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.

Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil (Review)

There isn't much to say about this. Klonoa 2 is pretty much exactly the same as the original PS1/ Wii remake game. There aren't any new abilities or power-ups to nab, the story brings up some of the same themes and character motivations as the first, and apart from the surfing/snowboarding levels, you could switch one world from this game with a world from the first and never know the difference. Klonoa 2 pretty much feels like an expansion pack for the first game, and since that game was fairly charming that works out quite well here. Klonoa still has his unique enemy chucking ability and his still useless floating jump. The only thing that got somewhat of an upgrade were the bosses who now kinda put of a fight...it's not much but it's there. Klonoa 2, like the first game, is just a easy, well-made, fun little diversion.

Klonoa (Review)

Klonoa: Door to Phantomile for the Playstation is a game many people have hailed as a must play game, so I was pretty excited to get my hands on this Wii remake. It makes sense that Nintendo would release a remake of this game as it has a lot in common with Nintendo's own Kirby series. Both feature a sickeningly cute cast, both take place in some kind of dream world where some kind of nightmare creature is invading, the main villain in this game bares an odd resemblance to the main villain of Kirby's Adventure, and both are incredibly easy platformers that are really solid diversions.

As a platformer all Klonoa really adds to the mix is grabbing and throwing you're enemies, and using you're enemies to jump higher. It's well implemented and helps Klonoa stand out from the pack. He can also use his ears to float for a few seconds, kinda like Yoshi's flutter jump...only not as good. I didn't like that the closest thing to walking for Klonoa was a jog, and this makes the latter stages a bit of an annoyance when trying to make some precise jumps. The game doesn't present any real challenge from beginning to end, but that's unsurprisingly not a big downside as the game (like the Kirby series) is fun enough to overlook that detail. The words that I would use to describe Klonoa are fast, easy, and fun. It's a well made platformer that the Wii needs more of. There's a PS2 sequel that I hope gets remade for the Wii, but if it doesn't I'll definitely find a copy for the PS2.