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"Ten years from now, still a classic game"

Crash Bandicoot was the first game released by new company Naughty Dog. The year was 1996 and Crash was released the same year as Super Mario 64, a game hailed as one of the greatest platformers of all time. It's a shame, because I feel as a platformer Crash Bandicoot is the best of the decade and ranks as one of the best of all time.

Story: 7/10

The story is cliche in the sense that it's about saving the damsel in distress. But it seems more people need to pay attention to the story. The story is about an evil scientist named Dr. Neo Cortex and his partner in crime if you will, Dr. Nitrus Brio who created a device called the Evolvo Ray that can evolve animals into an anthropomorphic state. Cortex captures a bandicoot named Crash who Cortex wants to be the one to lead his army of anthropomorphic animals. Crash manages to escape Cortex's clutches by running out of the nearest window. Not all is well though, since Cortex managed to capture the love of Crash's life, Tawna. And that's how it all begins.

Graphics: 10/10

The graphics were amazing for 1996 and still hold their own today. I was amazed when I played the game ten years ago about how realistic everything looked. The jungles looking like jungles, a lab looking like a lab, the backgrounds are great too. The colors are beautiful.

Music: 10/10

The music was done excellently. The music matches the mood of the level. When your in a jungle based level, the music is appropriate. When your jumping across platforms in a dark temple, the music matches the mood with a dark tune. The soundtrack was excellent here.

Sound: 10/10

The sound is excellent too. Crash's spin sounds like what a spin should sound like. When you spin attack a box, it makes the breaking sound a box would make. Jumping on a TNT box starts a timer that sounds like what a timer should sound like and the explosion of the TNT is no exception.

Gameplay: 10/10

Seriously, what's not to like here? This game is a platformer and the game excels in this department more than most games I've ever played, including Super Mario 64. The object of Crash Bandicoot is to simply navigate through the level. However, in your way will be enemies that if they touch you in anyway, you die. Add that to TNT boxes that blow you up if you don't get away in time, traps in levels like venus fly traps that serve as platforms for you to jump over, rolling stones that you must run past before they crush you and even run around in the dark. However, there are things to help you. Some boxes contain a box with a mask on it. These are Aku Aku masks, which contains the spirit of a witch doctor. Break the box and this mask follows you around, if you get hit you wont die. Think of it like the shields in the Sonic series. If you hit another Aku Aku box and still have a mask following you around, Aku Aku will turn orange and now you can take two hits and not die. Hit another Aku Aku box with orange Aku Aku and you'll be invincible for about 20 seconds. You'll also move slightly faster as well.

There are great platforming elements to Crash. A lot of levels will have you jumping across platforms. You'll find yourself jumping on a platformer then having to jump to the next one before the one your standing on falls down. In one level, you must cross a bridge to reach the goal but the brown wooden pieces of the bridge are faulty and will down immediately after you step on them. So you'll find yourself jumping from piece to piece to find some sort of sanctuary. In another level you'll have to navigate a dark temple, complete with jumping on faulty platforms that fall after you jump on them. Just watch out for the arrows that come out of the walls and giant spiders that come out of nowhere.

Crash isn't completely defenseless however. Crash is equipped with a spin attack which will kill any animal or human that gets in his away. You'll be using your spin attack to destroy the boxes as well, which give you a reward if you manage to break all of them. Getting to the end of each level isn't the only objective in Crash Bandicoot. If you break all of the boxes in each level, you get a gem. Obtaining all 26 of these is required for 100% completion and an alternative ending.

It's not easy however, because to get the gem you can NOT die. Well, you can die actually, as long as you die before breaking a checkpoint box which lets you return from that point if you die. Some of the levels are very difficult and this makes this a nice challenge. In addition to obtaining all the gems to obtain that 100%, you must also clear the bonus levels. Bonus levels are activated when obtaining three Tawna tokens. If you die in the bonus level, you must do it again. You'll usually pick up a few extra lives in the bonus level, which are shaped like Crash's face. The save system is just that though, whenever you pick up a gem or clear a bonus level, you get an opportunity to save your game.

This is a little frustrating because lets say you obtain a gem in a level, save your game and turn it off. When you load your game, you have to redo any level that wasn't saved when you cleared the most recent Tawna bonus round. Luckily, the majority of the levels have the bonus round in them. In addition to Tawna bonus levels, there are N. Brio bonus rounds which are activated by finding three tokens of his face. In this bonus round, you simply try to reach the end. You'll obtain several extra lives doing this, this does not have to be done for 100% completion. Then there are the Cortex bonus rounds, there are only two of these. These are two hard bonus levels that will you get you a key should you complete it. A key unlocks a level, so in addition to the 30 levels, there are 2 secret levels, giving you 32 levels.

Crash Bandicoot isn't complete without bosses. You'll encounter a chief of natives, some sort of animal that had a little too much of the Evolvo Ray, a koala with herculean strength, some kind of coyote equipped with a machine gun and mob get up, N. Brio and Cortex himself. Each of these bosses has some sort of pattern you must exploit to attack them, they can be pretty fun.

The controls are smooth and simple. Square button is your spin attack and the x button jumps. That's all you really need to know. The controls respond very well too. Last but not least, the levels have variety which I feel is very important. You have your jungle levels, levels where you navigate through a creek by jumping from leaf to leaf so you don't fall into your watery grave, dark temples, ancient ruins and more.

Overall: Buy

This game isn't expensive so just buy it. I enjoy this more than Super Mario 64 when it comes to platforming. Super Mario 64 felt more like having to collect things, Crash Bandicoot comes equipped with some great platforming elements, innovative boss battles and an extra objective. It's a shame how overlooked this game is, especially considering it has more platforming elements than it's predecessors in my opinion.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/18/06