Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex

"I love this game anyway"

Let me explain how I can love this game and only give it a six. The game offers nothing new to the series, it is still not 3-D, still on rails, most of the time, and as good as it looks, could be a Playstation game. That though isn't the worst of it, it is the worst load times in history. Loading a level takes 90 seconds, but, when you finish a level and go back to the warp room, it is another 90 seconds, that is a full 3 minutes between levels, and why? This irritant has pretty much changed my way of playing this game. I no longer redo the first level every time to get hit points because it is too irritating, and also another complaint, when you save your game, and go back later, it doesn't save the hit points. Well, lets break this down.
GRAPHICS 9/10 The game may look the same, but it has always looked amazing, and still does.
MUSIC and SOUND 10/10 I'm using the optical out to a receiver, but the game only supports Dolby surround, not digital, so I'm using pro logic 2 movie setting. The music and sound effects are amazing; however, having played it also just through a T.V., if you are not using a Dolby receiver you would probably only give it a 6/10.
CONTROLS 8/10 The controls are simple and accurate, but since you can't change the camera angle it only gets an 8.
GAMEPLAY 8/10 The games the same but just as fun, and now there is a lot more variety within levels.
REPLAY 8/10 It is the same old same old. In order to get 100 % you are going to need to repeat levels quite a bit, so have no fear, you will get your money's worth.
LOADING 1/10 The load times here are so awful it requires a whole new category.
FINAL COMMENTS If you liked the previous Crash Games and can stand the waits between levels( you might want to read or do a crossword puzzle)you will love this game too. I find it puzzling that some reviewers have complained about not knowing what's ahead till you get there and die, duh, the other Crash games were just like that. The difficulty level seems to be easier when getting relics, or at least I think you only need sapphire for each, which is very easy, and don't necessarily have to have gold, which is very hard, or platinum, which seems undoable(I have none). On the other hand, if you did not like the other games in the series, and were hoping for something new here, then you will be greatly disappointed.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/17/01, Updated 11/17/01