Crash Bandicoot: Warped

still one of the best platformers i've ever played. yes, the early crash bandicoot games are a huge part of my childhood, but i believe that they hold up extremely well and that it's not entirely nostalgia speaking when i look back on them. warped was my favorite growing up, far and away the one i played the most, and that still holds true today. sure, it's also the easiest of the first three games, and i can certainly understand why some wouldn't like that, but to me the difficulty is replaced with just pure fun. i absolutely love the upgrades that are earned after defeating each boss, in particular the double jump and the bazooka. while they inarguably lower the game's difficulty even further, they also add a new dimension to how player's can interact with each level, and, for me, that's worth the lower difficulty. for the most part, i always have a blast with these levels, and it's why i always find myself coming back time and time again. i also love the variety of the levels, and it goes a long way in breaking up the monotony that can be present in platformers. Whether it's racing on a motorcycle, riding a tiger or jet ski, or flying a plane, it's a blast.

of course, this isn't to say that i don't sympathize with some players' complaints. i've already discussed the difficulty, but i get wanting a more difficult crash game, and i would actually like to see how these levels could be made more challenging, especially with all the abilities the player is given by the end of the game. the game does try to make a use for each of these difficulties, but from that perspective it could certainly be seen as a weakness. and even though the game does vary up the levels, especially compared to the previous two titles, i understand becoming tired with the recycled settings. the egyptian and arabian settings might be the worst offenders, but you also have the same settings when riding the tiger or racing, which, yeah, is a shame, but, honestly, not that big of a deal. now, when reviewing any platformer, controls are extremely important. for the most part, handling crash and coco is extremely smooth. and while i personally don't think handling coco on the jet ski or tiger is that rough, it can be a bit slippery at times, which can make for some frustration, especially on the tiger levels. it's definitely something one has to adjust and practice at, though, because, yes, even i'll admit, the controls for those levels are far from perfect. still, though, warped is one of the best platformers of all time. its uniqueness is still felt today, and i'll never have any problem when a game sacrifices difficulty for adding some variety to the levels and makes them as fun as they are here. undoubtedly a game i will return to again and again.

This is my personal favourite game from the crash bandicoot franchise as everything its predecessor did right, this does ten times better as well as doing away with most of what didn't work about those games.

It's hard to say what the best element of this game is, I guess I'll start with the large absence of the split paths as while there is a couple here, they're much better handled thanks to the camera not being as static this time around as the previous two games. The death routes now award you with coloured gems which I feel is a smart move as it felt trollish that they’re only clear gems in the previous game, not that it was too much of an issue there but still. This game finally lets you play as Coco which I greatly appreciate as I've always preferred her as a character over crash even if her personality is strangely absent here for some reason. I also like the different vehicles our two heroes can use even if some are much better than others (namely Cocos over crashes) they do a good job in breaking up the monotony this game would otherwise have of being a standard 3d platformer. The relics are also a nice touch given how each of the levels were designed with them in mind, they're hair raising without being cheap as you're forced to coordinate how you tackle each stage without wasting too much time. This game has the best line-up of villains, so much so that you can consider this lineup the official one as they all serve cortex in several of the following games whilst the likes of koala Kong and ripper Roo tend to have their own agendas from here on out. I like how they expanded both tiny and Ngin from the previous game whilst the introduction of dingodile, n tropy and uka uka was a genius idea. There's of course the time travel gimmick which leads to creative level design, the different power ups crash earns after defeating each boss which also affects the level design, the list goes on.

It's the ultimate crash bandicoot experience with little if anything to complain about, check it out if you haven't already.

Crash Bandicoot 3 é ótimo porque o 2 é excelente. Tudo que funciona aqui, funcionava lá, só que de forma expandida.

Mas nem sempre mais é melhor. As fases que não incorporam as mecânicas de plataforma tradicional da série são, no melhor dos casos, só toleráveis.

Crash 3 was everything that Crash 2 was and more, I remember getting this game for Christmas one year and I was already a big fan of the series having played the hell out of the first 2 games, and seeing this game in my present made me super excited as a kid. As a kid I played the hell out of this game as well, and the big thing this introduces are the vehicle levels and relics. It plays similar to Crash 2 where you go into the portals and the levels have their own theme and the game revolves around basic platforming and enemies and they brought the bonus levels and gems back too. The theme of this game is time travel, so each level is structured after a different time period, which I found to be somewhat of a cool concept.

I think the biggest improvement Crash 3 made is it has more variety. You have new abilities like the bazooka and running shoes, all levels aren't basic platforming, there are Coco missions that are similar to the polar bear ones from Crash 2, there are airplane and jet ski missions, there are underwater scuba diving missions and motorcycle racing missions. Sure some of these levels might be awkward and aren't as good as the core platforming missions, but at the same time it does break up the repetition of the regular missions, and as much as I loved Crash 2, the game did get a tad repetitive, especially near the later game. The bosses in Crash 3 are a slight improvement over 2, but still are rather easy and nothing too great. The real addition is the relic challenge, where you have to complete the level in a set time and you earn a specific grade of relic based on how fast you beat the level. The more relics you get unlock secret stages to earn more gems, and once you get all gems and relics you get to see the games true ending. Granted I feel there should have been a better reward, but the bonus levels do give incentive to go for the relics.

Now I do have some complaints, the game does like to reuse some of the same themes a bit, I feel like they reused the pyramid and Arabian themed levels a bit much. Also the motorcycle and airplane missions always controlled a bit awkward and the motorcycle missions sometimes had weird box placement so you had to go as slow as possible so you don't miss the boxes. Plus the game as a whole does feel a bit too easy, even as a kid I never had trouble with this, it is the easiest of the original Crash trilogy and there were only 2 or 3 levels in this game that ever gave me any trouble.

Still, the music is great, the variety is the most of all the Crash games, it has well paced levels, and it has a unique theme with funny death animations and enemies. Plus, the relic challenges did add more replay value since in Crash 2 once you beat the game there was no incentive to replay anything ever again. Crash 3 might not be my favorite Crash game, but as a kid I loved this game a lot and still feel it does a lot right. I have a slight preference for Crash 2, but 3 is not too far behind and is up there among the best platformers of all time.

For my money the best 3D platformer of all time. Maybe its not as impressive or groundbreaking as something like Mario Galaxy, but the the cartoonish feel and fun vibe this game gives off makes up for it. Easily one of my favorite games

Warped's gimmicks are well regulated and designed, but still overstuff the package, taking away some of the charm of the core platforming which is arguably stronger than ever. Tweaks under the hood make collecting everything way more manageable even as the amount you have to do is so much greater, but the level design is innately satisfying so the game never comes close to the Skinner Box. Absolute gem (and maybe also a bit of a relic (lol)).