Developer: Naughty Dog
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment & Universal Interactive Studios
Reviewed on: PlayStation
Available on: PlayStation
Released: September 9th 1996
Crash Bandicoot is a 3D platformer
created by Naughty Dog (the studio behind the Jak and Daxter,
Uncharted and The Last of Us games) in 1996. It's one of the first
games I ever played and one which I've played many times since and
what better time to talk about it seeing as it's recently been
revealed that a HD remake of Crash Bandicoot and it's two sequels is
being developed.
Crash Bandicoot was created with the
intention of introducing a new mascot for the newly released
PlayStation, in a similar way to how Nintendo had Mario and Sega had
Sonic. Although Crash never officially became the PlayStation mascot,
he was unofficially known as such and his name became synonymous with
the console. If you owned a PlayStation the odds are you will have had a
Crash Bandicoot game, they were must-have titles which everyone
remembers fondly, but, does Crash's first outing deserve the acclaim
the series went on to gain?
The creators of Crash wanted the main character to be a real animal but one that not many people had heard of. I imagine a lot of people only know what a bandicoot is because of Crash. I know I'm one of them!
The story of Crash Bandicoot is mostly
given to us at the start of the game through the beginning cutscene,
oddly enough you don't actually get to see the cutscene unless you
leave the game inactive on the main menu for a few seconds which
probably means some players never even got to see it, but
nevertheless the game begins like this;
The evil Dr. Neo Cortex and his
sidekick Dr. Nitrus Brio are scientists who plan to take over the
world. They own three islands just off the shore of Australia and are
using these to conduct strange experiments on the local inhabitants.
By genetically altering all of the creatures on these islands Cortex
hopes to create an unstoppable animal army.
Unfortunately, one of his projects
involves a Bandicoot called Crash, and during the attempt to turn him
into a super soldier, everything goes wrong, resulting in Crash
escaping the facility but leaving behind his love interest, Tawna
Bandicoot, to be experimented on.
How ironic that the creature given the label of 'reject' is the one to put a stop to Cortex's plans (spoilers).
Crash accidentally falls into the sea
upon his escape and drifts to the shore of one of the nearby islands.
Being the selfless bandicoot that he is, he decides he must head back
to Cortex's facility and stop him, thus not only saving Tawna but the
whole world.
The cutscene introduces us to the
antagonists very well, giving them a clear motive and explaining why
they're such a threat, it also gives some character to Crash, showing
him to be clumsy, but determined. The plot is basically just a
typical damsel in distress story that we've seen time and time again in the
Super Mario games (among others), it gets the job done, but it's quite a lazy way of
giving you an overall goal while playing through the game.
The game ends with Crash defeating
Cortex (who proceeds to fall from his blimp after the battle) and
then rescuing Tawna. They celebrate atop the blimp with Cortex's
facility burning to the ground in the distance. If you 100% the game
you gain access to a secret ending where Crash and Tawna fly away on
a big bird and the credits sequence shows what happened to all the
bosses you defeated after the events of the game. Oddly, the secret
ending isn't the canon ending as it doesn't show Cortex falling from the blimp (which sets up the events in the sequel). It's a fun little reward for getting all the Gems, but I
can't help thinking it would have been better to have gotten
something more substantial like infinite invincibility which would
have given the game more replay-ability too.
It can be assumed from the fact Cortex's base isn't burning that in the secret ending you simply escape without ever even fighting Cortex meaning the world technically isn't even saved.
The game starts with a world map which,
after completing a level, begins to expand and open up new levels to
complete. It's very linear with only one level opening up after the
completion of the level before it. Super Mario Bros 3 (created in
1988) has a similar but more complicated world map structure and this
does make Crash Bandicoot feel a little outdated in the way the
levels are laid out.
The actual level designs are linear
too, mostly consisting of moving straight forward with occasional
forks in the road but this never becomes boring because of the way
the camera moves and the paths slightly twist which makes the
environments you are exploring feel slightly more alive and real.
Even though you are moving forward a lot of the time there is enough
going on to make you forget about that and focus on everything around
you. Sometimes you'll be moving towards the camera rather than
straight forward and there are also quite a lot of 2.5D style
sections thrown in which keep the game varied and interesting.
Crash Bandicoot is approximately 50% fully 3D and 50% 2.5D, which is great because it offers two different types of gameplay which switch very often to keep things fresh.
The first levels do an excellent job of
introducing the core mechanics and level types featured in the game.
For example, the first level is about as standard as a Crash
Bandicoot level gets, the enemies here can be jumped on or killed
using the trademark spin attack which teaches you Crash's offensive
moves, the jumps are easy but allows the player to get a feel for the
physics, the Aku Aku masks are plentiful which teaches you about the
health system and you can get all of the boxes on your first run
through which teaches you about Gems. A player who hasn't ever played
Crash Bandicoot would probably go through this level and learn almost
every single basic mechanic without even realising, this is a classic
example on how you make a first level.
Being a 3D platformer, there are quite
a lot of collectibles, the main thing you need to get are the Gems
which are used to gain access to the true ending of the game by
building a path to the captured Tawna and rescuing her. However in
order to get these Gems, you need to break every box in every level.
Within these boxes can be Wumpa Fruit
which is the games equivalent of Coins in the Super Mario games, upon
collecting 100 of these you'll get a 1-up. 1-ups can also be found on
their own in the form of floating Crash icons. Other character icons
can be found such as Tawna ones which send you to bonus levels which
contain lots of Wumpa Fruit, 1-ups and the ability to save the game,
Dr Nitrus Brio icons which serve the exact same purpose as the Tawna icons only with a much harder bonus level instead of the relatively
easy Tawna bonus rooms, and finally Cortex icons which give you a key
that unlocks a special bonus level somewhere on the world map.
The Dr. Nitrus Brio icons you collect are pointless because they don't give you anything a Tawna bonus level doesn't. It seems a bit strange that there's no real reason to complete them but you can just completely ignore them and still get 100% completion.
Coloured Gems can be randomly found
instead of a normal Gem and these unlock platforms in previous levels
which you need in order to get all the boxes on these levels. This is
where the game introduces backtracking, it isn't possible to play
through the levels once and get all the boxes because sometimes
you'll need to have collected a coloured Gem before doing so.
Remembering which Gems are needed for which levels can be slightly
annoying, but luckily it's easy to go through the game getting all
the Gems you can and then simply go back to all the levels you
haven't got the Gem on and finish it all off.
Backtracking for some people is an
annoyance, but for me if it's done well it's good for showing off how
much you've developed your skills since the start of the game, upon
re-doing some of the older levels in order to get the Gem you'll find
you'll be breezing through them when at the start of the game you
were moving slowly and having to be more patient. The backtracking
could have been handled better in Crash Bandicoot, it's very annoying
not being able to get the gem in the majority of early levels, but
it's also not the worse example of backtracking I've ever seen.
You can also find Aku Aku masks which
are the games health indicator. Crash on his own can only handle one
hit before losing a 1-up but having an Aku Aku mask will grant him
the ability to take one hit. Having two masks will make Crash able to
take two hits and having three masks will grant Crash temporary
invisibility as well as a faster movement speed.
You probably won't be getting three Aku Aku masks that much throughout the game so you had better enjoy it when you do.
Crash Bandicoot is quite a difficult
game, the later levels in-particular feature some very difficult
platforming sections. However this alone isn't what makes up for the
games difficulty. As I mentioned before, you need to get all the
boxes in a level to get the Gem. But if you get a checkpoint and lose
a 1-up after doing so, all of the boxes you broke previous to that
checkpoint will come back, which effectively means you need to do
every level while not only breaking every box but without losing a
1-up either. Because of these aforementioned difficult platforming
sections this can make some levels extremely hard and frustrating to
fully complete. What adds to this is that some levels can be quite
long and losing a 1-up while in the later sections of the game is
very irritating.
The save system in this game is
somewhat odd as it uses both a memory card save and a password
system. Turning the game off and using one of these methods to load
your game will result in the loss of all of your 1-ups but you will
keep your progress with the Gems. I figure that the reason for this
is that the memory card save feature basically loads a pre-set saved
game (the same ones used for the password system) rather than saving
your actual game. This is slightly annoying if you're near the end of
the game and turn it off only to then return and find you have no
lives for the more difficult levels.
Why on earth did games with a password system always make the passwords so long? It really isn't necessary.
You also can't save the game whenever
you want, you need to either collect a gem or a key or finish a bonus
level in order to save, However I don't think this is too much of an
issue as there isn't much of a reason to save without doing one of
those things anyway.
The boss battles in Crash Bandicoot are
very easy, especially when compared to the actual levels which can be
extremely tough. It's a bit disorientating to go from a difficult
level to a boss which can be beaten with minimal effort. However some
of the bosses do have some interesting mechanics, particular ones
that stand out are Ripper Roo in which you need to memorise his
jumping pattern and time 'Big TNT' crates to explode when he's next
to them and Dr. Neo Cortex where he shoots multiple lasers at you
which do different patterns, but the green ones can be hit back at
him. It can be quite tense when multiple types of lasers are on
screen and you really need to pay attention. But other than that the
bosses are quite lackluster.
Some levels require you to backtrack
through the level, running towards the camera rather than away from
it, and these sections are bad because the camera simply doesn't move
back enough. This means you'll often be falling down pits or getting
hit by enemies unfairly because you can't see them. There aren't too
many levels where this happens but it's irritating when it does. The
levels where you're supposed to be moving backwards are fine because
the camera is positioned so you can see things close to the screen,
so it makes it all the more irritating when the camera doesn't do the
same thing when you have to move backwards and backtrack in certain levels.
Not only is Ripper Roo the most interesting boss mechanically (in my opinion) but he's also my favourite villain in the first Crash Bandicoot game. What's not to like about a crazy kangaroo in a straight jacket?
One thing the game does well is that
the level themes stand out from each other. This is because most of
them have a particular gimmick which changes how you play the levels
somewhat. For example, the ruins themed levels feature moving
platforms and timed platforms that move in and out, the native levels
feature a lot more vertical movement than other levels (by making you
climb up the fortress using spinning platforms and bouncing boxes)
and the laboratory levels feature switches which change and move
obstacles offering elements of puzzle solving (which probably could
have been expanded on more). This is another big thing (along with
the varied camera perspectives) that keeps the game from getting
repetitive. Some levels also have one off gimmicks like the 'Wild
Hog' and 'Lights Out' levels which have a vehicle section and a
section where you need to use Aku Aku masks to light up the area but
it only does it temporarily. There's something mechanically different
about each theme rather than it just being visual.
Throughout the game there are some very
obscure secrets that I feel are right on the verge of being slightly
too out there to be acceptable. I like games which feature hidden
secrets but the secrets have to be able to be found by discovering
clues or by studying your surroundings closely for subtle indications
of where the secret is. Crash Bandicoot does have these clues but
they are sometimes quite far-fetched. An example of this is in the
level 'Up The Creek' where you hit a explanation mark box which
triggers something to change in the level, but rather than making a
box outline solid (like in every other level) it spawns some boxes
which previously weren't there at all and not only that but to get to
these boxes you have to backtrack through the level slightly making
it even more difficult to figure out. Luckily this is probably the
worse example of this, but there are some others which are a bit
obscure too. Like walking backwards to discover platforms appearing
from nowhere in the level 'The High Road' and jumping between enemies
at the bottom of a pit which would normally take a 1-up from you in
the level 'Heavy Machinery'.
In the secret area of 'The High Road', not only do you need to walk backwards to discover platforms that appear when you stand on them, but there are also gaps in the bridge which you can't see, meaning you just have to jump and hope you land on solid ground.
The enemy designs are visually varied,
ranging from tortoises and other wild animals and plants, to blobs of
goo, evil scientists and scary arms trapped in cages. Each enemy has
some sort of different mechanic, like the aforementioned tortoises
which can be jumped on to reach longer distances, bats which will
constantly spawn unless you kill the two leaders, natives which
can't be killed using the spin attack or by jumping, but can be
killed using a mixture of the two and a lot more. Again, this adds a
lot of variety to the game and it's great that the enemies match the
level themes rather than there being a lot of enemies constantly
being re-used.
Overall the graphics are great,
especially when compared to other games coming out at the time like
Tekken and Ridge Racer which went for realism and as such have dated
more in terms of visuals. It's easy to see why this vibrant game was
a stand out title at the time. Although when compared to newer
PlayStation games it does look more dated, but not off-puttingly so at all.
This is one of the hardest sections of the game, you need to time your movements around a floor which disappears, an electric gate which turns on and off and an enemy who runs towards you hitting you with electric every couple of seconds. Very irritating to get all the boxes on.
There's a bit of variety in the level
themes, going from the standard grassy levels, to a stream, native
fortresses, decaying ruins, strange almost otherworldly bridge levels
and scientific installations. The issue with this is that a lot of
the time, the game will stick to blocks of the same level themes
rather than breaking them up a bit more. A lot of the early levels
are grass ones, a lot of the middle section are ruin themed levels
and a lot of the later stages are scientific installations. It can
become slightly dull and hinder your sense of progression but this is
helped a lot by the variety in level designs from a gameplay
perspective.
One of the best things visually is
something I touched upon earlier, it's how the levels all seem alive
because of the subtle camera motions and by the moving environments.
If you look close you'll be able to see insects flying around, moving
water, bubbling slime and all sorts of little attentions to detail in
the games backgrounds. It's great and is part of the reason the game
still looks good today. Just adding that slight bit of movement into
the environments stops things looking static and boring. I also like
the small details in the game's backgrounds, like being able to see
the islands you'll be going to later in the game when you're high up
in certain levels.
The piranha plants from Super Mario Bros. even make an appearance!
The characters all look great too,
Crash himself is particularly expressive because of his idle
animations, his celebrations when completing levels and his facial
expressions when doing general movements. Cortex and N. Brio also look
great, being the stereotypical mad scientist and Frankenstein's
monster-like sidekick and all the boss enemies are unique and fun to
watch during their fights.
The controls are perhaps the biggest
problem with Crash Bandicoot (either that or the checkpoint system),
it's not that they're bad on paper, the button layout is perfect and
everything feels natural in that regard. The X button makes Crash
jump, square makes him spin and the d-pad makes him move. It gets the
job done but it is somewhat lacking in depth for a game made in 1996.
If you look at Super Mario 64 (released in the same year as Crash
Bandicoot), there was a lot of different and advanced moves you could
pull off like wall jumping, punching, sliding etc. It makes Crash
Bandicoot's control scheme look very basic and simplistic in
comparison, though admittedly that control structure is more suited
to a open level design rather than a linear one like Crash
Bandicoot's.
If Tawna is at the end of every bonus room just standing there, why doesn't Crash just 'save' her there and then? Or is she a figment of his imagination...
Crash has two forms of attack, jumping
on enemies and his spin attack. Some enemies require you to use a
certain attack and using the other one won't harm them at all, this
adds a bit of strategy in working out what the best way of defeating
your enemy is. You'll need to obverse the enemy patterns and work out
which form of attack is best and then attempt to defeat them using
that attack or get around them.
The issue with the controls is that at
times Crash can feel slippery, and in a platformer that requires a lot
of accurate jumps this is detrimental. It's especially a problem when
you move and spin at the same time and Crash will continue to move
during his spin animation even if you let go of the d-pad.
Jumping can also be awkward for a
similar reason. Crash will continue moving slightly after letting go
of the d-pad meaning you have to let go early to compensate for that
and it takes a while to get used to and can be particularly annoying
in sections where you need to do multiple jumps in a row. It also
forces you to stop and start a lot during general movement because
it's difficult to compensate for the delay during multiple quick
jumps.
Some levels feature a lot of moving platforms and you'll be constantly moving up. One mistake and you'll fall and have to start the process all over again.
General movement can feel slightly
stiff at times, rather than feeling like you can move Crash around
the 3D environments smoothly, it almost feels like he's locked to
moving left, right, up and down. Although you can move diagonally
there's hardly any need to and it feels a bit clunky to do so.
Even after saying all that, I wouldn't
say the controls were bad, just flawed and in need of fine tuning. It
just feels like you can't fully trust the controls not to mess you up
which isn't good in a game which is all about precise controls and
where the stakes are so high if you lose a 1-up.
The music in Crash Bandicoot is great.
It's memorable and will stick in your head, the main theme
in-particular is very good at that. Although the music is good, it
does sound a bit poorly produced and minimal in some places,
sometimes there isn't a lot going on musically apart from the main
melody, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Another stand
out track for me is the Wild Hog music, which is upbeat and matches
the game and level perfectly.
Weirdly, there are only two vehicle sections in the game, both of which have you riding on a warthog who dashes forward. These are some of my favourite levels and it's a shame there aren't a couple more levels like this.
The sound design is really good, most
actions have a dedicated sound to them, like bouncing on and breaking
boxes, collecting and spinning Wumpa Fruit, enemies make different
noises and collectables all make noises too. It makes every action
you do feel like it gets an actual response from the world around you
and nothing sounds out of place. Even in the calmer levels which
don't have a lot of music, the sound design makes it so that the game
never feels empty.
The voice acting was all done by one
person, Brendan O'Brien, and it's actually very good, for some reason
Cortex's voice sounds low quality, as if it's been compressed, but
this may have been done on purpose to make Cortex seem more sinister.
Cortex sounds very very threatening and N Brio sounds like a
lunatic which matches his character perfectly. Crash doesn't say very
much at all but when he does, his voice reflects his clumsy but
heroic and determined attitude.
What exactly are these creepy creatures in cages? Failed experiments created by Cortex? We'll never know.
Crash Bandicoot is a good 3D platformer
and it's worth playing if you like a challenge. It has several flaws
with the checkpoint and saving system, controls and bosses, and these
let the game down. It becomes an annoyance rather than a challenge at
times to complete the levels without dying and it takes away from the
fun when the cause of death is because of the controls being
slippery.
The controls and level select screens
feel a bit basic when you consider it doesn't really do anything that
hasn't already been done by Mario, but I suppose the main charm and
selling point upon it's release was that it was fully 3D. Although
it's good, you can tell it's an early PlayStation game.
6/10
Pros
- Good graphics (especially for the
time), there is lots of movement in the backgrounds which makes the
environments seem more alive.
- Level themes all introduce
gimmicks which makes the differences between the areas not just
aesthetic.
- Mix of 3D and 2D gameplay creates
variety even when the level themes are the same.
Cons
- Sometimes there are too many of
the same level themes in a row (or in close proximity to each
other).
- Could be considered a little bit
basic (when looking at control scheme, world map and level
progression) when compared to some other games coming out at the
time.
- Checkpoint system is flawed and
creates frustration rather than it being a fun level of difficulty.
- Controls can feel slightly
slippery at times when performing certain actions.
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