The wrath of Cortex is never satisfied! (Crash Bandicoot - The Wrath of Cortex (PS2))

Member Name: Stunt 101

Product:	Crash Bandicoot - The Wrath of Cortex (PS2)
Date:	07/05/07 (202 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great visuals; good gameplay from it's predecessors; lots of replayability.

Disadvantages: Car handling is rubbish; sound is mediocre; short story; very hard; long load times.

-(Game Information)-
Name:Crash Bandicoot:The Wrath Of Cortex
Publisher:Vivendi Universial Games
Developer:Travellers Tales
Genre:3D Platformer
Release Date:Nov 23, 2001
Age Rating:3+
Number Of Players:1
Online:No
Developer Site:www.vugames.com/vug
Product Site:www.crashbandicoot.com/uk/
Memory Card Usage:66kb minimum
Now avalible in Platinum edition

-(History)-
The developer with more than 700 PC and console titles to its credit, Vivendi Universal is the second-largest publisher of PC game software in North America. Studios that are with Vivendi include Sierra Entertainment, Radical Entertainment and Swordfish Studios. Crash Bandicoot was originally Sony's mascot, as the PSone versions were made with Sony and Sony's company, Naughty Dog, and they were one of the best platformers on the PSone. But when Naughty Dog gave up the licence Vivendi Universal took it up and the games have gone down hill since Universal took the license.

-(The Story)-
After taking three defeats at the hands of Crash, Dr. Cortex made yet another evil plan to take out Crash. But in order to finish his so called 'secret' weapon, he's asked the god Uka Uka to provide him with the power from four elemental masks, which are Wind, Water, Fire and Earth. The masks have the power to brew up disasters like avalanches, tornadoes, tsunamis, and electric storms. Cortex decides to use their abilities to bring his creation which is known as Crunch to life. Crash must get rid of all four elemental masks so he can get to Uka Uka and ultimately destroy his enemy, Dr. Cortex, once again. To be honest the story really isn't very compelling, in fact it's a little off-putting, because it feels like Deja Vu, as all the Crash games before Wrath Of Cortex have been about Cortex trying to defeat Crash.

-(The Controls)-
The controls are a little mixed, as the on-foot controls are fine, but the cars don't handle well at all. It's not the air crafts, they handle fine, but when you're drving a ground vehicle, like a truck, you will find it very hard to control. The on foot controls are simple, you have your moving controls, your jumping controls and your attack controls, which are responsive and are fine, but that's not the problem. With vehicles being added, you would have hoped that the new developers would have given good handling, but that's not the case. It's not that the controls are unresponsive, because they are responsive, but it's just the handling is terrible. You will find it really hard to control your car, as the handling is terrible and the controls make the ground vehicle parts a tough pill to swallow. But the air vehicle controls are great, as they are easier to handle and they are responsive.

-(The Gameplay)-
Wrath Of Cortex plays a lot like Warped on the PSX, which is a good thing because i've always loved the gameplay in the Crash games. Yet, the sheer linearity is a little disappointing as games like Jak and Daxter, Sly Raccoon and Ratchet and Clank give you much more freedom than Wrath Of Cortex. Still, if you love the previous Crash games you'll love this edition.

Like i said before, Wrath Of Cortex plays it safe and sticks with the formula from previous games. You must make your way along a linear level, which has lots of crates; enemies and deadly jumps, while you're trying to collect a crystal found in that level. The levels can take from 3 to 30 minutes each. The level design is very linear, as the levels feel like a road as the environment around your path actually blocks you from anyway of exploring the game. Sometimes, you have the odd pit which you must jump over, as well as a set of platforms which you must jump over, but for the most part the levels are like a road. There's lots of enemies in Wrath Of Cortex, whether they're penguins, magicians or evil scientists, they're here and as wacky as the previous games. Defeating them usually needs you to figure the pattern in which they attack and jump on them. For example, the penguin does a spin attack (coincidence?) and once it's finished it'll be dizzy and that's the chance to attack.

The main thing you collect in Wrath Of Cortex is wampa fruits. They're in all the crates you find in the level, which are needed to be smashed so you can collect diamonds and will have you collecting the fruit as well. If you collect 100 fruit you get a life, which can help you proceed throughout the game. You also collect Diamonds by breaking every single crate in the level. This is actually really easy, as the level designs are so linear that you'll probably just stumble across them. There's also coloured diamonds in the levels, which can be found by finding their secret location. There's some points when you jump on a floating platform, which will take you to a place with some crates and nitro crates. These basically need you to destroy all the crates without dying.If you die, you won't lose lives, but you'll lose all the progress you made in that section.

There's also time trials to be done when you've finished a level. As you can tell by the name, you have to get to the end of the level before times run out. There's also crates that freeze time. The crates freeze time longer depending on which crate you smash. You can earn up to 3 seconds of freezing time, which can help you a lot. You can get either Sapphire, Gold or Platinum relics for completing the trial. If you have more time left, you get a better relic. Obviously, Platinum is the best. I only remember getting one platinum relic throughout the whole game, that's how hard it is to get a platinum relic. You can earn new abilities as well. As you defeat boss battles, you can earn many new moves and abilities. These include the simpler things like the double jump and the longer spins. But there's also the more 'cooler' abilities like being able to use a Fruit Bazooka (introduced in Warped!) and also the neat ability to tip-toe over Nitro crates without detonating them, which is pretty helpful at times.

The difficulty level is quite hard in Wrath Of Cortex. While the enemies are a breeze, the boss battles are very hard, probably because the developers don't really give you instructions on how to beat them. Plus some jumps are made really hard thanks to the camera. Because the camera is zoomed quite far away from Crash, you may miss some jumps and have a death and waste of a life. Also, considering that one hit kills you (unless you have an Aku Aku with you then once Aku Aku disappears you will die after a shot) then there's a lot of trial and error gameplay, where if you make a mistake, you need to do that again untill you get it right. It's very hard for a game aimed at kids, though the challenge will be welcome to fans of the previous game.

Crash has a bit of variety. As well as the usually platforming levels, you have some levels where you pilot vehicles. Though the handling of the cars can take some getting used to, these missions are really fun. There's some levels where you do some platforming; find the vehicle; use it to cross a part of land and then ditch it, and sometimes you use the vehicle throughout the whole level, e.g one of the first missions involve you using a plane to shoot down these windmill things that are causing hurricanes. Good stuff! Also there's some swimming levels as well, which are probably the hardest levels of them all as controlling Crash himself can be hard, and the enemies are much harder to kill.

You can also control Coco, Crash's sister. These are pure platforming levels, with lot more jumps and less combat than Crash levels. Like the Crash levels, you must find the crystal to complete the level. Unfortunately, the camera system brings down these levels, as the problem with not seeing jumps is apparent here and conspires to bring down these levels. There are lots of chase sequences as well. These parts are when the camera faces the front of Crash or Coco and you'll need to run away from something heading their way, whether it's a load of Rhinos; a tidal wave or an avalanche, and you must get to the end, in which will somehow stop the chaser from chasing you anymore. These sections are really fun, as it's really fast paced, though there's the odd camera problem here and there as with the camera facing Crash's face, anything coming your way is obscured.

-(The Graphics)-
Wrath Of Cortex looks pretty great, and has held up well. The game has a cartoony look to it, with chunky character models and colourful environments. But with the first game on the PS2, the character models look much better as the developers have put more polygons into the models, making them look smoother. The environments are crazy. You travel to many different worlds, including underwater bases; medieval castles and much more, and all of these will really appeal to the children. The animation is top notch, especially in the cutscenes. It never feels jerky or stiff, and it'll once again appeal to children. The frame rate is 100% smooth and never slows down. Load Times are really long though, taking nearly twenty seconds to load up a level and going back to the warp room. Overall, Crash has done well on the PS2 when it comes to the graphics.

-(The Sound)-
Unfortunately, the sound isn't very good. While the sound effects are good enough and the music is great (with a good whymsical feel), they are too similar to the previous games. It's like they were ripped from the previous games. Also, the voice acting is awful. The developers tried to go for the childish over-the-top feel, but the developers put too much of that in, which makes the acting sound horrendous. Also, the dialogue is insane and not very well written.

-(Replay Value)-
Wrath Of Cortex encourages replayability. While the game isn't long, taking you about ten hours to complete on your first time through, there's a ton of replay value. There's lots of things to find in the levels, including the diamonds, relics and other items. Seeing as there is 25 levels with at least one relic and diamond in the level, that'll take time up. Plus there may be coloured diamonds to find as well. Overall Wrath Of Cortex isn't long, but it definately has replayability.

-(Score)-
Controls=8
Gameplay=7
Graphics=8
Sound=6
Replay Value=8
Overall Score=7.4

-(Ending Comments)-
With a new developer on Wrath Of Cortex, many people probably wondered whether this would be as good as it was with Naughty Dog on the game. While the new developers didn't make a classic, this is a good game and well worth it for fans of the PSX games. It has great visuals, good gameplay and lots of replayability. If you love platformers this is good for you, but if you're not into this kind of gaming then you may want to try Jak and Daxter or Ratchet and Clank.

-(If You Like This I'd Suggest)-
Sly Raccoon
Jak and Daxter
Ratchet and Clank
Spyro The Dragon

-(Where You Can Buy It)-
Amazon:Used and new from £5.39
Platinum Edition:£14.47 or used and new from £4.40

Summary: Does new developer=good?