Crash Bandicoot Remastered Review (PS4)

Introduction

Crash is a bandicoot, that's pretty self-explanatory. A red fox-like creature with a considerable amount of charisma which he caught from his nemesis' experiment on him. His nemesis is Cortex, an evil doctor that doesn't seem to know how to call a pest exterminator… Crash’s objective is basically to stop him from being evil. But how? By completing lots of different, colorful levels jumping over oddly shaped gaps, running away from boulders and destroying crates, he's basically a little red Indiana Jones. It’s simple stuff as you’d expect from a game released almost 30-years ago – but it's not all as easy as it sounds, especially with the remastered version. The platforming, for better and occasionally worse, retains the demanding and punishing challenge of the originals coated in a polished, modern sheen that makes even the most familiar levels feel fresh. In this game review, we will be talking about the whole new N'sane trilogy. When I played the first couple original games I was quite young, maybe six or seven, so I didn't really remember them but when I was playing through the remastered it was all coming back to me and I'd never felt happier playing a game.

You can buy Crash Bandicoot N. sane Trilogy at the PlayStation Store for £34.99!

Story

The story to Crash Bandicoot isn't all that diverse. The creators mainly focused on making the game as hard and frustrating as possible. Don't get me wrong though, there is a story to follow and believe me it's quite enjoyable. Once Cortex has created Crash and then Crash escapes, the objective is to get back to Cortex, defeat him and save your beloved girlfriend Bandicoot, that's pretty much the objective of the first game but the story gets much more interesting as you play the rest of the N'sane trilogy. You encounter a huge monstrous version of you created by Cortex, you'll gather more equipment along the way, you'll grow closer to your sister Coco Bandicoot and you trustworthy companion Aku Aku. In the second edition of the trilogy, you end up teaming up with Cortex's assistant Natrus Brio in order to stop Cortex from brainwashing the world using crystals he finds after a terrible fall, all this is done with a little help from your sister Coco. The third edition Uka Uka is released and you, Coco and Uka Uka's brother Aku Aku, have to stop Cortex and Uka Uka before they use time travel to their advantage. In my opinion, the second game is my favorite because of how much more diverse the levels are than the first one, although the first one is good I always thought it could have a little more to it, such as more weapons to use and bonuses to gather. I never really understood the story of the third game but other than the story,  the boss battles, the gameplay, the gadgets you acquire all make up for the confusing timelines.

gameplay

The gameplay in Crash Bandicoot is good. Only good. There are some floors but all together it is playable. It is very much like the older games and apparently, they should almost be identical gameplay wise but a lot of people have said that the remaster is a hell of a lot harder than the original and I agree completely. They must have tried to change some things which caused the gameplay to be harder (which isn't bad) and a lot more buggy. On the level where you're running forward on the old rickety bridge you can easily jump onto the rope on each side of the bridge and complete the level with ease. That is just one of the countless flaws in the gameplay. Ignoring the flaws the gameplay is interesting with some nice new features such as the long-range bazooka you can acquire after a boss battle, although that isn't in the first game, you'll have to play through the second one to have access to that amazingly helpful weapon. The last exciting addition comes in the ability to play as Crash’s sister Coco, which amounts to a fun and 'cute' addition. She’s charming to watch kick open crates and keep a level head as opposed to her wackier, older brother Crash, though she never required me to change how I play levels. She’s functionally identical to Crash so you don't have to worry about learning any new controls for her, I really loved how the game allowed you to do this. With an entirely different set of animations, you can still have copious amounts of fun and you can compare each characters moves and animations while playing.

graphics

Now the graphics look beautiful, although anything would have been an improvement from the old games made 30 years ago. I wouldn't call this game a remaster but more of a remake because the original and the remaster were made by different companies, so the new Crash games will have been made almost completely from scratch, they would have had the level layout and cutscenes to copy but other than that it is a completely new game and I think that's why they were able to make the graphics as amazingly detailed as they are, and everything from futuristic cityscapes to temple ruins glow with a beauty I didn’t expect.. I mean come on, you can see each individual hair on Crash's body, it's N'sane! Especially when you're playing, they even made the TNT explosions look astonishingly real, the grass, the clouds, everything I've come across in this games looks too good to be true. Although I'm happy they didn't make the graphics look too realistic because I've seen a real Bandicoot and the thought of that standing on its back legs is just terrifying! Seriously though, Crash looks nothing like a Bandicoot, he's red for a start!

trailer

I heard about the remaster of Crash Bandicoot way being the trailer was released, I heard rumors and all my friends were talking about it. I waited so long for the trailer announcement and when it came out there was no time to waste, I literally ran to my laptop, opened up YouTube and prepared for the most exciting one minute nine seconds of the year. The trailer was brilliant, even better than I had hoped. We got to see comparisons from the old games and the new, we saw boss battles that sent us right back to childhood, weapons you forgot about and many familiar, eccentric, wacky faces. Thank you, Activision for an amazing come back to this astonishing game. Although I have to say I was upset that I didn't see any Crash Bandicoot Nitro Cart in the trailer or game, I just hope Naughty Dog realize their mistake and give us MORE CRASH!!

audio

There's not too much to say about the audio except well done, thanks to an HD update to Crash’s soundtrack, which has always been an infectious earworm of drums and heavenly death sounds. While not the exact same tracks as the original game, the new tracks capture the life and energy of Crash Bandicoot so well that I seriously need this soundtrack on my phone. I found it very impressive that the sounds, voices, and music all sounded almost the same as the original. As I was playing each jump sound, each word that was said reminded me of my childhood and that's why I like this game, to relive one of my favorite pastimes. Each level makes the player extremely nostalgic as the characters talk, as you jump down a hole and hear the death sound, over and over and over again. Ah, the good ol' days.

conclusion 

All in all, I loved replaying this game despite its few flaws, it made me nostalgic and I did not regret buying it. Sadly it was quite different in some aspects to the original and that's the game I thought I was buying, ignoring that fact it was still a good remake if not a different game with the same story from my childhood, either way, I loved it. I even went back to play the original on my old Xbox and I don't remember the graphic quality being so poor, it is astonishing how well they remade the game and I don't regret buying it… Yet.

I would recommend this game to anyone interested in feeling nostalgic or if you've never played it's a whole new adventure awaiting you as you get to know that little Bandicoot named Crash, he'll become your world. Although if you are easily frustrated by games and you're scared of breaking your TV with your remote, then I'd stay well away from this game for there are some levels that just get to you. I myself don't usually get mad at games but in this case, let's say I need to get a new TV.