Game review: Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (Switch version)

The first gaming console I owned was the original Sony Playstation, a grey block that did not really look like much to the world, but it certainly had an impact on a whole generation of gamers. I loved playing with it, with titles like "Spyro The Dragon", "Croc", "Ape Escape", "Disney's Tarzan", and even "Who Wants To Be A Millionare". However, none of these games could match the pure awesomeness that was Crash Bandicoot, a derpy and orange critter that spun his way into my heart with his shit eating grin and incredibly silly victory dance. I played the hell out of both "Crash Team Racing" and "Crash Bandicoot: Warped", and I followed Crash throughout his adventures in the future console generations, both the good times ("Crash Twinsanity", "Crash Nitro Kart"), and the bad ("Crash of The Titans", "Crash Mind Over Mutant").

So when the CEO of Sony walked out to the stage during E3 2016 in a sandy beach, leaving foot prints behind him with a very familiar shadow following him, I lost my shit. Hearing about this remaster woke the kid in me, giving me those happy nostalgic thoughts once again. I was kind of disappointed that no new adventure was presented (no, his inclusion in "Skylanders" does not count), but this was a promising start, and after a year of PS4 exclusivity, the "N. Sane Trilogy" was finally released for the remaining platforms, including my beloved little Nintendo Switch.

Now, I was kind of worried that the game was developed by Vicarious Visions, who had only made a handful of handheld Crash titles in the past, but I gotta say that they did a fine job in handling this classic trilogy. The graphics are splendid and crisp, but they still have that cartoony style that made Crash so lovable in the first place. The colors are vibrant, there is a ton of detail, and the designs of the characters are amazing (although I do think the made Tawna a little too sexy, them furries are having a field day with her). I also love that the original voice cast is back, it just feels right in every aspect.

As far as the core game play goes, there is very little changed from the original versions. The only real difference is that the first two games have now gotten their own time trial mode, which I guess is expected, but these games were not made for speed running, so they are a pain to get any higher relic than gold. Speaking of difficulty, people created this meme were this game was declared as "The Dark Souls of platforming", which I never really understood. Sure, the first original Crash game was stupid difficult, but it has been nerfed here, so I did not know what the fuzz was about. Well, now that I actually played the game I understand why the meme was born, because the physics of Crash are much heavier than I was used to, which initially led to a lot of dumb deaths, but just like most memes, it is a little exaggerated. After some practice, I could handle Crash just fine, and the level of difficulty never really felt unfair, but it is still challenging nonetheless.

So let us talk through the games one by one, starting obviously with the original "Crash Bandicoot". This is the game where Vicarious Visions have done the most tweaks, and they are all welcome. Managing in the level select map is easier, you can see which levels you need to complete in order to get a colored gem, and most welcome change of them all, you can die during a level and still get the gem (well, except for said colored gem levels). This makes the game much more fair, and makes levels like "The High Road" and "Sunset Vista" much less rage inducing. I also liked that you had the opportunity to play as Crash's sister, Coco, which is something you can do in all three games.

One thing I hoped the developers would have messed around with was the boss fights, because they are all ridiculously easy, save for Ripper Roo, who is just tedious. Papu Papu is a simple enough start boss, but you can kill him before he even completes one attack, Koala Kong is just showing off is small ass, and Pinstripe Potoroo is just a huge joke. He is the 4th boss of the game, a rat that looks like a mob boss with his suit and gun, and all you do is hide and spin, hide and spin, HIDE AND SPIN! Last two bosses, N. Brio and Cortex, are sort of a saving grace, but they are still a little too easy knowing how hard the platforming is. I would definitely have not minded some harder boss battles.

Just an average day in the life of a mob boss

Onto game two, entitled "Cortex Strikes Back", a game that introduced a whole bunch of elements that became a main stay in the Crash universe. It is the first game where you gather crystals, find hidden paths to secret levels and different ways to gather those elusive colored gems (including the first level where you have to go through the entire level without breaking a single box), and also introducing the warp room system, which lets players chose to play between 5 levels in any order they want before fighting a boss. Crash also got a couple of more abilities at his disposal, like a slide maneuver that can help him jump higher, and a body slam to break harder boxes

The environments of the levels were in a larger quantity as well, with some returning, like the ruins and the jungle, and a bunch of new ones, like winter levels, sewer levels, and a couple of more futuristic levels. We also saw the return of the hog level, but this time Crash rides a small polar bear named Polar (real creative there Naughty Dog), which are more fast paced and fun. We also have the jet pack levels, and yes, they are still extremely awkward in the "N. Sane Trilogy". They might be slightly better, but controlling this jet pack is not an easy feat, and it requires a lot of focus and concentration just to get to the goal, or even get the gem. AND DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON THE GOD DAMN TIME TRIAL!!!

The boss fights are definitely an upgrade, in most cases. Ripper Roo returns as a simple first boss, a nice warm up for things to come... which is an even easier boss battle in the Komodo Brothers. They are the Pinstripe of this game, too easy for where they are placed. Then we have Tiny Tiger, a fantastic character who obviously skipped leg day more than once, and his fight is simple, but it does demand some strategy and usage of Crash's abilities. N. Gin is easily the best fight though, it is epic, cool, and demands a lot of good timing, even if it is kind of bullshit that you fight this giant robot with... Wumpa fruits. Cortex flat out sucks though, spin three times while chasing him with the jet pack, such a dumb final boss.

Personally, I really like this second game, and it has a lot of great details to it, but I saw it as a stepping stone for the third game, and my opinion on that has not changed whilst playing the remastered version. I have heard a lot of people saying that this is their favourite game from the trilogy, and while I do disagree, I cannot blame them for saying so, because it is a fun game that saw our orange hero step his game up.

Then we have the third and final game, "Crash Bandicoot: Warped", and it might be my nostalgia goggles saying this, but this is as close to a flawless game as you can come. "Warped" is just as fun and challenging as I remembered it to be, taking everything that made the second game so good, and ramping it up to a whole new level of awesomeness. We got time trials, we got to play as Coco, new vehicles like planes, jet skis, and motorcycles were introduced, and Crash got even more abilities under his belt, earning a new one every time he defeated a boss, and they are all helpful. The double jump, death tornado spin, and Crash dash are all useful, but nothing can beat the fruit bazooka. Man, that is a cool gadget.

The trusty fruit bazooka, never leave your house without it

What I think sets "Warped" on top of the other games though is the narrative, and how it affected the level designs. The whole story about the time twister and the introduction of Uka Uka and N. Tropy was epic watching it as a kid, and some of that epic nature is kind of lost in this remaster because of how bright that cut scene is, but it is still the best story of all three games. It all gives way to some fantastic level designs too, taking us to the medieval age, ancient China, ancient Egypt, the Jurassic age, and even the future, just to name a few.

Another advantage this game has is the boss fights, which is certainly the best group. We fight Tiny Tiger in the Colisseum with hordes of lions running around, Dingodile (one of my favourite side characters btw) tries to blast us away in some icy cave, we stand face to face with N. Tropy in some Chinese hall, and we fight N. Gin and a gigantic mech suit in freaking space. As per usual, we also fight Cortex as the final boss, while the two mask brothers Aku Aku and Uka Uka fight each other at the same time, creating a surprisingly epic ending fight.

As a bonus, we also got two new levels to the games. First is "Stormy Ascent", an old level created by the original developers Naughty Dog that never made it into the first Crash game, and it is easy to see why. This level is long as hell, and it demands some really precise timing in a lot of the jumps. I cannot imagine trying to complete this level in the old format, where you cannot die if you want the gem, it is definitely a tough masters exam for the worthy. The second level is a completely new level created by Vicarious Visions called "Future Tense". Using the future theme from "Warped", Vicarious has created a very fun and hard level with branching paths, unique enemy formations, a hard to reach death route, and a carefully crafted level design that forces you to use all of your knowledge, skill, and abilities. It is an amazing level through and through, and I can only hope that it is made as an example to what the crew can do if they get the opportunity to create a whole new Crash game, which I hope will happen sooner than later.

So where do I end up on this whole remaster? Well, I was worried getting into this game, but the more I played it, the more those worries faded away, being replaced with pure joy. This is basically my childhood being upgraded to HD quality, and while the Switch version only runs on 30 fps (with the other versions running in 60 fps), it still looks and plays incredible, both docked and in handheld mode. The only thing missing really is a remaster of "Crash Team Racing" as well, then the Naughty Dog collection would be complete once again. It is fantastic to see that these three classic games getting this face lifting, introducing them to a whole new generation of gamers out there. It is just as I remembered it, Crash Bandicoot is spinning and grinning until he is winning.

Rating: 9/10 Wumpa fruits