[NO SPOILERS] Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy Review; The Dark Souls of Platformers

We gamers have suddenly found ourselves in a boom of remakes and remasters of videogames that were famous in the past. There’s nothing wrong with it as there are people who would enjoy reliving their childhood memories, but is it worth the money? That’s what we’re going to find out in today’s review of a remastered title, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy.

What’s Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy About?

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy follows the story of Crash Bandicoot in his early incarnation. Dr. Neo Cortex and Dr. Nitrus Brio subjected Crash to their Evolvo Ray in order to turn him evil. However, Crash proved to be immune to the Evolvo Ray and was deemed an experimental failure. Somehow, Crash manages to escape and jumps out of their laboratory, only to seemingly fall to his demise.

Crash is apparently still alive as he finds himself awake by a beach. As Cortex now holds his girlfriend, Tawna Bandicoot, hostage, he sets off on a journey to save her from the clutches of the evil professor and his lackeys. Along the way, he makes new friends and gain new abilities to aid him in his journey.

This remastered Crash Bandicoot game actually consists of 3 games that appeared in the original PlayStation; Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, and Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. As such, this game is packed with a lot of content, and is meant to feel as true to the original as possible, with some changes to make it more suitable for today’s generation of gamers.

Proving that Platformers Are Still Viable in Today’s World

With Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, it has managed to bring back one of the hottest game genres of yesteryear that is severely lacking today; platformers. With the whole world now getting used to shooters, action games, and role-playing games with life-like graphics, it’s hard to believe that this game would do well in this day and age but surprisingly, it manages to do it quite well.

The basic idea here is to play as Crash Bandicoot, go through each stage, and collect items along the way. You can collect ‘Wumpa Fruits’, which look like apples, which can yield you an extra life for every 100 of it, special items such as character coins which will unlock a secret level in the stage, and achievement items such as gems and keys, which denote how well you’ve completed a level.

For instance, destroying all boxes in a level will yield a gem but finishing a level within a specific duration will yield a key. While these items are generally optional, it is important if you want to get 100% completion rate in the game. Think of them as additional challenges in the game which will give you more reasons to continue playing it and thus, boosting its replay value.

Just as Mario has his mushrooms, Crash Bandicoot has the Aku Aku mask. Each mask will give you an additional life up to a maximum of 3. If you collect it more than twice, Crash will enter into a temporary state of invincibility, instantly decimating any and every enemy he goes through in any stage. It is essentially Mario’s Star power-up in concept.

You won’t be facing just regular levels every time as there are boss levels in the game. It’s not as simple as doing the spin attack on the enemy until he’s defeated as each boss will have their own weakness for you to exploit. For example, spin attacks will do no damage to the first boss Papu Papu. You will need to jump on his head in order to subdue him.

If you’re looking for to buy games this month but not sure which is worth the money, check out our list of top games to look out for in August 2017.

It’s Eerily Accurate to the Original

Usually, these kinds of remasters will stray away from the original since technology has developed so much that you can’t really capture the feel of the original game. However, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy managed to be very accurate to the original 3 games. In fact, it’s quite accurate to describe the game as the same as the original, but with high definition graphics.

It retains the same camera angle from the original game, the enemies, stages, and stage selection is essentially the same as before, and Crash is still the same lovable goofball we know and love. While there are no additional moves for Crash, you can switch him out and play as his younger sister, Coco Bandicoot. If you’re expecting her to do anything different than Crash, you’re going to be disappointed.

Coco Bandicoot

She will have the same moves as Crash and the only difference here is her appearance and her animations. What’s the purpose of this? Well, this game is catered to casual gamers so the developers want to cater to a general audience. Having Coco Bandicoot as a playable character will encourage more female gamers to play.

In the case of graphics, I can admit that Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy has managed to capture the essence of the original games and made it look better. It looks beautiful but at the same time, it really makes you feel like you are taking a trip down memory lane, and it feels as clear as the memories we had playing it when we were young. The nostalgia factor is very strong here.

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy Verdict

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is an excellent game for almost every gamer out there. Whether you’ve played the original trilogy in the PlayStation or you’re completely new to the series, it’s a great purchase nonetheless. There are simply so many things to do here and the fact that you can play it for long or short hours make it perfect for casual and hardcore gamers.

The only people that should not buy this game would be people who hate platformers. Otherwise, this game is an excellent value-for-money purchase and with an affordable price of RM159 and the sheer amount of content packed in this, it’s hard to say no. The only downside to this is that it can be a bit difficult at times. With that in mind, I award Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy with our Gold Pokdeward!

If you’re looking for more awesome Playstation stuff, check out our coverage of the PSX SEA 2017 event that happened over the weekend.