Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back | Review

Developer: Naughty Dog

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment & Universal Interactive Studios

Reviewed on: PlayStation

Available on: PlayStation

Released: November 5^th 1997

To celebrate the upcoming release of the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy on PS4 I figured I would go back and review the original Crash Bandicoot games to re-familiarise myself with the series' roots before I create a video review for the aforementioned remake trilogy which is due to be released on the 30^th June 2017. I've already reviewed the original Crash Bandicoot so the next logical step would be to move over to the next game in the series.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back is a game which I have a lot of nostalgia for, it was one of the games I played time and time again as a kid and I still find time to replay it fairly often nowadays too. The original Crash Bandicoot was very impressive when it was released and it received a lot of positive attention and acclaim from critics and gamers alike, but because of this success, Naughty Dog (the creators of the original Crash games) were given only a single year to develop a sequel.

In November 1997 the world got to play Crash Bandicoot 2 and the sequel gained even higher acclaim than the original game as well as solidifying Crash as the unofficial PlayStation mascot. It became one of the best selling PS1 games of all time and was one of the main 'system sellers' on the console, but looking back on the game in 2017, does it still hold up today?

Most of the cutscenes in Crash 2 consist of Cortex contacting you in the form of a hologram to manipulate you into working with him.

One of the major improvements made to Crash 2 is the story; back in the original game there wasn't much going on, your girlfriend (Tawna Bandicoot) was kidnapped by the evil Dr. Neo Cortex and it was up to Crash to save her and defeat the villain. That's all there was to it. Eleven years after Super Mario Bros. was released and games were still using the captured princess story formula and it was becoming quite stale.

In Crash 2 though, things are much more complicated. After Cortex's defeat at the end of the first game he falls down to Earth from his blimp (where the final boss in Crash 1 takes place) and discovers a cave where he finds a crystal which is a source of extremely large amounts of energy. Cortex takes the crystal to his space laboratory (yes, apparently he now has a space laboratory) to study it further, discovering the existence of twenty five more crystals hidden somewhere on Earth. However, because Crash has defeated all of Cortex's minions in the previous game, he is unable to retrieve them. This issue doesn't stop Cortex though and he begins working on a crystal powered weapon with the help of his new right hand man, N. Gin, while also hatching a plan to use Crash to collect the other crystals and unknowingly bring them directly to the weapon.

One year later and Crash is enjoying a well earned break with his sister Coco. Tawna is now nowhere to be seen but it's been stated in interviews and implied in other Crash related media that she left Crash to be with Pinstripe (a reoccurring villain in the Crash series), so at least we now have some clarification as to what happened to her. Coco's battery for her laptop is running out so she asks Crash to head out and get her a new one, I don't know where he'll find one considering they live on an abandoned island, but regardless, he heads off to get her one anyway.

N. Gin isn't focused on very much in the story of Crash 2 which is disappointing because I really like his design.

Along the way Crash is kidnapped by Cortex and told that there's a force that threatens to destroy the world and the only way of preventing it is to use the energy from the twenty five crystals to power a device that can stop it. However, you're later contacted by Cortex's old right hand man from the first game (Dr. Nitrus Brio) who tells you that Cortex is lying and to collect gems instead of crystals to power up a laser beam to shoot and destroy Cortex's space station. Because Crash continues to collect crystals rather than gems, N. Brio becomes angered and sends enemies to attempt to stop Crash from helping Cortex. Coco occasionally contacts Crash and gives him information about Cortex's real agenda but because of her low battery she isn't able to help directly.

Upon collecting all twenty five crystals, Cortex reveals his true plan which is to use his space station to shoot his crystal powered weapon and brainwash the entire planet, turning them into mindless slaves. Crash then races after Cortex and stops him before the weapon can be activated but upon defeating Cortex, Coco brings attention to the fact that the space laboratory is still left floating in space and is implied to still be a threat.

After collecting all the gems and giving them to N. Brio he uses a laser cannon to shoot Cortex's space station down, thus ending the threat it presents to the world. However as the final credits roll Cortex's laugh can be heard, implying there are more adventures to be had in a sequel.

The true ending to the game is only available after you reach 100% completion.

The story of Crash 2 is much more detailed and complicated than the original game and it expands on the existing character's motives much more, making them more fleshed out and likable than before. In particular Cortex's character is given a lot of screen time and as you get closer to your goal his intent becomes more and more clear and this subtle and gradual change of tone adds so much to his personality.

If I was to criticise the story I would say that it's quite a massive shame that we know from the beginning cutscene that Cortex is lying to us. If the cutscene had shown Cortex discovering the crystals but not shown his intent to use them to create a weapon the player might have actually wondered if he was telling the truth and made the twist of his true evil intentions much more impactful. The addition of N. Brio's sub-plot is fantastic for this reason, we don't know if he's telling the truth or whether he's working with Cortex or has his own nefarious intentions, it's only at the end of the game when you have no choice but to help him that we realise we should have trusted him all along.

The story progresses throughout the game too rather than just having everything at the start and at the end like most platformers. The story will gradually develop as you complete each level by having Coco hack into Cortex's communications to give you advice but suddenly getting cut off by Cortex who tries to cover up the fact that he's trying to stop Coco from giving you information.

It's also slightly odd how Crash 2's story follows on from the normal ending of Crash 1 rather than the secret ending. But this is more of an interesting fact rather than a criticism. This could probably be explained by the fact that Naughty Dog didn't know Crash was going to get a sequel while developing it. Overall though, the story of Crash 2 is really good for a platformer and there's actually quite a few twists and turns to keep you engaged throughout.

Cortex has a much bigger presence in Crash 2 compared to the original and this really helps to develop his character and make him more than just a faceless last boss.

But Crash 2 didn't only make improvements to the story, the gameplay has been adjusted and fine tuned too. Crash now has some new abilities he can use to traverse levels and attack enemies, the most useful being the high jump which allows Crash to jump a little bit higher than a standard jump. This doesn't sound useful on it's own but when it's combined with Crash's slide ability you can smoothly transition from a high speed slide to a high jump which will allow you to clear pits with ease. Another ability introduced in Crash 2 is the body slam which is effectively a ground pound from Super Mario 64, however, this body slam move has very little use in the game, you can kill normal enemies with a normal jump so to completely stop in the air and slam down onto the floor isn't a particularly useful attack. It can be used to break stacks of boxes without having to bounce on them one by one and there are special boxes which can only be broken with body slams but these situations don't happen very often. Aside from this though, Crash's new abilities are great, not only for maneuvering around the levels but also for enabling enemies to be a lot more varied, for example, some can only be attacked by sliding into them, some can only be jumped on and some need to be dispatched using Crash's trademark spin attack which returns from the first game. This adds a lot more complexity to the game and adds another layer of challenge in the sections where you need to defeat enemies one after another using all the different attack combinations at your disposal.

The structure of the game has also changed, it's now slightly more non-linear and the world map screen has been scrapped in favour of the Warp Room system (which became a staple of the Crash Bandicoot games for a long time). When the game begins (after an extremely brief tutorial-esque level which can only be played if you watch the entirety of the beginning cutscene), you'll find yourself in a small room with five portals and an elevator platform in the middle of the room, there's also a save area where you can use a memory card to save your progress or load an old game. This save system is so much better than the original Crash Bandicoot. In the first game you had to access a bonus room or collect a gem in order to save your progress, rather than being able to do so whenever you wanted, there was also a password save system which I felt was a little bit outdated but this is completely scrapped in Crash 2 in favour of being able to save whenever you want (providing you're in the Warp Room).

Using the platform in the middle of the Warp Room will allow you to travel between the different areas and revisit old levels.

The five main portals take you to different levels and you can access these in any order you want, this adds a degree of freedom into the game's structure but because you need to complete all five of the levels to progress anyway, you're only really delaying the inevitable if you don't play a level first because you don't like it.

Upon entering a level, your main objective is to collect a crystal item which will just be floating there in plain sight. There's pretty much no way you can miss the crystals and it's just an extra reward for finishing the level to make it feel more satisfying. The real collectibles are the boxes which you'll need to destroy all of in every level to get all of the gem items (just like in the first game). You'll need to find all of the gems if you want to 100% the game (thus getting the good ending) and finding the boxes in order to get the gems is where the game can become quite challenging. Simply playing through the level is quite easy (though later levels do get substantially tougher) but when you access the optional areas in order to find secret gems and boxes the game's difficulty can ramp up very quickly. Even the optional areas in the early levels could be quite tough for someone unfamiliar with the game.

As well as normal gems, the coloured gems from Crash 1 make a return, this time they are (mostly) collected by accessing secret areas which will teleport you to a special hidden area of the Warp Room where you can find alternate entrances to previous levels or access entirely new secret levels. The secret areas you find in the normal levels are quite well hidden and it might take a bit of thinking outside the box to work out where they are. For example, in the level titled 'Bee-Having', you'll spot some stairs made of Nitro boxes which immediately look suspicious, but normally upon touching these boxes Crash will instantly die. So in order to make it slightly more obvious that it's a secret and the Nitro boxes are actually safe, you might notice that unlike the rest of the Nitro boxes in the game, these ones don't bounce, the implication being that they're metal boxes that have been painted to look like Nitro boxes. So upon going up the stairs you'll be whisked away to the secret Warp Room where you can access a new area. There are a few of these sorts of secrets and while some of them could be considered a little bit too unobvious, I actually think there's just enough of a hint given as to the presence of a secret area that it's hidden well but not too obscure to not be able to work out by paying attention.

Off in the distance of the secret area of the Warp Room you can see the islands you explored in Crash 1 which is a very cool reference.

There's also some gems which aren't gathered by collecting boxes or by finding hidden areas. Some will be found by completing small side objectives like not breaking any boxes in a level (going against Crash's natural instinct) and doing time trial sections. All of these break up the gameplay and stop things from becoming too monotonous.

Another thing that stops the game feeling boring is the inclusion of slightly more vehicle sections than the first game (which had two hog ride levels, one of which being a secret). First of all you'll come across a jet board which allows Crash to make his way across long bodies of water without drowning. While using this Crash can boost and go up ramps to jump over fences and collect boxes, but you'll have to avoid hitting mines otherwise the jet board will blow up leaving Crash to fall into the watery depths. The second vehicle is a baby polar bear which Crash will mount and ride in the same way he did with the warthog back in Crash 1 (he even does the same eyebrow movement before jumping onto it). This works in a similar way to the warthog but the controls are much better here, you can perform a dash move which will allow Crash to move faster and jump a lot further and the overall responsiveness of the polar bear feels a lot more smooth. The final vehicle is a jet pack which allows Crash to fly around in low gravity while exploring a space station, these sections are quite fun and you'll have to have good timing to make it through some of the obstacles, danger is now coming from all directions rather than just being in front of Crash so it adds a new challenge and variety to the level design.

After completing the five levels in the first area of the Warp Room you'll be taken to a boss level and then after defeating the boss fight you'll be whisked away to the second area of the Warp Room. The game's progression stays like this throughout the entire game which means there are a total of five bosses, some of which make a return from Crash 1. The best of the boss fights is definitely N. Gin; in this level you gain the ability to throw Wumpa Fruit into the background and you have to hit weak spots on N. Gin's flying robot vehicle while avoiding his many different attacks. It's a good boss which tests your reflexes, jumping ability and timing. Beyond this though the other boss levels are either quite mediocre or just plain bad. The last boss battle with Cortex is particularly disappointing because it's probably the worst of the bunch. Crash is using his jet pack and has to move forward to catch Cortex and hit him three times before he escapes with the crystals. The problem is that it's far too easy and you can very quickly beat him in around 30 seconds or less. I feel like this boss should have had multiple stages and this one should have been the first section before the proper boss begins. This last boss being so disappointing lets the whole game down slightly because Cortex is built up to be a threatening force throughout the whole game but then it abruptly ends after a short encounter and the credits roll.

Tiny Tiger is the second best boss in the game, his fight consists of some basic platforming while trying to bait him into a hole. The design of this boss is quite threatening and he became one of the primary characters of the Crash franchise after his appearance here.

One thing that's particularly impressive about Crash 2 is how much variety it has. Just like the first game it mixes 3D gameplay with 2D sections which frequently changes the playstyle and I've already mentioned the inclusion of more vehicles which increases the variety even more. On top of that you have levels where you'll be running from a bolder (just like the first game) and levels which combine all of these aspects in one single level. You'll go from running from a huge polar bear, to a 2D bonus section to a section where you mount the baby polar bear and evade the returning huge polar bear that's been stalking you throughout the level and it all just meshes together incredibly well. It makes it so you have no idea what's about to happen and there could be a surprise around every corner and because of this it makes you want to explore everywhere in case there's something cool you've missed.

Perhaps the biggest issue with the first Crash game has been completely fixed in the sequel. In the original you had to complete every level getting every box without dying because if you died in a level after getting a checkpoint you would be returned to the checkpoint but all the boxes you had previously broken would come back. However in Crash 2 getting a checkpoint will save your box progress meaning that it doesn't matter if you die or not. This makes the game easier but Crash 1's difficulty was getting to the point where it was annoying more than just being a fun challenge, so this is definitely a welcome addition.

Another issue I have with Crash 2 is one which I had with the original game too. Sometimes levels will split into two paths which forces you to go down one and then either walk backwards down the path you've already walked down or walk backwards up the path you've not explored yet and the camera positioning makes this incredibly difficult. When Crash walks backwards the camera is still positioned in the same way it is when he walks forward meaning that you can hardly see anything at the front of the screen but you can see plenty in the background. This means that when backtracking you simply can't see enemies and pits that are directly in front of you and this can result in deaths that are completely unfair. The fact that levels are sometimes designed to make you do this is ridiculous and creates artificial difficulty by simply not allowing you to see obstacles.

The amount of times you'll get to the end of a level only to have not broken all of the boxes due to a secret area not being accessible yet is a bit annoying and results in replaying certain levels multiple times.

There's a couple of situations like in the level 'Bee-Having' where you can enter a secret area where the gem is and then die, which takes you back to the main level, but because you've already got the gem at the start of the secret area, there's no need to go back and finish the secret area because after dying you keep any gems you've collected. An obvious fix for this issue would have been to simply put the gems at the end of the secret areas, but instead we have this strange situation where certain areas are entirely optional.

A particularly bad level in Crash 2 is one called 'Cold Hard Crash'. It's not that the actual level design is bad but the way in which it's structured and items are laid out is extremely annoying. The level starts normally until about half way through when you enter a secret area with boxes in it and upon completing the area you're transported further into the main level and you can't go back to collect boxes you missed after the secret area entrance. The only way of knowing that this will happen is to do the level multiple times which simply isn't good design. What you actually have to do is go through the secret area, then go back to the start of this area and get on the platform that took you there and then go through the level as usual. This is a bit tedious when you've just gone through the level getting almost all the boxes anyway. What makes this even worse is that you'll most likely go through all of this and get to the end of the level to discover you have one box missing. So now you'll have to go through the level a third time only to discover a hidden box which is hidden above the screen on top of two bouncy boxes which normally never have anything above them apart from in this one instance. The whole level is convoluted and could have been easily fixed by getting rid of the hidden box and by making the exit of the secret area take you back to where you entered it (rather than way further into the level forcing you to miss a load of boxes).

Later levels and secret areas will require mastery of Crash's new high jump move which can be performed after a slide to keep his running momentum and get over large pits.

This isn't the only level where this problem or a similar problem happens either, quite a few levels have an issue with not being able to get the gems because of there being boxes in the secret area (which you wouldn't know unless you've already done the level once) or you having to backtrack through the main level to get to the secret area in order to get all the boxes and it's annoying because unless you've played the level before you wouldn't know if you should enter the secret area to get the box gem or not.

A smaller issue I have with Crash 2 is how bad the ice physics in the snow levels are. There's a strange problem where if you slide on ice and stop by skidding into a box you'll keep the momentum from before you stopped after destroying the boxes and go flying into a pit or into an exploding box due to not expecting Crash to be somehow storing momentum inside his body. If you stop on ice you should need to build up momentum again like in real life.

This is a point I've already touched on but by far the best thing about Crash 2 is how it's a simple platformer at it's core and most of the levels are built around this, but because of the huge amount of gimmicks used over it's many different themes there's an insane amount of variety. Sure some people could say it's boring because fundamentally all you're doing is running around breaking boxes but to say that is to ignore the smaller things going on like using wires in sewer levels as monkey bars, digging yourself under soft soil to avoid getting stung by bees, jet boarding over bodies of water and tons more; all of which are inherent to specific level theme which makes these different themes stand out using gameplay as well as visuals.

This section highlights how bad Crash's ice physics are. You have to stand still for a good three seconds after coming up against this wall of boxes in order to not blow yourself up on this TNT crate.

Speaking of visuals, Naughty Dog really went to town in this regard. The first Crash game looks good but could be considered slightly dated by today's standards, however, Crash 2's visuals I would argue still stand up today because of how good they are. They're way superior than the first game, featuring higher detailed character sprites, much better quality animation in Crash's and enemy movement but one of the stand out best looking things is in Cortex, N. Brio and Coco's hologram appearances in the Warp Room sections where they communicate with Crash. Their facial animations paired with the incredible voice acting make these sequences some of the best looking in-engine cutscenes on the PS1.

The variety in level themes is much greater than Crash 1 which is down to the fact that Crash is no longer exploring islands (which restricted the themes because of having to stay somewhat realistic to what would be on those islands) but now Crash is teleporting all over the world which meant the developers could set the levels pretty much anywhere they wanted. You go from forests, rivers, snowy tundras, space stations, dilapidated ruins, sewers and more. Admittedly, quite a lot of those themes were already in Crash 1 but they feel a lot more fleshed out in the sequel and the addition of a few more themes and the way in which they are much more spread out make it so the game never feels repetitive in this regard like the first game did. Perhaps some more new themes would have separated Crash 2 more from it's predecessor but the way it's fine tuned in every regard already sets it apart from the first game substantially.

Crash is much more expressive in Crash 2, in the bolder chase levels he will turn to look behind him and look visibly scared while you run around and over obstacles.

Even when a theme is reused it will sometimes be set at a different time of day and have different colouring to resemble different lighting effects which all look fantastic but more importantly allow for the use of the same environment assets while making the levels look completely different.

The attention to detail in Crash 2's graphics is incredible, there's a ton of death animations where Crash will fall into icy water and turn into a block of ice, burn on hot pipe and turn into a pile of ash, or simply fall down a pit where Crash's shoes will fly up in an over the top Looney Tunes-esque manner. Then there's idle animations where Crash will suddenly start messing around with a yo yo or scratch his head in confusion or start looking left and right in the same way he did in Crash 1's title screen (which is a nice reference). This may seem unnecessary but it shows the effort that went into the creation of the game and adds to Crash's character as well.

The Warp Room areas all have distinct themes and these themes carry over into the levels, but what's interesting is in how the opening and closing areas of the levels will reflect which Warp Room you're in. For example the second Warp Room is snow themed, so upon entering a level you might notice how there's melting snow in the entrance to the level. It's something that the developers didn't need to do but it shows the care that was put into the creation of the world.

Crash 2 has a wider and more varied set of themes than it's predecessor, but disappointingly, a lot of them are still reused from the first game.

Another really nice touch is how the collectibles you gain actually have a presence in the game's world. When you get a gem or a crystal it will appear above the portal to the level where you got the collectible and this makes collecting everything even more satisfying as you can actually see a physical collection of items coming together. It's a really good idea and something that not a lot of collectathons have done since Crash 2. You can also pause the game at any time to see the total number of items you've collected without having to add it up yourself and rather than just being a text checklist, it's illustrated with models of the coloured gems and crystals which make it look really appealing. The emphasis on fully completing Crash 2 is apparent because of all of these aspects too, the item totals aren't hidden away in a sub menu, they're right in front of you as soon as you hit pause and are ever present whenever you're in a Warp Room. This is a game that wants to be completed 100%.

Speaking of references to the first game, there's a few details which could be considered fan service such as being able to see the islands from the past game in the distance of certain levels and more clearly in the secret Warp Room (which actually reveals that the Warp Room is located on the third island from the first game). You can also see the crab enemy from the first level of the first game in the 'bad' ending of Crash 2 which is a neat little extra and something special that fans will recognise.

A stand out level for me is this one in which the level starts with a bolder chase section, only to discover that you're being chased by a massive polar bear. Then is averts your expectations even more by having you ride a baby polar bear to finally get away from your pursuer in the last section of the level.

I've already mentioned the new moves that Crash is able to perform and how they're implemented into the game but what about the general feel of how the game controls? Well I'm happy to say that the slippery feeling that Crash had in the first game (that was so bad it actually affected accuracy of jumps and resulted in unfair deaths) has completely gone and this game feels very smooth to play.

Everything feels responsive and there's no longer any input delay; every death felt like it was my fault rather than being an issue with the game (aside from those awful backtracking sections) and it no longer feels clunky to move diagonally either.

Basically everything that makes the original game feel dated has been eradicated in the sequel and just like every other aspect of the game, I feel like this is what makes it still stand up against games today.

With Crash's tight controls, you'll easily be able to manoeuvre around the various obstacles thrown in your way, even when they're in quick succession.

The soundtrack for Crash 2 is simply amazing. Almost every level has music that will stay in your head after turning the game off and the tone of the songs fit the levels they are assigned to perfectly. The sewer level themes are some of my personal favourites because of the way they sound metallic and bassy which reflects the industrial feel that they're going for.

The voice acting is also fantastic, it's better quality overall than the first game and Cortex's new voice gives us a more subtly evil tone rather than the full on evil mad scientist voice from the first game. While the voice in Crash 1 was very threatening I feel that his voice in Crash 2 is more expressive, after all, he can't sound threatening when he's trying to trick Crash into working with him. But when Cortex reveals his plan at the end of the game, he still has that more sinister vibe to his voice that works extremely well with his character. The other characters with voices (Coco and N. Brio) are very good too but the stand out is definitely Cortex.

The sound design is great and even transitions into gameplay in certain sections, an example of this is in the levels where you need to dig yourself underground to avoid getting stung by a ton of bees, but the way you know that the bees are on the way is with a buzzing in the background that gets louder as they approach Crash. As well as this though the general sound design is great too, boxes make a satisfying smashing sound when destroyed and getting collectibles makes a sparkly noise that adds to the achievement of finding them. Enemies all make different sounds when you hit them ranging from a simple flying sound as they wizz off into the distance after spinning them to full on screaming as you attack the human enemies in the sewers.

Some Gems will require Crash to complete an optional side task, like completing time trials in the river levels.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back is an amazing game that hasn't aged at all even after all this time. It fixes almost every single issue with the first game and is one of the few video game sequels which I consider to be better than the original in every single way. The new game mechanics introduced in this game add a ton of variety in level and enemy design and create a game which can be played for hours without ever getting bored.

Despite my fondness of Crash 2 it definitely isn't without it's faults. It has issues with certain aspects of level design (the backtracking problems from the first game are still present) but these issues are easy to ignore when the rest of the game is as slick as this. The visuals are some of the best the PS1 has to offer, the soundtrack is memorable and stylish, the controls are tight, responsive and intuitive and even the story is quite complex and interesting for a platformer game. There isn't a single aspect in which Crash 2 can be considered to be a failure and for this reason it's easy to see why it was so critically acclaimed back when it first came out and why it's audience is so active even today. I can only hope that the upcoming N. Sane Trilogy can live up to a game which is still so good even after all this time. If you haven't played Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, you should do yourself a favour and do so right now, it easily stands up against classics like Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie and in my opinion even surpasses them.

Pros:

- The story isn't just a copy and paste of Super Mario Bros. and actually offers some plot twists and character development.

- The gameplay issues with the first game have (almost) all been gotten rid of, creating a much slicker experience that has hardly aged even after all this time.

- Graphics and visual design is about as good as you can get on the PS1, it has many level themes, animations are smooth and the whole game looks beautiful throughout. The use of colour and lighting effects to make similarly themed levels look different is also a clever touch.

- Sound design and music is much more of a focus this time around, ditching the more atmospheric vibe of the first game and going for a more fleshed out musical style which works much better with the style of the game.

- The controls are pretty much perfect, the slippery and slightly delayed inputs from the first game are gone. Everything feels tight and responsive.

- Perfect difficulty progression going from the relatively easy introductory sequences to actually quite challenging sections in later levels.

Cons:

- Level design can be irritating when secret areas have boxes but upon reaching the end of these areas you'll be taken past the point where you entered the secret area, meaning you missed some boxes in the normal level. This often results in needing to replay the same level multiple times.

- Ice physics aren't very fluid, it feels like momentum is stored inside Crash's body so that if you come up to a wall of boxes and stop, but then destroy the boxes, he'll still have the momentum from before he stopped.

- The story is somewhat ruined by knowing from the introduction that Cortex has evil intentions.
- Aside from N. Gin, all the other boss battles are either fairly mediocre or just plain bad. Particularly the last boss fight is extremely disappointing after the journey to get to it.