Crash Bandicoot: Warped (PS1) Review

You know you're in for a great experience when Clancy Brown shouts the game's subtitle like he suffers from constipation. (I apologize; I normally do not make those kind of jokes) On a more serious note, Crash Bandicoot: Warped is often considered as not just the best game in the PS1 trilogy, but in the series overall. I can see where they are going with that. While it's not exactly revolutionary, it's still an excellent game. It keeps the best things that made Crash Bandicoot 2 great, while also improving and adding more that makes it the quintessential entry.

What's the story this time? An evil voodoo mask named Uka Uka has been unleashed thanks to the aftermath of the true ending of Crash 2. He plans to use a time machine called the Time Twister, invented by a new enemy named N. Tropy, to retrieve the Crystals from the past and future eras. It is up to Crash and Coco to get them first and put a stop his and Dr. Cortex's plan to take over the world.

The game's introduction reveals that Cortex was under Uka Uka's order to find the Crystals the whole time, making the latter the trilogy's greater scope villain. If you want a clear idea on what that means, think of Cortex as Darth Vader and Uka Uka as Emperor Palpatine.

Just first hearing Uka Uka's voice, he already sounds like a force to be reckoned with. The cinematography of the game's introduction is proof of that. The way that the Time Twister is darkly lit so that we can barely see it and the way his eyes glow make it pretty unnerving. The camera zooms at the obscured mask and we cut to Cortex himself is kneeling at his presence, thinking it's over for him. That's one heck of an introduction right there.

I think Crash Bandicoot: Warped was where Naughty Dog began to put a more cinematic approach in their cutscenes. Though this is only present in the intro and ending, there is some emphasis on mise en scène, all down to the camera angles, composition, and lighting, to name a few. This became more prominent in the subsequent Jak and Daxter series. The Uncharted tetralogy and The Last of Us took that even further by combining gameplay with mise en scène. Looking back at a developer's evolution suddenly became much cooler.

That's not all that the story offers, though. Remember Aku Aku, the mask who protected Crash throughout the series? He finally talks and his personality is finally established here to be a counterpart of his evil twin. He serves as a benevolent father figure guiding both bandicoots, even calling them his "children," which is pretty heartwarming.

N. Gin and Tiny Tiger return as secondary villains, and are just as entertaining as ever. The game also saw fit to introduce N. Tropy, the creator of the Time Twister, and Dingodile, a pyromaniac mix-and-match critter. Throughout the game, you'll often have a short cutscene of one of the villains speaking directly to Crash, asking for the Crystals. It's a great way to give players an idea on who they are dealing with. N. Tropy stands out to me the most when it comes to these cutscenes. He seems to be calm and wicked, but prior to fighting him, he has a bit of a breakdown, to put it mildly. Those are some nice hidden depths right there.

I've talked about the usage of mise en scène but I have to give praise on the rest of the aspects of the cutscenes, too. Not only do they look great (by PS1 standards, at least), but the increase in production value is evident here. The lip-syncing is exceptional and the facial animations are downright expressive. The voice acting brings in the whole package. I enjoyed the wickedness of Clancy Brown as Cortex and Uka Uka, the gracefulness and malevolence of Michael Ensign as Tropy, and the benevolence of Mel Winkler as Aku Aku.

The in-game animations are also worthy of praise. The many ways that Crash can die while playing still has me busting a gut every time. Please tell that deflating like a balloon or slamming into the camera is not funny at all. Seeing Coco crash into an enemy on the jet ski levels and slammed down into the water is so wrong, yet hilarious at the same time. I think it's the way that the pirate slams her after a bit of hesitation that makes it funny. I also liked the level of detail in N. Tropy's animations. While talking, those piston-thingies on him keep pumping to add to his mechanical design, almost like a ticking clock.

Crash 3 continues its tradition of having an upbeat soundtrack once again composed by Josh Mancell. It introduces what is now the bootstrapped theme of the Crash Bandicoot series. A recurring riff, which can be heard in the main menu and the Warp Room, would pretty much be the definitive theme of the series. Even if later titles hardly used it, traces of it can still be found; that's the staying power of the new Crash Bandicoot theme.

Because of the time traveling aspect, it allowed for more variety on locations, like the construction of the Great Wall of China, Prehistoric Times, Medieval Times, Ancient Egypt, and even the distant future. The music itself helps accentuate each of the time periods. For example, the music in the prehistoric levels sound like bones are used as a substitute for drums, which is appropriate enough.

Everything I said about the gameplay of Crash 2 can be said the same here:

- The Warp Room is the main hub to select levels. You can play a level in any order you want.
- Crystals are the most important collectibles to get further into the game. Collecting all 5 in each area of the Warp Room unlocks a boss fight against one of Cortex's minions.
- Gems are still obtained by breaking every box in a level.
- Crash still has his new moves from the last game, those being the long jump, high jump, slide, belly flop and crawl.
- Riding animals (Coco riding a tiger cub) and running away from large things (a triceratops) are still a thing.
- Boss fights still follow a pattern: dodge their attacks and strike at the right time.

Yeah, it's a re-skinned Crash 2. With that said, though, Crash 3 does improve on a lot of things that hindered its predecessor a bit. Backtracking has been reduced big time, with not that many branching paths that I can think of, being limited to only a couple of levels. Gem collecting is less tedious now since you can now be able to break all boxes in one go, without having to find some in a Skull Path.

The amount of secret ways to access a level has been reduced. They can mainly be found by accident, like this one pterodactyl that drags Crash away if he comes in contact with it. This may come off as a double-edged sword. On one hand, it lessens the tediousness. On the other, some people might miss the attention to detail that Crash 2 had. Make of that what you will.

While the way to fight the bosses haven't changed, I found myself enjoying them more than I did in the first two games, and I can't explain why. Maybe they're just better put together or just creative like the fight against N. Gin. Sure, you just keep holding the fire button at the obvious weak spots, but it's the way that he persists that made it such an epic fight.

Speaking of boss fights, their musical themes themselves are also great. The music played during the N. Tropy fight is one of the best, being twisted and timey-wimey that matches his character so well. Even the final boss theme against Cortex is, by debate, the best of the series. Another rearrangement of his theme sounds like there is a lot at stake and we have to stop him and Uka Uka from taking over the world. It's really good stuff.

One great addition that the developers added with the boss fights is the ability to unlock new moves for Crash at the end of each. These moves can range from a double jump, an upgraded spin attack that helps you glide, and firing a fruit bazooka. That's right: a fruit bazooka. You can't get more creative than that. A lot of these moves became really helpful, especially the bazooka, which can destroy crates and enemies at a certain distance.

While there are a lot of platforming levels, there is also more variety than ever before. The time traveling theme of Crash 3 will also have you swimming underwater, riding a motorcycle in the 1950's, riding a jet ski in the Golden Age of Piracy, and shooting down aircraft in World War I.

I loved the biplane levels and the jet ski levels the most. Many say that turning on the vibration in the jet ski levels feels pretty relaxing. I kind of agree, but it got old pretty fast, so I ended up not using at all. If I wanted to play a PS1 game with the vibration function, I would just stick to Metal Gear Solid.

I enjoyed the swimming and motorcycle levels the least because the controls can get a little clunky. Performing turns on a motorcycle can also be annoying because of how stiff it can be. The thing I do to reduce that, however, is to let go of the gas button while turning, which is helpful at least.

The newest gameplay addition that Crash 3 offers are the Time Trials. After completing a level, you can replay it and you'll find a clock that begins a race against a certain time if you touch it. Some crates are replaced by yellow ones that have a "1," "2," or "3" written on them that will stop the timer in the corresponding seconds. Completing a Time Trial unlocks a Relic, and collecting a certain amount of them unlocks more levels in the secret Warp Room. Relics come in Sapphire (easy to get), Gold (not as easy), and Platinum (absolutely hard) depending on how fast you make it.

I've repeatedly mentioned my distaste towards Time Trials and Gold Medal challenges that require you to beat the highest score or best time in order to complete a game 100%. Along with Gravity Rush, this is another one of those exceptions.

The main reason I like these Time Trials are that the Sapphire Relics are good enough to unlock the additional ending; the Gold and Platinum Relics are completely optional. Getting at least all Gold Relics will unlock the 45th Gem, but that's not required.

The greatest challenge that the game will ever offer are the Platinum Relics. They are absolutely difficult to obtain. You have to be fast, know every shortcut and enemy, and some levels require you to use the temporary invincibility when collecting all Aku Aku masks. In other words, don't get hit even once, or you may as well start over. I was able to at least get all the Gold relics on my most recent playthrough, but Platinum Relics are impossible for me. I was lucky enough to get even one. They are simply a bragging rights reward and nothing more. If there is anybody out there who dares to attempt to get all of the Platinum Relics, I wish them good luck.

Overall, I personally think that the Time Trials add more replay value and allows some form of challenge. Getting all of the Gold Relics involved a lot of trial and error, but I didn't mind learning from my mistakes and planning things out to obtain them.

That just about covers the whole game. I don't have that many gripes that I haven't covered, apart from a minor one that doesn't hurt the game, but I want to address. I liked that Coco has been upgraded from someone working behind the scenes to being a playable character. It's just too bad that she has been reduced to just taking part in vehicle levels. Can you imagine a Crash Bandicoot game where Coco has fleshed-out gameplay? That would have been awesome.

Aside from that, Crash Bandicoot: Warped is the peak of the series. Naughty Dog wanted to finish this trilogy with a bang, and they succeeded. There is a sense of finality to it when it comes to its story. The stakes are much higher, with all of reality being in danger thanks to the time travel scheme. It's what makes defeating the final boss and getting the true ending all the more satisfying. Pretend that the later main entries never happened, and you have a solid ending.

Gameplay-wise, it's the most refined entry in the series. It takes what made Crash 2 so great in the first place, like the crystal and gem collecting, and made them more fun and rewarding. It also reduced the backtracking from the first two games. In addition, it also added more, like the new moves earned from boss fights and the Time Trials that keep the replay value up.

Choosing my favorite game in the Crash trilogy was no easy task. The first game is disqualified because it suffers from Early Installment Weirdness, so that leaves me with the next two. I loved the soundtrack, improved gameplay, and insane secrets in Crash 2. However, I love Crash 3 for its epic boss fights, balanced and refined gameplay, and newer, more rewarding additions. I think Crash 3 wins by just a hair. If you only plan on playing one Crash game, I suggest this one because it is...

WORTH CHECKING OUT

While I never grew up with the original trilogy, I feel a sense of nostalgia when playing them. It has a certain charm that only games from the 1990's could get away with. It seemed like a much more magical time that I wish I experienced when I was younger. But, hey, I'm not complaining; they clearly have a lasting impact regardless of what decade you play them in.

So what happened to the series afterward? After Naughty Dog lost the rights and went on to make Jak and Daxter and more, the series went through different developers and publishers and just... kept going. It wasn't until after the release of Crash: Mind Over Mutant in 2008 that the series went in limbo. In short, later main entries couldn't replicate the magic of the original trilogy, so interest in the series kind of waned.

However, the announcement of the trilogy being on the PS4 and remade (not "remastered" for there is a difference) from the ground up has caught a lot of attention. Upon the first trailer that was released just this month, a lot of people, myself included, are excited to see the direction that it is going. Time will only tell how things will turn out for the orange marsupial, and I hope it's a positive one.