Crash Has Most Certainly Crashed! (Crash Bandicoot 2 - N-Tranced (GBA))

Member Name: GramiWay

Product:	Crash Bandicoot 2 - N-Tranced (GBA)
Date:	07/07/09 (61 review reads)
Rating:

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Imagine the energetic and fast paced world of Crash Bandicoot shrunk from your Playstation screen to the little hand held Game Boy Advance and that's basically Crash Bandicoot - N Tranced in a nutshell.

Released in 2003, this is the second installment of the GBA generation following the title character and his endless battles against evil. This time around the brilliant Dr Neo Cortex is absent from proceedings in favour of N. Trophy who is working alongside the demonic tribal mask Uka Uka with new ally N. Trance, a weird egg shaped creature who specialises in hypnotism. After hypnotising Crash's sister Coco and ally Crunch and in trying to do the same to Crash but creating a strange, fake version, Crash must once again battle through four warp rooms collecting gems and crystals in order to progress through the game.

Crash has retained all of his usual moves and more are obtainable as you defeat more bosses. The format is simple and easy to understand and will be familiar to avid Crash fans but the levels contained here are actually a lot more difficult than their Playstation counterparts. As well as collecting crystals in each of the 20 levels, there are also gems for collecting all the boxes in each one, a relic for completing the level in the fastest time and coloured gem shards which often require you to take a hidden and very dangerous alternative route through the levels.


At first it is a bit difficult to adjust to the graphics as they're very plain and not that imaginative. However, as you play the game more you start to feel more comfortable with the surroundings and controlling Crash is very simple once you've mastered the basics. The island tutorial is ideal for getting to grips with all the controls and what not.

Personally I found the idea of Crash facing his friends as the bosses to be very good even if they are extremely easy to defeat. Coco and Crunch are playable once they've been 'rescued' from N. Trance's wrath though not without some sort of vehicle.

The storyline is very basic and doesn't really seem to suit the difficulty of the game. In my opinion, this is a very challenging game for a younger audience as some of the later levels are very complicated and difficult to complete.

The graphics and such are very plain and unoriginal as already mentioned and the levels seem to be recycled as well. There's probably only about 5 or 6 different worlds in the whole game and these are used over and over again which makes the game quite boring after a certain amount of time. A number of these levels also seem to be rehashes of those included in the Playstation series with even the same villains and obstacles shrunk down to size and preventing you from completing your task.

However, using the atlasball which is a round sort of globe the player has to roll around in and the surfboard to escape a hungry shark do make the game mildly entertaining as do the inclusion of certain portions of some levels being ridden on a magic carpet or a strange helicopter device. But these quickly become tiresome after they've been thrown at you a few times. The creators of the game also just like to stick in the hazardous green Nitro crates wherever they feel like it and even though this opens up many a difficult moment, it feels as if the game is lacking in obstacles as well as most other things.

Gone is the rather comical and almost childlike nature of Crash in Playstation form. The games there appealed to both young and old alike whilst presenting a moderate difficulty. Here, it's a whole new ball court and whilst I think N.Tranced rises to the occasion quite well, it just seems to lack that Crash Bandicoot feel. With poorly designed levels and a very boring plot, the game is also very repetitive. The only thing going for it seems to be the amount of items you need to collect in order to truly complete the game. It is challenging but I'd suggest skipping this altogether as you can find much more structured and entertaining games.

Summary: A rather poor addition to the series but still holds a reasonable amount of gameplay.