite well with the games feel. The character models are nicely detailed, especially some of the hybrid mutants, they have a very comical feel to them, but the game's lighting effects could have been better.

The game's sound is as much of a mixed bag, with adequate music, some nice voice acting, even in the ambient sound of levels, and the minions talking to each other is a nice touch. But why oh why have they never given Crash a proper voice, he converses with the other characters in cut scenes, all of which seem to understand what he’s ‘saying’, but all we get is a unintelligible gibberish. But apart from Crash sounding like a retarded marsupial, which he is I suppose, the game's sound fits with everything else to make a competent, but not great, game.

Could be Worse

If you were thinking of getting this game on any other platform I’d probably advise against it, the Wii has Mario Galaxy on the horizon, and the PS3 has Ratchet and Clank coming soon, but the 360 has very little in the way of reasonable platformers. This may be little more than a last generation game with upgraded visuals, but it does what it’s supposed to, it’s a fun platformer that‘s not too taxing on the brain. It’s not the longest game in the world though, but it does have some replay value with plenty of unlockables to be found, but overall you may want to just give it a rental.