Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (2017)

I only got to play the Crash Bandicoot demo from the Playstation magazine when it first comes out, and was excited to finally play the full game with the remaster. I've only played the first one so far. It looks, sounds, and plays exactly as I hoped

...but man, I was not expecting it to be this difficult. It kind of ruins the game for me. I have yet to decide if it's because of my poor skill or poor game design. Either way, I don't really enjoy playing levels over and over again to master them.

Finished Crash 1 + stormy ascent with all jewels obtained. I don't know why, but this has my ideal difficulty for a challenging platformer, never too easy, but also I never got stuck in a single screen for more than an hour, unlike Celeste or Super Meat Boy, for example.

That said, I'm not doing the time trials, that's for the insane people. Luckily they are optional, even more optional than the jewels, since you don't get any sort of reward.

Missed out on these originally as was more of a N64 player back in the 90's but perfect time now with this three in one pack. The platforming can be challenging but very rewarding especially in the first 2 games, 'Warped' is a lot more lenient in the difficulty department. Everything looks crisp and colourful from the character models to the environments. Boss fights are awesome, with each one being unique In both look and strategy. They've done a great job in breathing new life into Crash and I am definitely on board from here on in.

The game looks great, and is charming and all... but I think I'm physically incapable of beating it, no matter what I do.

Played until the crumbling suspension bridge in Crash 1. Brick wall.

Played until the Bee-Having swarms-of-bees level in Crash 2. Another brick wall.

I'm not cut out for this awkward-3D-perspective, exact pixel perfect platforming while dodging insta-kill enemies at the same time.

I never owned the PS1. Without any nostalgia to prop ole' Crash up, onto the "will not finish" pile he goes (and I suspect Crash 4 will also be a hard pass)...

When the N. Sane Trilogy came out, it had already been 19 years since Crash Bandicoot: Warped, the most recent beloved mainline Crash game. And since I was born after the trilogy, I played the trilogy. "100%ed" both 2 & 3. I already made reviews of these games individually in my statuses for this game so these will be shortened.

Crash Bandicoot

I don't hate Crash 1. I think it's an OK game. There are things that I don't like such as 100% completion. But I really like how the main collectibles for completion, the boxes, play a role in platforming. This is the only game of the 3 that I haven't completed and I feel like I don't want to.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back

This is most likely my favorite game of the trilogy. I think the main reason why I loved Crash 2 is because I jumped right off the first game and I could see a ton of differences like the more fast paced level design and new moveset. I found the controls to be more snappy and tight. Variety in levels stuck to corridor based box breaking. If you didn't like Crash 1 for it's platforming, skip it and play this one instead. It's a huge improvement over 1.

Crash Bandicoot: Warped

There are things that I love more here than in 2, but in my opinion. Crash Warped is the more flawed game of the latter two, but there are things that Warped does better like the platforming levels and the presentation.

The N. Sane Trilogy as remakes

Visually, the games look pretty good, but I am not really a fan of Crash's design. Sure, he looks like a goof, but a cartoony design doesn't jive well with realistic textures. And there are cases where the lighting is really bad. You can really see it in Crash 2 in the warp rooms. Although I'm sad that Vicarious Visions has been merged, I'm glad that Toys for Bob got to carry the torch for Crash. I really like what TFB had to offer when Crash 4 was shown. To me, after Crash 4, N. Sane looks dated in comparison. 4's Crash looks much better. The controls in 1 feel inconsistent. Mainly, due to the oval shaped hitbox that Crash has. For tight, and precise platforming, especually in Crash 1, the slipping on edges doesn't work well woth it. I didn't have much of an issue with 2 & 3

After playing the trilogy. I'm now a fan. Can't wait for Crash 4 now that I have it preordered on the Switch, but I'll wait for it to come to PC as well.

N. SANE TRILOGY RATING: 7.5/10

100%ed Crash: Warped. 23/31 platinum relics.

It's not 105%, but hey! It's over 100!

I shouldn't be enjoying this as much as I do. I think that Crash 2 is the best game in the trilogy, but I don't know which game I love more. Crash 2 or Warped?

Let's start with the bad. I must repeat because Crash 1 & 2 didn't have these,and neither does Warped, but these games REALLY NEEDED a restart button for normal levels. The lack of one really hurts Warped more than its predecessors since it has more on rails vehicle levels. A main complaint towards Crash: Warped was an overabundance of variety levels. They tend to stray from the core of breaking boxes through hallway level designs. I found most of them to be from fine like the motorcycle levels to Coco's really good tiger levels, but the jet ski levels and the air fighter levels sucked. The controls for the jet ski were tweaked in the remake, and comparing them to the PS1 version, which came out 19 years before the N. Sane Trilogy, they're even worse; the turning is so loose and really doesn't work well for tight mine/Nitro box placements like in Hot Coco. Secrets aren't as often as there are only 2. One is subtle, the other is not. I don't get why Vicarious Visions didn't fix stuff that was criticized in this collection. Too bad we can't get anymore patches now that Vicarious Visions has been folded into Blizzard. Backtracking from Future Frenzy sucked. Still, at least none of the backtracking was as bad as Crash 2.

For the good, the platforming levels are the best in the trilogy. Replaying them after getting new moves makes cutting corners a lot more fun. And that is where the time relics appear. They were first introduced in Crash: Warped, but in the N. Sane Trilogy, time relics are in every game and they work best with Crash 2 & 3. Levels are larger in scale while still maintaining that hallway design and have more going on with little details like in the motorcycle levels. Environments have more interesting theming than in 2; there is Ancient Egypt, Arabian nights, Medieval times, 1950's, the future, China before Winnie the Pooh took over. And the bosses here are a thousand times better than both Crash 1 & 2. They're not incredible, they're good, but they're a lot better. A lot more charm here is present with more dialogue than in 2. Each boss that you face against will be taunting you often whenever you enter a level. And I have to mention Lex Lang as Cortex because I absolutely love him. His performance is worth playing through the game, or Crash 4, or Twinsanity(maybe I'll play that sometime). HOT TAKE: I prefer Lex Lang over Clancy Brown aka Mr. Krabs.

It's not the most polished Crash game, but it's the riskiest one, the the most experimental one, the most charming one, it's neck and neck between Crash 2 as my favorite game in the trilogy.

CRASH 3 RATING: 8-8.5/10

100%ed Crash 2 (except for the relics. I'll play some Spyro for a break before I play Crash 3 and get the relics).

Oh my god. I loved Crash 2. I've said many of my points before, but in short, the level design is less about patience and more about Crash's moveset, which I absolutely loved. The slide jump is so much fun to pull off. 100%ing the game really makes sure you know everything about your moves. For instance, in the level, Piston it Away, you backtrack to the Death route, with jumps back that may seem hard at first, but if you know about the slide spin jump, you don't have to struggle all that much. There is also some variety like the surfboard, Polar, and the jetpack which feel true to the core of Crash's level design of corridors and box breaking. There are subtle secrets to get the colored gems which I much preferred over Crash 1. Like in Air Crash where there are these oddly placed boxes and a platform that make you think, maybe I can get there, or in Unbearable, why, when one of the giant polar bears fall off, is this bridge partly broken?

If I had some problems, I wish that there was a restart button. If the relics can have it, then why can't the normal levels? It'd be time saving for those levels with death routes since if you die, you could restart the level and try to reach it instead of quitting the level and going back in. Although I got a little bit used to the jetpack, it's controls are odd. Depth perception is still an issue with its forked levels. And the hit detection for the electro bots is all over the place. And Cold Hard Crash gave me the middle finger so I'm going to cry to my mommy because of Naughty Dog being a group of naughty dogs. ;(

CRASH 2 RATING: 8.5 WUMPA FRUIT/10 WUMPA FRUIT

41% completion in Crash 2.

So far, I'm loving this game. This is so much better than Crash 1. The slide jump is my favorite move to pull off so far in these games with benefits in both height and speed. The game is also a hell of a lot easier to get gems than in Crash 1. With some secret way to get gems instead of an artificial "get every box without dying". Level design is a lot less about waiting for the platform to be reachable. Depth perception is still an issue, but some boulder levels have been streamlined with Wumpa fruit guiding you in the right direction. Haven't had any hit detection problems so far, but we'll see. Definitely going to 100% this game. I'm really enjoying it.

Beat Crash 1 and started Crash 2.

Even if it's a game that's remade from the ground up, Crash 1 is precise at best and spotty and frustrating at worst. My least favorite thing about the game is the colored gems. I was willing to 100% every game in the Crash + Spyro bundle, but the requirement to get the gems is too much: get every box in these long levels without dying. In the original game, every gem had to be done without dying so at least that's an improvement. Slippery Climb is said to be one of the hardest levels in the game, so to put a colored gem in there is just a fuck you. I'm not doing those, especially when you need them to complete other levels.

The strength over Crash 2 & 3 is a cohesive world. In those games, you go through portals to enter different themed levels. In Crash 1, it's a world map like Donkey Kong Country. The level designs are mostly solid with interesting box placements blending well with the platforming.

Some problems could be due to problems of old. Depth perception is an issue here because it's hard to judge my jumps, and when running forward is off so you can't see what's ahead. Hit detection is really wonky. Especially with Cortex's bullets. The hitboxes are so big. There are these bouncing lizards that push you instead of damage you and I swear every time. I was supposed to kill them with my spin.

I got 6 gems and 8 platinum relics so I feel like that's enough for now until I come back and want to 100% the game. It's a solid game, but I'm sure that the other games will be better as I play these games for the first time.

CRASH 1 RATING: 6.5/10

I used to play Crash 2 back in the day quite a lot and when I saw this on the switch I had to play it! Turns out the series is a great platformer, but with a lot of bs, you have to put up with.

The first game is impossibly hard. Not due to difficulty, mostly, but due to the insane weird controls and hitboxes, the frustration was huge. That sky turtle level is a nightmare.

Game two, the graphics have a huge bump in quality, control gets fixed and the gameplay is way more accessible. Fun but not insanely impossible, my personal favorite of the three.

The third game, the graphics improved even more and we see a lot of variety in level design and mini-games. The gameplay is not as taxing and the game is a breeze.

As a fan of platformers, this bundle was a ton of fun and brought back some memories. I wouldn't call this series a must-play, or essential, but it does bring some fun to the genre with cool characters. No judgment if you skip the first one.

I was really excited for this, and it even was one of the reasons why I considered buying a PS4. Oh boy. I played Crash Bandicoot 2 & 3 at friends house, when I was between 6 and 9. We loved it back then, and I always looked back at it with great love and nostalgia.

Now finally it arrived on the Nintendo Switch, and I bought a physical copy on release day. The fantastic animations blew me away from the start, but I soon realized that gameplay-wise, the first game was quite different from the latter two. It was incredibly challenging, but not in the good way. Crash 1 is fucking frustrating, and the challenge mostly comes from its wonky controls, weird ass perspectives and shitty hitboxes. Most of my deaths resulted from:

• Crash moving to fast or too slow in the air
• Falling into pits that can only be crossed if you jump at the last possible moment
• Misjudging my distance to hazards due to depth perception
• Being close to hazards but not actually touch them (especially on boss fights)

These things are not fun, designed challenges, but infuriating bullshit, probably resulting from the fact that these games were some of the first steps in the 3D space. I don't think the devs handled it particularly very well back then. The game just felt like a mess, with a few fine spots here and there. I really wanted to fully play each game in order, so I forced myself through this, in anticipation of the rest of the Trilogy.

Sadly it only got better by a little bit. There were no more completely ridiculously hard levels, but plenty of frustrating ones. I definitely had more fun with the second and third game, but the stupid levels inbetween the O.K. ones never stopped coming. Some levels had pretty interesting designs, visually and gameplay-wise, but I was never really wowed.

What I liked most about these games are the characters and their fun animations, they got a few good grins out of me. Also, there are few really cool locations with fun gameplay, like the medieval, persian and egyptian levels in Crash 3. But I really don't see why anyone who's not wildly nostalgic for these titles should play this Trilogy, at best I can mildly recommend the the third game.

It's a wonder how some games retain a sense of quality, fun, and difficulty years after their release. Much like the original Super Mario Bros, there's something about Crash Bandicoot that, regardless of its vehicular faults, could be resold and would capture audience's hearts. But how?

N Sane Trilogy is remade with the kind of love that I wish most remakes were made with. Completely redone graphics (making the boss fights at least FEEL more intense), more modern designs like auto-saves and being able to redo bonus stages, and even including content cut from the original game as DLC. This is the definitive way to play the trilogy.

However, there are some differences that may lead people back to the original version. The collision is a little less boxy and the physics at times are a little too realistic (Jetski levels), but none of it is actually buggy.

All in all, if you ever had a favorite in Crash 1, 2, or 3, this is the game for you. If you want to see what everyone's talking about when they say Crash Bandicoot, this is just the shiny coat of paint to bring it back into the limelight.

“Crash, Crash, Crash. Why must you always muck in my mud?” -Doctor Neo Cortex, Crash Bandicoot: Warped

This may not come as a surprise to anyone who knows me but I am a huge sucker for hype and am often more excited for video game trailers for unreleased games than I am when I actually hold said game in my hand. So when Shawn Layden walked onto the stage at the PlayStation Experience in 2015 wearing a Crash Bandicoot t-shirt I was stoked. The internet blew up in an intoxicating mix of excitement and despair. What started as incredible hype slowly depleted as nothing was announced throughout the show. The shirt had to mean something though, right?

Unexpectedly our next taste of Crash Bandicoot came in the form of a mini game included in Uncharted 4: A Theif’s End. Crash is incorporated into the game superbly in a way that many people would find themselves able to relate to. The two main characters shared a meal together as they engaged in sporadic conversation that flowed in waves and felt natural. They then started to play a Crash Bandicoot level together; commenting on it as they progressed towards the end.

When the inevitable announcement arrived it was met with excitement from many. People who hadn’t played games in years were pre-ordering the game for a taste of the nostalgic experience they had as a child. It was during this period that I decided to pre-order the game to be safe. I’m glad that I did as it ended up selling out Australia-wide in only a few days. Overseas it sold exceptionally well too as it topped many of the charts and even outsold Horizon Zero Dawn.

Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy consists of three full games – Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and Crash Bandicoot: Warped. Upon loading up the game you are greeted by a menu screen that lets you choose which game you want to start with. You have the freedom to play them in any order you wish but personally I prefer to play my games canonically so I started with the original.

All three games are platform games and for the most part the levels are standard platform fare. There are two themed levels that shake the formula up in an interesting way. The first are levels that have you running towards the camera unable to see upcoming hazards as a large boulder or dinosaur speeds towards you at a menacing pace. The second has the player mount one of three animals; a hog, polar bear or tiger depending on the level. Once mounted you move through the level at speed, unable to stop and must make sure you don’t hit any enemy or obstacle in your path.

The remastered versions of the game look absolutely stunning. The graphics have a more realistic feel to them whilst still maintaining the vivid and varied environments throughout the three games’ unique levels. It’s hard not to notice little details throughout the game such as the way the water glistens, the lighting and importantly Crash’s character model. Graphical enhancement is not where the changes end though as there are numerous mechanical changes too. The most beneficial change is the save system which consists of both an auto-save feature and the option to manually save between levels. This is a fantastic step forward from the archaic system of the original game.

Click here for the full review... https://thewellredmage.wordpress.com/2017/07/19/crash-bandicoot-n-sane-trilogy/