CRASH BANDICOOT 2 - Cortex Strikes Back [Universal/Naughty Dog/Sony]

review by: Barry C. Dowell  


Crash is back.  Is he better than ever?  Read on, and find out.

First, special thanks back to Nils for the copy of this game.  Nils 
provided this copy during his recent contest pushing for as many quality 
reviews as possible.  While I never really write these reviews for 
personal gain, I do appreciate the gift in this case, and really felt 
that it was my duty to see that a review of the game was provided for 
Nils' great site.  (Clearly, one of the best sites anywhere on the web!)


On with the show.

Crash, he's back!  Back in a big way!  All new levels, new things to 
ride on, and puzzles to solve.


The good.

Lots more levels.  If you liked the original game and the levels that it 
had, then you should love these levels.

New levels.  Levels unlike anything in the original Crash.  Surf on a 
jetboard, fly with a jet pack, ride on an arctic pup.  These things and 
more to do in Crash 2.

The AI.  Thanks to the use of an adaptive AI system, the game will sense 
when you are having problems with a level, and provide assistance in the 
form of continue boxes, haku masks, or other helpful bonuses that can 
help you get through it.

A new "Warp" room for easy navigation between levels.

The cool case and holigram.  (Nice 3d effects on the cover art!)


The 'somewhat' bad.

It's hard to say anything is bad with such a well done game.  Anyone 
that has the $$ available as disposable income would be crazy not to get 
this great game.  Still, there are a few things I found a little 
disappointing.

The AI.  Yes, in some places it was nice to get the assist from the 
game.  I can't say I didn't need it actually.  But, after finishing the 
game completely, I looked back and thought, gee, that seemed sooooooo 
much easier than the original game was.  I guess I just expected it to 
be a little tougher.

The generousity of the continue feature.  Again, I can't say I didn't 
make much use of this feature.  But again, it seemed that this was 
overly generous.  Waste five lives, no problem, just continue.  Five new 
lives, pick up right where you left off.  I guess it's hard to strike a 
balance here, since you can easily go back to earlier "easy" levels and 
earn a lot of extra lives to work with, but still, you do have to earn 
those.

The Warp room.  Not to complain, but gee, the original Crash was fun to 
navigate through the worlds of.  The little islands were color full, 
cute and fun to navigate through.  The Warp room seems cold, impersonal, 
and not as friendly as the original game.




The ugly?

This one is really hard this time.  Again, there is just about nothing 
about this game that isn't great.  Well, maybe not quite nothing.

The repetitiveness of the levels.  Several levels look almost exactly 
like levels that are only a level or two away.  I know, designing that 
many levels must be difficult, but still, finding each level to be 
unique would be the complete icing on the cake.  I guess this will just 
have to be addressed next time.


Final thoughts

When do we get Crash 3?  I got the money ready (smile).


Rating: 10/10


Barry Dowell


Vital Statistics

Genre:  Arcade/Action/Platform/Rails
Game Format: 1 CD for Sony Playstation
Publisher: Universal/Naughty Dog/Sony
Audience: K-A (Kids to Adults)
Players: 1
Memory card: 1 blocks
Street price: doesn't matter, worth just about any price!  ($34.95)