N. Credible fun.
As someone who played the first three Crash Bandicoot games over and over again, the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy delivers exactly what I wanted. 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.
And just as Naughty Dog’s original trilogy sucked me in years ago, Vicarious Visions’ remakes have me itching to collect every crystal, gem, and relic yet again.
That’s in large part due to the impeccable technical work Vicarious Visions has done in retaining the tough but rewarding platforming of Naughty Dog’s original trilogy, while drastically updating everything around that foundation.
The HD visual upgrade isn’t a matter of smoothing over some rough edges and tweaking lighting. All three entries have the glow of a Saturday morning cartoon, with jungle foliage more lush, fire and water effects more dazzling, and futuristic cityscapes glowing with — though never distracting enough to make me lose more lives — and everything from futuristic city scapes to temple ruins glow with a beauty I didn’t expect.
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The visual updates matter to the gameplay as well.
And Vicarious Visions has smartly made the visual update matter to the gameplay as well. Enemies who may have previously been difficult to read now have better tells that don’t rob the experience of its difficulty. I can remember angrily throwing my controller as a kid after encountering the flamethrower-toting lab assistants of Cortex Strikes Back or the spiky-headed lizards of Warped. The remakes improve on their designs, however, to make any of my deaths absolutely my fault, not the game’s.
The trilogy sounds better than ever too, thanks to an HD update to Crash’s soundtrack, which has always been an infectious earworm of drums and marimba. While not the exact same tracks as the original game, the new score captures the soul and energy so well that I seriously need this soundtrack on its own now. But it’s the little touches that really impressed me this time around. The way the patter of Crash’s footsteps changes from sand to concrete, or Polar’s yelps mixing with the cries of whales bring the wacky, weird, and beautiful levels to life.
Even with the facelift, the original Crash Bandicoot is easily the weakest of the bunch. Crash’s limited moveset allows for less intricate, and interesting levels. And the overreliance on waves of enemies rather than platforming challenges makes for a much more repetitive experience, especially when put side-by-side with Cortex Strikes Back and Warped.
There’s still fun to be had with the original entry, though, and it’s easy to see the solid foundation on which the next two games were built. And Vicarious does include some needed quality of life tweaks like box counters and time trials that make for a more fleshed out experience. But for those jumping into the trilogy for the first time, the original Crash won’t leave the best first impression.
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Cortex Strikes Back stands the test of time as the best of the three.
Having years to reflect on them and returning now to the trilogy in this new form, Cortex Strikes Back stands the test of time as the best overall package. There’s an excellent blend of truly challenging core platforming and extra objectives — secret levels, Death Routes, and extra gems all make a return. The second entry offers a smart balance of maddening difficulty but also makes me feel that overcoming every obstacle will take just one more try — even if it really takes a dozen more. But I always knew any lives lost in Cortex Strikes Back were due to my ability, not some cheap enemy or poorly laid out jumping challenge. Naughty Dog also clearly learned lessons about depth and structure in between the first two Crashes. I often found myself misjudging the distances for a jump in the first game, while I never had that issue in Cortex or Warped.
That better balance epitomizes what made these games such great platformers over a decade ago, and what has allowed the second and third entries to stand the test of time.
The trilogy rounds out with the also-fantastic Warped, which doesn’t strike quite as great a balance between design and difficulty. Levels like Future Frenzy and Tomb Time are a blast to explore, with more crates to smash and a smarter pace to the obstacles peppered throughout stages. But they’re never all that difficult — as much fun as it is to play through longer, more labyrinthine levels, they’re never quite as punishing as Cortex’s levels. That’s in part due to Crash’s upgraded arsenal. It’s fun to have a double jump, extended spin attack, and a wumpa fruit rocket launcher, but they can make collecting additional gems and even just completing levels a breeze.
The challenge comes mostly when Warped switches things up, particularly with vehicle levels. Coco’s aerial levels are boring, with the task of shooting down blimps or fighter planes offering almost no difficulty. The real struggle comes, however, with Crash’s underwater and racing levels. Swimming in Crash becomes frustrating because of how loosely he controls underwater, making minute movements almost impossible as he drifts through the water. And for all my love of Crash Team Racing, its roots in Warped with certain racing levels are a chore to play thanks to stiff steering controls.
The N. Sane Trilogy delivers one OK experience and two great ones, and they’re all made better by Vicarious Visions enhancing the solid foundation Naughty Dog created years ago rather than trying to drastically change it. There’s plenty of great material to discover for those playing for the first time, and hints Vicarious Visions has added to loading screens never feel like a cheat but instead a simple gesture toward more obscure aspects, like death routes or colored gems, that makes them more understandable. Added time trials to Crash 1 and 2 offer plenty of new challenges for veterans, though, and as someone who spent hours whittling down my speedruns in Warped years ago, I found myself immediately doing the same with the first two Crash games.
The last major addition comes in the ability to play as Crash’s sister Coco, which amounts to a fun but superfluous addition. She’s charming to watch kick butt and keep a level head as opposed to her wackier, older brother, though she never required me to change how I approached levels. She’s functionally identical to Crash, but with an entirely different set of animations that can be fun to discover and compare while playing.
The Verdict
I didn’t want the Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy to break what wasn’t broken. Thankfully, Vicarious Visions clearly didn’t want to either, and the studio’s reverence for the original maddening yet rewarding challenges that have stood the test of time is clearly on display. On one hand, that leads to the frustrating limitations of the original Crash Bandicoot persisting 20 years later. But it also results in the incredible visual and aural overhaul and the gameplay tweaks to earlier entries, like time trials and crate counters, that Naughty Dog added later in the series. Those additions make the overall package so much more cohesive while never forgetting what made, and what still makes, so much of Naughty Dog’s original trilogy a blast to play.
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