Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex Review





Developer: Traveller’s Tales Publisher: Universal Interactive
Release Date: October 31, 2001 Also On: GCN, PS2 and Xbox

While Nintendo has Mario and Sega has Sonic, Sony was left with a mascot unknown to many during the PSX days. Naughty Dog had enough balls to put together a title known by many as Crash Bandicoot. With three games released for the PSX, Crash has captured the hearts of gamers from around the world. Unfortunately enough for all of us, Universal Interactive gained rights to the Crash license and has ruined the game.

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The story plays out with Uka Uka and Dr. Cortex once again trying to destroy Crash Bandicoot and take over the world. Dr. Cortex has developed a new invention which uses the four elements, earth, wind, fire, and water to create natural disasters. Crash must beat Cortex to the elements before it is too late.

Like in Crash games before it, The Wrath of Cortex includes several different types of game play, spread across 25 levels and 5 bosses. The game is a combination of 3D side-scrolling, roaming, swimming, driving, and flying levels.

The levels are overwhelmed with TNT and nitro boxes, wumpa fruit, crash crates (give you free lives), Aku Aku boxes, surprise boxes, bouncy boxes, and crates. In each level your objective is to collect a crystal and the option of going back to collect relics and gems. Regrettably, the game is extremely easy and will only take you a couple hours to beat. The good thing is the amount of bonus’ which add to the total length of the game.

While the graphics are sharp, the actual levels’ backgrounds are fairly flat, low in detail, and similar to that of games before it. Of course a Crash game is bright, bold, and cartoony, which makes it all the more fun.

Overall, The Wrath of Cortex is a disappointment for me. With the power of the PS2, Crash could have been much more open, less linear, and had faster load times. The load times are a huge complaint and a major nuisance, especially when you are in a rush to get some game time in. In between the warp room and any level it could take you up to 45 seconds to load! This is ridiculous for a PS2 game, especially since some other games only take 10 seconds. Do yourself a favor and buy Jak and Daxter instead of this game. You can thank me later.

Graphics: 7
Sound: 7.5
Gameplay: 8
Creativity: 4
Replay Value/Game Length: 8.5
Final: 6.5
Written by Kyle Review Guide

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