Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back

Like the first game, Crash 2 has also been taking up space on my PS3 hard drive since January. The only reason I shelled out some cash for more Naughty Dog garbage after being tortured by the first Crash game is because a lot of people informed me that the second game is a huge improvement over the first. I kinda have to agree, Crash 2 is the typical sequel that tries to fix any issues that plagued its original outing and...well...at least it's better than the first one. Crash 2 sets the standard in terms of how most of the latter non-Naughty Dog produced sequels would play out. They fixed the saving problem that destroyed the first game and kinda improved the level design, so I was actually able to finish this one. Crash can now slide, giving him a lower attack than the spin, and he can also pull off a belly flop. The world map has been replaced with a warp room, featuring five levels and a lift to the boss (or next floor if the boss is defeated). The bosses can't be fought again, but since they're barely challenging and not very good, it's no big lost.

There's more emphasis on collecting gems, whether by breaking all the crates in a stage, following a secret path or completing the Death Route, which are naturally full of nitro, TNT, pits, spikes and all kinds of devious hazards. I didn't do any of this. Like the first game, there are plenty of cheap deaths and stupid game play concepts. The god awful warthog riding stages have been replaced with baby polar bear riding stages that are only a tad less awful, and there are stages where Crash can ride motorised surfboards and jetpacks, which also suffer from poor controls. I think the problem with some of this may have to do with the fact that game doesn't use the analog stick, it uses the D-pad. Sure, the levels aren't fully 3D in the sense that you can't go that far to the left or right, but I think the controls might feel a little more responsive and less clunky if used the stick. This game is at least somewhat enjoyable, but I'm not going to look into the third game anytime soon as I'm convinced that Naughty Dog doesn't have much talent for platformers.

Crash Bandicoot

I lived in a Nintendo household growing up and didn't acquire a non-Nintendo system until 2004, when I got my PS2. There was a huge backlog of PS1 titles that I missed and with the PS3's downloadable service, I'm able to check out what I've been missing. Crash Bandicoot was the Playstation's Mario equivalent, back when it was pretty much required for all systems to have one. It was made by Naughty Dog, the same people who would go on to make the those tolerable Jak and Daxter games. The Crash series went on without them and people have been complaining that the series was better in their care, but taking on their initial outing with the Bandicoot, I found a game that wasn't even worth completing! This game has been taking up space on my PS3's hard drive since early January, and while I normally won't talk about something on this blog without completing it (or in the case of stuff I already owned - replaying it), This game is just too unplayable to warrant even that.

Crash Bandicoot is a like a 3D Super Mario World or Donkey Kong Country. In fact, it's kinda what Mario 64 would have been like it had just took Mario World and put it in 3D. The gameplay is simplistic and kinda enjoyable, barely complicated at all. However the level designs are just pure shit and feature tons of cheap deaths and this is greatly elevated by the fact that it's in 3D and the camera is low. The controls are stiff and feature some of the clunkiest jumping I've seen in a platformer and combining this with poor level design and low camera turns stage progression into a nightmarish game of trail and error. Even when the game shows presents the action from a 2D perspective, the ledges are rarely more than one block wide, so if you happen to accidentally move up or down, you're likely dead. Then there are the stages where Crash rides a Warthog and dies when the damn thing runs into the tiniest little pebble on the ground...and the shit controls don't make that any better.

But you know, even with all that the game wouldn't be too much trouble to muscle through if it wasn't for the game's truly fatal flaw. The greatest problem in a game filled with annoyances is that it simply won't let you save. To save your progress or get a password, you can either complete a Tawna bonus stage and you can only do a bonus area once per level, so if you want to save again you'll actually need to find another level with a bonus area and of course the game doesn't inform you of what stages have them and if they've been completed. The other method of saving is to get a gem. That option is ruined by the fact that you must destroy all boxes in a stage without dying to get a gem and I've already covered how horrendous the levels are. It's a shame, if I was simply allowed to save when I wanted, I would have at least been able to persist to the game's end, but now it just left me wondering how this series ever got off the ground.

Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack In Time

I think I've more than satisfied my Ratchet & Clank fix, what with me playing the entire Future arc to 100% completion in under a month. A Crack in Time is easily the best of the PS3 entries, and probably my favorite game in the series after Up Your Arsenal. The PS3 games didn't do much to reinvent the series. Really, they just upped the graphics and decided to tell a more engaging storyline, but the core gameplay that's been more or less the same since the second game "Going Commando" is still enjoyable. I know I've said this before but the Ratchet games, like the Mario games, are games that can released every couple of years and I'll be happily obliged to play them. At this point the Ratchet gameplay isn't as engrossing as it used to be but A Crack in Time came pretty close to wowing me like the older games did.

A Crack in Time, for the most part concludes the story that began in Tools of Destruction and was pretty much glazed over in Quest for Booty, about the origins of both the titular heroes. The majority of the game splits off between taking control of Ratchet and playing as Clank by his lonesome. Clank gets about four levels to himself throughout the duration of the game, and for the better half of the game, the two stay separated. Clank gains the power to control time as he can toss time bombs that slow down fast-moving platforms and he also uses a temporal staff that will allow him to reflect enemy attacks back at baddies as well as fix broken down machines. But, the meat and potatoes of Clank's stages are the special time puzzles. These are rather clever as they have Clank recording copies of himself to perform actions such as stepping on a button to open a door or lower platforms. It's very ingenious how the puzzles work and they increase in difficultly very smoothly and the tougher ones succeed in making you feel smart without being too frustrating. Its a shame then, that the main puzzles stopped right when they were really getting good. Overall though Clank's solo portions of the game are much stronger than the controlling robots/zoni gameplay they normal stick him with.

Meanwhile, Ratchet does the usual thing of going to various planets, gaining various weapons and blowing everything up. His gameplay is just as solid as its always been, though I wish there was bit more enemy variety. The space exploration from select previous entries has returned in a big way. Instead of directly traveling to each planet they're grouped into small sectors that can be flown through. Apart from a few space battles, this portion of the game mostly exists to explore the tiny spherical planets that house the game's many, many bonus items and they're a joy to search for. The Ratchet and Clank games have always been good at motivating me in searching every nook and cranny for every tiny little bonus.

The story is intriguing and though a few things are left unresolved by the game conclusion, I felt that it was fairly epic close to this chapter of the franchise. There were plenty of surprises in the plot to keep me interested and entertained and there is some legitimately strong subject matter this time around and it handled surprisingly well. While I've never found the Ratchet and Clank games to be that hilarious, there were parts that made me laugh. The return of Dr Nefarious, one of my favorite characters in the series, was a treat even if his ultimate scheme wasn't that impressive and Captain Quark is always good for a cheap laugh or two. I'm not sure what's next for Ratchet and Clank, what with there being talks that this is either the final game in the Future arc or the final game overall. While I hope to see more from the series, I'll be somewhat satisfied if this is the last they ever do.

Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest For Booty (Review)

I really don't know how to feel about this one. Quest For Booty is a downloadable installment to the Ratchet & Clank Future saga, meant to bridge the gap between Tools of Destruction and A Crack in Time. Upon it's original release it was also suppose to tide people over for a whole year until ACIT was released and I think I would've have enjoyed it a lot more if I had been able to play back then instead of having to play it solely to gain full comprehension of the Future saga's narrative. I understand that Quest for Booty wasn't made to be the next big installment in the series, but even though it was a quick and enjoyable few hours of standard Ratchet fun, I still couldn't help but feel...underwhelmed.

As a roughly two hour outing, the experience is a bit more narrow and guided. You start the game with a select few weapons (none new, all of them are from Tools of Destruction), and after the first stage, they're all taking away and you slowly earn them back as the story progresses. You don't have to buy any of them (except for a bonus weapon for the last level) and they start off partially upgraded so not much effort going to weapon experience department. The game's actually pretty disappointing in this area as well as not being able to fully explore any of the levels, but the game design is still strong enough to overlook the limitations they placed on the gameplay for this outing.

The gameplay is actually a little more focused on platforming and puzzles than the usual, but with few exceptions, this shift in focus works mostly in the game's favor. In addition, the game is a bit more focused on the cut scenes and progressing what little story there is here forward. Usual you're allowed to goof off for a bit after completing an mission, but here you're thrown around from one interesting event to another, with some expeditionary cut scenes and some entertaining hand-drawn map screen images and somewhat amusing narrations thrown in for measure. Oddly enough, not much actually happens in terms of the story apart form a cliffhanger ending that reintroduces one my favorite characters in the franchise and sets things up for the saga's big finish. The game is not as good as proper Ratchet release, but I guess it does what it sets out do well and its a decent little time waster.