Crash of the Titans

"A Bit Simplistic, But Still Great Fun"

Ask any gamer about Crash Bandicoot. They'll say, "Ohh yeah. Crash he used to be cool until Naughty Dog quit making games." And they're sort of right. Crash hadn't been at his best since 2001. A few gems like the GBA sidescrollers and Crash Twinsanity, but also some mediocrities like Wrath of Cortex and Nitro Kart and a few pieces of crap like Crash Boom Bang. Does Crash of the Titans restore Crash to his former glory? The correct answer is: YES.

GAMEPLAY 8/10
Crash is now a more combat focused platformer. You can punch things now, and even do a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick! You'll need these as well as a variety of other moves to defeat the mutants, thus allowing you to "jack" them, so you can control them and use their moves to defeat more mutants. Basically, you run through linear levels fighting these mutated animals, with platforming bits (which are very simplistic) in between battles, and occassionaly segments where you skateboard on Aku Aku (the voodoo mask dude) which are quite fun. It's fun, but it does get a little repettitive after a while.

STORY 7/10
Here's one area where Crash of the Titans is a bit lacking. The story is this: Crash must rescue Coco (his sister) from Dr. N. Cortex, stop his giant robot, and defeat his army of mutants. It's every Saturday morning cartoon cliche rolled into one. But the humorous cutscenes sort of make up for the lack of a truly engrossing storyline.

SOUND 7/10
Very catchy at times, very forgettable at others.

CONTROLS 8/10
The motion based controls used to do the mutants' special attacks are not always at responsive as they should be, but around 80% of the time, they are. The regular controls work fine. Even better than Mario Galaxy.

GRAPHICS 7/10
They look good, though it could be a bit better. But graphics aren't really important anyway.

REPLAY VALUE 9/10
Like any Crash game, there's still fun to be had after the credits roll.There are plenty of things to unlock like new abilities, concept art, and skins for Crash to wear. Sometimes it's fun to just replay a level just for the heck of it. Not to mention it's got three difficulty settings. Problem is there's not really a noticable difference between easy mode and normal mode. But hard mode lives up to its name. I still haven't beaten it!


To sum things up, I recommend this game to anyone, Crash fan or not.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/16/08, Updated 12/08/08

Game Release: Crash of the Titans (US, 10/04/07)