After my two previous posts talking about Jak and Daxter, and Looney Tunes: Sheep Rider; it’s now time to talk about the first installment of the franchise with the funny marsupial in pants and shoes that likes to spin, destroy boxes and collect fruits.
First of all, it feels so nostalgic to think about how the first Crash Bandicoot transports you into a past world of magic inside the PS1. With this title, the people of Naughty Dog knew exactly how to take advantage of the classics platforms games’ schemes, with lots of imagination and a protagonist who is a little bit crazy; they managed to give us an adventure that overflows with charm and humor.
The game has a simple but fun story, with an energetic protagonist who is the product of a failed experiment done by the evil professor Neo Cortex. This despicable and wicked scientist wants to create its own army by modifying the cortical cortex of every living creature in a forgotten archipelago of the pacific, to rule over the world from his massive castle. Crash’s mission is to save the beautiful Tawna from the grip of this mad scientist and to get his sanity back.
When it comes to the game’s mechanics the adventure develops through several levels dispersed in three big islands where there are different objects to collect, a lot of bonus screens, unimaginable secrets and various final bosses. The atmosphere is fantastic thanks to the cinematic sound effects, colorful levels designs and the variety of scenarios. The game has several perspectives, going from the classic tridimensional view where we move to the back of the scenery, two dimensional sections where we move back and forth, and finally, there are multidirectional levels.
It is important to highlight that the firsts levels work as a simple training because after that, the game requires quite a lot of skill to surpass the different obstacles in it, there are levels with hungry carnivore plants, dangerous hanging bridges, sliding platforms, and angry wild pigs that are a real challenge and put our patient to the test, especially in the final island where the adventure reaches its highest difficulty. These segments take place in areas full of mechanized constructions that are property of Doctor Neo Cortex, unlike the previous ones that take place in a jungle, and also, his minions are trying to stop us as well.
In conclusion, Crash Bandicoot is a game that has all the aspects to entertain, is really difficult and specially, let us enjoy the beginning of this charming character’s adventures. There’s no doubt that its creators nailed the use of the platform game’s mechanics and together with the title’s delightful presentation, made it the first big platform for the original PlayStation. Even though a long time has passed since its release, the game still has the magic that made it special; the best part is that it has a faithful and fantastic remastered version that was released a few years ago for modern gaming systems. So, I recommend you to play this piece of video game history if you haven't done it yet.
