A Review: Crash Bandicoot, PSOne 1996
Crash Bandicoot is a 1996 platformer developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation One. The player controls Crash, a genetically enhanced bandicoot created by the mad scientist Doctor Neo Cortex. The story follows Crash as he aims to foil Cortex's plans for world dominance and rescue his girlfriend, Tawna, a female bandicoot also created by Cortex. The game is played from a third-person perspective, in which the camera trails behind Crash, though some levels feature forward-scrolling and side-scrolling perspectives.
I thought that this game was really pretty good—not the best platformer that I have ever played—but it was certainly a lot of fun and kept me coming back. I liked the off-the-wall humour and had to pause to laugh at this game more than once. It was nice to see a game developed that didn't take itself all too seriously and allowed the player to just have fun goofing around. The mechanics were fairly solid, and I never had that many issues with the controls and responses. The boss fights were fun and challenging, and I feel that ultimately they were fairly rewarding too. The difficulty scale was about right, and nothing felt unfair or overpowered in my mind. I will say that the camera was a pain to use and took quite some time to get used to working with, and there were some odd hitboxes at times that seemed to conflict with the camera's movement too. Levels were fairly well designed though, and I liked the transitions and such. They also guided the player well and made it near impossible to get lost or go the wrong way. The plot was fun and linked the various levels together well enough, I thought, and I liked the choice of villains and enemies for this game.
From a graphical perspective, I also liked Crash Bandicoot. The comic/cartoon styling worked well, in my opinion, and the simplistic use of colours and tones worked brilliantly. The shadows and lighting effects were very good, and some of the darker levels that required the player to use torches to get around were great. I loved the motions and movement details added to traps and in-game objects, such as the falling platforms and rolling rocks. The boulder chases were great and really nicely rendered, adding tension and making you feel like you were Indiana Jones raiding a tomb. The animations and the models used were clean, and I loved the physical humour that this game portrayed; it was just superb. Collectables and interactive items were nicely rendered, and I thought that the box and crates breaking were very nicely done. I also loved the way that Crash's attacks looked and, several times, burst out laughing as an enemy got launched off into the distance.
Overall, this was a fun game, but it was far from the best example of its genre and had some flaws that can't be glossed over. I'd still recommend it to most gamers, but I would advise them that sometimes you just need to walk away.
6/10 – Good Fun!
Signed Off – Leonardo – PSJ
I thought that this game was really pretty good—not the best platformer that I have ever played—but it was certainly a lot of fun and kept me coming back. I liked the off-the-wall humour and had to pause to laugh at this game more than once. It was nice to see a game developed that didn't take itself all too seriously and allowed the player to just have fun goofing around. The mechanics were fairly solid, and I never had that many issues with the controls and responses. The boss fights were fun and challenging, and I feel that ultimately they were fairly rewarding too. The difficulty scale was about right, and nothing felt unfair or overpowered in my mind. I will say that the camera was a pain to use and took quite some time to get used to working with, and there were some odd hitboxes at times that seemed to conflict with the camera's movement too. Levels were fairly well designed though, and I liked the transitions and such. They also guided the player well and made it near impossible to get lost or go the wrong way. The plot was fun and linked the various levels together well enough, I thought, and I liked the choice of villains and enemies for this game.
From a graphical perspective, I also liked Crash Bandicoot. The comic/cartoon styling worked well, in my opinion, and the simplistic use of colours and tones worked brilliantly. The shadows and lighting effects were very good, and some of the darker levels that required the player to use torches to get around were great. I loved the motions and movement details added to traps and in-game objects, such as the falling platforms and rolling rocks. The boulder chases were great and really nicely rendered, adding tension and making you feel like you were Indiana Jones raiding a tomb. The animations and the models used were clean, and I loved the physical humour that this game portrayed; it was just superb. Collectables and interactive items were nicely rendered, and I thought that the box and crates breaking were very nicely done. I also loved the way that Crash's attacks looked and, several times, burst out laughing as an enemy got launched off into the distance.
Overall, this was a fun game, but it was far from the best example of its genre and had some flaws that can't be glossed over. I'd still recommend it to most gamers, but I would advise them that sometimes you just need to walk away.
6/10 – Good Fun!
Signed Off – Leonardo – PSJ
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