Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is a remastered collection of the first three Crash Bandicoot games. That is, the ones from the first Playstation: Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, and Crash Bandicoot: Warped. It features quality-of-life improvements, modernized graphics and additional content.
Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot is naturally an update of the original game. As it was the first game, the different in quality is the most apparent. The graphics looks fantastic, serving as a much need graphic update while still maintaining the aesthetics and spirit of the original. As you play through the first level, it’ll hit you that yes, the developers have left the level design intact, and is a blast of nostalgia.
The controls are simple, even for a platformer. You can control either Crash, or his sister Coco, and both can spin and jump. Those are the only options. Spinning can defeat enemies, while also breaking open crates, allowing you to collect the wumpa fruit inside. Collecting a hundred of these wumpa fruits gives you an additional life. While jumping can also defeat certain enemies and break open crates. Lose all your life in a level and you will have to restart the level from the beginning, with only four lives. This is not enough in the later harder levels, so you’ll either save scum or spend time in earlier levels to collect more lives to tackle the level you’re stuck on.
Despite the simple controls, the level design uses them in various ways, more than you would have initially expected. You might use a spin to load a platform, or jump over a bridge made of breakable crates. You can spin enemies into other objects or jump at just the right time to get to a higher place.
In addition to finishing the level, the crates are the other main focus. There are a few other types of crates, such as one that acts as a checkpoint, or another that explodes. Collecting all the crates of a level awards you with a gem, and in many levels, you cannot get the gem straight away. You’ll need to collect something from later levels and then come back. In other levels, you may have to smash all the boxes in addition to not dying in order to get the gem. Each level also has a bonus round in a separated area that generally gives you some extra lives if you complete it.
While on the whole, the game is quite faithful to the original, it can feel a bit off if you are used to original’s controls and quirks. First off, Crash’s jump is slightly off. He doesn’t seem to travel as far as you’d expect, and this is tied to his fall speed. His fall speed from jumping is a bit faster than expected, causing you to constantly die from falling into a hole in the beginning. This game goes for the hitbox, as Crash’s attack range seem just a tad bit too short so you end up missing the enemy and getting hit instead.
It was analysed and discovered by players that the weird jumping was intentional. The developers unified the jumping physics across all three games, using the physics from the third game. However, they did this without adjusting the level design, which is why it can be so difficult in certain levels. Furthermore, Crash’s collision detection was changed from being a rectangle (so that you either made a jump or you didn’t) to being pilled shaped (so that you can now “slip” off platforms that you thought you made it). It explains a lot, but also makes this remaster less enjoyable than it could have been as the difficulty feels artificial, rather than being at the fault of the player.
Since the original’s level designs remain completely intact, there are plenty of frustrating areas. If you have played the original, after the initial sense of joy wears off, you’ll remember how annoying some parts are. There are levels where it relies on you dying a few times in order to know what’s coming ahead, rather than designed in such a way to allow you to pass it on your first go (i.e. it feels cheap). Then there are others where it requires precise platforming, and pits you back to the very beginning of the section if you die. The cycle of retrying and dying can wear you out very quickly.
The last few levels of the game are inconsistent with its difficulty. You’ll have levels that require extremely precise jumping coupled with long sections without checkpoints, so you’re going through the same obstacles again and again. Then others which feel much easier and also have plenty of checkpoints. The bosses, especially the final boss, feels overly basic and simple as well, especially compared to the normal levels.
At least the developers had gotten rid of the awkward save system of the original. Whereas before you would have needed to get a gem in a level in order to save, now, it auto-saves (as well as allowing you to manually save) after every completed level. It’s much more user friendly this way, and less of an artificial difficulty spike (the level designs are enough for that). The game’s quite short if you plan on just finishing the levels. The length comes from obtaining all the gems, and the developers have added a time trial for each platforming level too.
One neat thing is that this game finalises and completes an abandoned level from the original game. The original never included the Stormy Ascent level as it was deemed too hard but it’s quite cool that we get it included here as free DLC. It’s definitely a tough level, with plenty of seemingly unfair moments. This level also exacerbates the pill-shaped hitbox, as all too often, you’ll slide off a platform even when you have landed on it. Persist and you’ll be able to pass it but it can be a frustrating exercise.
Overall, Crash Bandicoot as a remaster has plenty of elements done right, from the fantastic upgrade to graphics and slight quality of life improvements. However, the decision to change the jump physics (even if it is to homogenize it across the three games) has made the game much more frustrating and unfair than it already is. The game’s levels already relies too heavily on dying first so that you know what is coming up, but add to that the precision platforming and heavier jumps, and it can be a hair-tearing exercise. It’s not impossible, just incredibly frustrating in certain sections.
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, likewise, is a remake of the original PS1 game. The second game massively improved upon the first game with its level design and variety. It keeps its platforming roots without overly diving into gimmicks like the third game did. It uses the same graphical overhaul and similar controls as the first remake. For anyone who has played the original, the opening scene and the first level is a massive blast of nostalgia.
The controls are similar but Crash has a few more abilities up his sleeves. He can still jump and spin to attack enemies. However, he can now crouch and slide. Combine either of these with a jump and Crash can jump further than normal. You can even do a slide spin. As a result, new enemies are introduced that can be defeated by these additional abilities. It’s still simple enough to quickly grasp and become familiar with the gameplay, without making it too simplistic.
If you’ve come straight from the first game, you’d notice that the level design is much better. It’s still quite clever and inventive in spots, but the levels were designed in such a way that encourages speedrunning. The obstacles are laid out and timed so that you can easily run through a level without stopping in order to beat it as quickly as possible, and this makes it flow a lot better. It also means the added time trials makes sense and are more fun than the first game.
The progression is slightly changed here. Instead of a linear progression of levels, Crash has access to rooms of five levels. The player can finish these levels in any order they’d like before fighting a boss and then moving onwards. There are a total of five of these “warp rooms”. Since Crash is now warped to his levels, it allows the game to showcase more varieties of environments. The game is no longer stuck in the island aesthetics, Crash now runs through snowscapes, sewers, forests and more.
The story continues pretty much straight after the ending of the first game. After defeat, Cortex crashes into a cave and finds crystals. He builds a space station and learns that he needs 25 more crystals to complete whatever it is he wants. As he’s lost most of his allies, he enlists Crash’s (and by extension Coco, as she is also fully playable here) help to collect those crystals. It’s basically a simple framing device as an excuse for how the game progression is, but it’s good enough.
So each level has a crystal that Crash has to collect, and these are mostly unmissable (you may accidentally not notice one or two if you’re focusing somewhere else but they’re usually completely visible). The challenges lie in how breaking all the boxes in each level rewards you with a clear gem. The game also has plenty of secret levels and areas, which is a blast to find and explore. Unlike the original, the load screens now give you hints on the secrets of a level so that you don’t have to completely rely on searching on the internet. This is a great compromise.
The changed jumping physics and wonky hitboxes still affect this game, although not to the degree of the first. The level design is more forgiving and requires less precision, however, there will still be areas where it can be tough. You’ll still occasionally find yourself slipping off platforms even though you’ve already landed on them. Nitro boxes randomly jump to waist height so it’ll explode on you while you’re jumping over them. Controlling the polar bear sections feels clunkier than expected, and the bees that follow you are seemingly faster. However, the game is still full of fun moments, and it never gets to the same point of frustration that the first game got to.
The graphical update feels even better here than the first game. In more than a few levels, you’ll stop and notice the lighting effects, and just how nice it all looks. When TNT boxes reaches their countdown and the resulting explosion happens, the sudden brightness, especially on HDR, really makes the game pop. The different weather effects, the different time of day and even the shadows, all of these combined into a feast for the eyes. The impressive graphics is like how you remembered the game when you first played it, since the originals had great graphics as well.
Bosses are simple affairs, although they are still a tiny step up compared to the first game’s. It’s easy to figure out what you need to do and aren’t too much of a problem. Nothing more so than the final boss, who is fairly disappointing to be honest. There is one exception to this, where one of the boxes were really annoying. They weren’t great in the original and it feels even worse here because the controls, while slightly improved are still clunky. The fight drags on for far too long, and it’s just tedious and repetitive. It felt like the boss required too many hits before one part is defeated and you still need to do it four more times.
Just like the first game, time trials are added into each of the platforming levels, when there were none in the original. This is pretty much the only form of replayability the game has. The times you need to beat can be very tough, as the remake has added the ability for Crash to dash by holding down a button. Of course, you can replay levels to get all the boxes and obtain the gems, or you can swap the playable character to Coco, also she plays the same as Crash.
Overall, the remake of Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back is a good one. The same flaws from the jumping physics and wonky hitboxes of the first game is still apparent here, but as the game design is more lenient, it’s not as much of a issue. However, there are still certain sections that are frustrating, but on the whole, the game is a lot more enjoyable. The platforming has a good balance with the difficulty being just right. Even the time trials are fine given that the levels were designed with speedrunning in mind. This is probably the best game in the trilogy thanks to it’s focus on classic platforming rather than being overly gimmicky.
Crash Bandicoot: Warped
Crash Bandicoot: Warped is the third and final game in the original trilogy (apart from Crash Team Racing but since that is a kart racer instead of a platformer, it normally isn’t counted). This is a remake of that game and is the most faithful given that the jumping physics of this trilogy remake most closely follows Warped’s.
In this game, Crash has even more abilities. He starts off with the standard jump, spin, slide and body slam, everything we’ve seen before from the second game. However, every time he defeats a boss, he gains additional abilities. These abilities can pretty cool ranging from a relatively normal double jump to the awesome wumpa fruit bazooka. Defeating a boss now feels much more worthwhile (in addition to just progressing through the game) thanks to gaining these abilities as a reward.
Once again, there are five warp rooms of five levels each, plus a secret warp room for another five levels. You can tackle each of the five levels in any order before you have to face off a boss. The designs of the boss battles are the best yet out of the trilogy, as they feel more involved, even if their difficulty isn’t that high. After defeating a boss, the next warp room in the hub opens up.
As you can gather, the game’s levels are themed around time. This is just an excuse for the different time periods of the levels and it gives the game even more visual variety than before. Riding a tiger on the Great Wall next gets old, while in other levels Crash will get the chance to run away from dinosaurs or trek through medieval times. The level designs are strong, and they’re done in such a way that you’re able to run through a level from start to finish once you are familiar with it.
Unfortunately, this game is also the one where there are an abundance of levels departing from the classic on-foot platforming. While it depends on the player, this can make it one of the worst Crash game in the series in terms of pure platforming goodness. Sure, there’s a lot of variety but when half the levels are either on rails, done in a vehicle, or there’s no jumping, it’s disappointing and boring.
The vehicle levels are some of the worst too. They were already bad on the original PS1 game but it feels even worse here due to the adjusted physics. The jet ski is harder to control since it drifts too much. The motorcycle is even more difficult to turn and control on the constantly twisting roads. The hit boxes while riding the tiger seems off at first. It can end up being frustrating and unfun to play. The developers probably had noted this during play testing but couldn’t be bothered to fix them since it’s so obvious that there are issues here.
Nevertheless, despite the annoyances and frustrations, the game is generally easier than the other two games in the trilogy. Since the game is quite easy to blast through, it may end up being one of the shortest Crash game in the collection to finish. However, each level in addition to the crystal required for the story progression, are gems for breaking all boxes, gems awarded from special requirements, secret levels and paths, and the biggest one, relics from completing time trials. These relics unlock a sixth warp room and is a good excuse for playing the levels again although the fastest times can be tough to beat.
The plot is simplistic. It begins straight after the events of the second game’s ending. Aku Aku’s evil twin Uka Uka manages to break out of prison and he is retconned into being the villain behind Cortex’s motives all along. Continuing to team up with Cortex, they use time travel in an attempt to gather all the crystals again to enslave the world. Nothing riveting comes out of it, it’s just an excuse plot for the gameplay, which is absolutely fine. That said, the presentation of the final boss is a fitting ending to the trilogy, even if it is as easy as the rest of the game.
Finally, there is free DLC added to the game. It’s an original level named Future Tense and this is a tough but fair level. It’s best to leave this one at the end where you’re used to how Crash moves, and have gathered all his various abilities. There is some non-linearity to the level and it’ll take you a few attempts in order to get everything. It’s like a small taste into what a new original Crash came could be.
Overall, Crash Bandicoot: Warped continues to the strong gameplay from its predecessors. While it’s departure and focus on non-platforming gameplay can suck, there’s no doubt that the level design is still top-notched. The game’s scenery is beautiful and packs a lot of variety. This game is also the least affected by the changed physics of the collection, although there are still oddities here and there.
Overall
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is pretty much what a remake / remaster should be. Bringing the graphics up to contemporary standards, add a few quality of life improvements and then leave everything alone in the game. It’s a collection that brings a ton of value, and even though there are a lot of annoyances such as the changed jumping physics such that the first two games are made more difficult than they should, these are still very polished and very fun games.
--------------------------------------------------------
(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)