Crash Bandicoot

"Dogs, Hedgehogs, Plumbers, Dragons... what's next?"

INTRO

Well as some of you may know, I am very new to the Crash Bandicoot series. I recently started palying the 3rd game in the series about a month ago. After playing that game, I liked it so much I wanted to play the other games in the series. So I marched to my friends and house and asked to borrow the first one, the original Crash Bandicoot. Then I went home hours later and popped this greatest hit into my Playstation expecting the same enjoyment I had when playing 3. Unfortunately, I didn't find that same enjoyment when playing Crash Bandicoot. This game isn't bad, but it's not great either. Crash Bandicoot was made in 1996 by Naughty Dogg and Sony and is (or atleast I think) the first game on the Playstation. This game is considered a greatest hit now and is probably less than $20 in the market if you can find it anywhere. Now this upcoming review that you'll be reading may be a little harsh because of 2 aspects. One of the aspects is that I'll be referring it towards 1996 time and the bad aspect is that I'll compare it to the third one at some parts. So, now for the Crash Bandicoot review. Get ready, set, GO!

STORY: (5/10)

Well, in case none of you no the story, you can find it out by waiting awhile after the main menu comes up. I personally think this is pretty cheesy, but every adventure game from that time has dumb stories like this. Well anyway here is the small story from the intro. Dr. Cortex and his cohort Dr. something (I forgot) are trying to experiment with different things so they can make something that can rule the world. They have just made a new machine and they don't know what it is capable of. So they get some test animals to try the machine on. Guess who's the test animal? Well, it's Crash and his girlfriend. The two doctors first try there test on Crash, but he manages to escape out the window. One problem, he forgot his girlfriend. Dr. Cortex tells his assistants to get the female bandicoot ready before the story finishes. That's what they show you in the beginning of the game. As you can see, you have to save Crash's girlfriend from an evil diabolical plan. I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty lame to me, but hey it works! Overall, pretty average story, but used way too many times in real life movies and video games.

GAMEPLAY: (7/10)

Well, this may be a good part and a bad part for Crash Bandicoot. Now there are many great things about the gameplay, but when you play the other Crash games then play this it's much different and not as fun. The gameplay however is fun, but there are couple bad things about it. First the good stuff. The greates thing about Crash Bandicoot is that the levels are fun. It's simple, just pass the level and move onto the next one right? Wrong, if you want to copmplete the game 100% then you need to get everything. Most adventure games are set up like this, but this adventure game has a weird way of getting everything. You have to get through the whole level without dying and you have to get all the boxes. There are some colored gems that you cannot get until very late in the game and the colored gems are used for getting boxes in some levels. This is kind of bad that the colored gems are at the late part of the game because you have to go back to the first world to get the gems. Also, there are two keys within the whole game that enables two secret levels. You can get these keys by a certain bonus level. Now onto bonus levels. A great thing about this game is that not only do you play the level, but in almost every level there is a bonus area where you can either save, get a life or get a key. There are three total different bonus rounds which are Crash's girlfriend where you can save your game, Dr. whatever for just being a bonus level and Dr. Cortex bonus level where you can get a key. Now, a bad thing about Crash Bandicoot is that you cannot see how many boxes there are in the level and how many you've gotten (Crash 3) and this really ticked me off because sometimes I'd beat the level without dying and it wouldn't give me the gem. Another bad thing is that Crash can't do anything really special. Only thing he has is a spin and I think that's pretty lame. It's not very bad, but he could have something else. This games setting is in the tropical area, like Australia or something. There's a lot of jungles and stuff so I guess it'd be Africa. Anyway this game reminds me a little of Donkey Kong Country or atleast the layout does. There are only 3 worlds with about 10 levels in each one. There are more than one boss in a couple worlds and the bosses aren't very hard. The duration of playing this game can be beaten in about a day or two, but I only played this once in awhile so it took me about two weeks. The mask is in this game and you can get up to three which gives you a short time of invincibility. There's a big variety of monsters and levels. That's pretty much everything about Crash Bandicoot. Overall, pretty fun game but can get easily repetitive.

CONTROLS: (8/10)

The controls are pretty easy to use. The buttons are easy to learn and not all of them are used. The X button is used to jump and the Square and Circle buttons are used to spin while the Triangle button is used to see how many apples and lifes you have. That's all for the buttons. The movement of Crash is decently responsive and if you hold X instead of tapping it he seems to jump farther. On the map, the Square and Circle buttons are used to see the rest of the island. There's not much else to do or say for the controls. These controls are very similar towards other adventure games, because not many things are used so there isn't many buttons needed. You can't control the camera view in this game except for the map, but that is just a weak configuration of the camera. Overall, the controls are pretty basic; very easy to use and learn. Maybe it's like that for little kids.

MUSIC/SOUND: (9/10)

I kind of liked the music and sound for Crash Bandicoot because of a couple reasons. First off, the music is nicely done with clear beats and nice tunes. Since the setting is in Africa or Australia, most of the music is African music with bongo drums beating constantly. The music in the beginning is good, but it is nowhere near as good as the 3rd Crash Bandicoots music ;{ but that's OK. The variety of music is decent, but for every jungle type stage the music is the same ande for every creek level it's the same, but totally there are probably 8 different themes that I can think of. Now for the sound, it's OK but nothing that I can point out that is so great. You can hear wind moving fast whenever Crash spins and you can hear a little boing sound whenver Crash jumps off a bongo trampoline. The sounds are OK in the beginning, the voiceacting but I think the Dr. something guy sounds like a big idiot. Another note from me comparing Crash Bandicoot to Crash Bandicoot 3 is that Cortexs sounds really dumb in the first one then in 3. Anyway, the music and sounds are pretty good and very realistic. That's pretty much it for audio.

GRAPHICS: (7/10)

Well, the graphics are good for its time, but there are a couple things that bother me. The main thing is that I didn't like the way the game looked, not meaning the levels or anything, but the weak 3D look it had. I know this is good because it is a Playstation, but I didn't like how some levels were from Crash going forward and some are Crash going from the side. Geez, it'd be much better if Sony and Naughty Dogg made every level the same way. Now onto the levels. The levels in Crash Bandicoot stuck with its setting and had many levels like primitive Africa. The only kinds of levels are jungles, creeks, towers, temples and beaches like primitive things. The levels look good being nicely detailed with many plants and trees for jungles, lots of water for the creeks and big towers covered with wood from top to bottom. The graphics are very good for 1996, but I still didn't like the fact how some levels are viewed from the players. The characters look kind of messed up, but still OK. Cortex looks very different then in Crash Bandicoot 3 and same goes for Crash. The coloring all over the levels are really bright and befit the setting very well. I personally found the graphics looking pretty because of its colors. Well now, there's a big difference when you compare a game made in 1998 and one made in early 1996 huh? Well these graphics are nice, but not perfect. Overall, really good graphics, but the camera is pretty bad.

CHALLENGE: (7/10)

Challenge? Adventure games are supposed to be easy right? Well Crash Bandicoot isn't easy. Sure the bosses are easy and some of the levels are easy, but try and get 100% of this game done and you'll realize that it isn't so easy. First off, the way you have to find diamonds is seriously so horrible. For example, the level Sunset Vista is so long. it is so hard to get through that whole level without dying and I am serious. I'd call myself a pretty good gamer, because I can tell which games are hard and which ones aren't and I gotta say that Crash Bandicoot is pretty dang hard! Well, some people fair differently in different genres so some people might think this game is easy, but from my point of view it's pretty hard. Getting the gems is the only hard thing about the game. Overall, above average challenge.

REPLAY: (5/10)

The replay value for Crash Bandicoot isn't bad, but it isn't good either. As most adventure games are, the games go by quick and you can play them over and over after awhile. That's how it is with Crash Bandicoot, but there is one small problem. It's not that fun to play it over and over because you already have gotten 100% (maybe, some might not get it all) and you've already seen the ending. In case you do not get 100% you can always go back and get it so that is a good thing about the replayablitiy. I personally didn't play it again, but that's because I had to give it back. I wouldn't know if it's very fun to paly or not because i beat the game first time with a 100%. Anyway, that's about it for replay value. You could play this game if you're in means for quick entertainment. Overall, the replay value is just average.

*Well, I just have the urge to do this thing atleast once. I am getting this from SMcfadden, KBroccoli and Shady, but I'll put it in my own way - SCCAN85*

BEST ASPECTS - Gameplay is fun and fast
- Music and sounds are realistic and go with the setting
- Challenge is pretty high

WORST ASPECTS - Story is kind of cheesy
- Not so high replay value

OVERALL: (7/10)

Finally, I'm done with my review of Crash Bandicoot. I personally had some enjoyment while playing this, but don't forget that I played Crash Bandicoot 3 before playing this one so this is probably why it got a 7. Just because I don't use decimals I made this a 7 because if I had to narrow it down to my true feelings of this game I'd give it a 6.82 but I don't use decimals so i stick with 7. Anyway I think people should buy this game or rent it. It's $20 to buy and $5 to rent, so you can choose either one. I think Crash Bandicoot may be cheaper since it's so old. I'm not sure, but if you want you can do what I did and just borrow from a friend. Well, i still ahve yet to play Crash Bandicoot 2 and I'm looking forward to it because if I loved 3 so much and barely like 1 then I will like Crash Bandicoot 2 a little more than this hopefully. Thank God the series didn't continue like this, which wouldn't be a bad thing but if I compare Crash Bandicoot 3 to this I merely laugh. Well, that's how I feel about Crash Bandicoot. That's my story and I'm sticking to it :) . Thanks for reading and have a nice day!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/16/00, Updated 07/16/00