Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (PlayStation) > Reviews (13)

Crash Bandicoot

Two decades of the ginger Crash Bandicoot and people are still not bored with the series and people often refer to this game as being legendary and a fair few of my friends are fond of this because of childhood memories when they played this game on the Playstation one console. Orginally created by NaughtyDog the game was original and a classic platform game which is great for all of the family and a prescious keepsake to some Crash Bandicoot fans. Over the years though NaughtyDog seized to create the story for the game and it moved over to Activision who started off doing a good job but then went on to do a not so good job. Crash Bandicoot fights his evil nemisis and - later to be found out - father, Dr Cortex who also has another "creation" Nina Cortex. While Cortex spends most of the game manipulating Crash Bandicoot into collecting Crystals he also finds that Crash beats him alongside acompanying help from Ooga Booga (his magical tikki mask) and Coco (his sister - or at least we think it is). In the Crash Bandicoot series there are various bosses to overcome of which have their own defences and weapons whereas Crash can only really spin, jump or bellyflop but in later games he has a wompa gun and other skills.

Where can this be purchased?

The original Crash Bandicoot games can't actually be purchased in store anymore but the good news is you can buy the games online at Amazon second hand for around £10 which is more than what you'd expect for a game on a console that isn't sold on the high street anymore but to buy the game new you could be paying up to £100. I personally think this is because the Crash Bandicoot series are hard to come by now and the games are massively known and favoured - there are still man who love that ginger bandicoot.

Gameplay

After the release of Crash Bandicoot, Cortex Strikes Back hit the shelves to generate further interest from fans that had already played the first one and loved it. However, there were some changes to be made to the second game of the series. Whereas in the first you had three islands where you could only go forwards or backwards a level you get five chambers where you visit one at a time all of which have five levels in each one - and you can choose which level you want to play first! When you come to finish the first five levels you then go on to a boss and it's the same for every level until you complete the game. Above each portal/door opening there is slots for the gems and crystals that you collect for that level and this generates the percentage of the game that you have completed.

Graphics

This game comes from the early 90s and we're talking 1998 I believe so to be honest the graphics aren't what you get today if we want to put it lightly. However, considering the game of it's age the graphics were actually pretty good to take into consideration. If I look at the graphics they're very shapey... As in triangles and squares - the characters are just not smoothe.

Sound

The sound is annoying and repetitive which unfortunately carries on throughout the entire series and then you find the sounds for when Crash does his spinning attack or other such.

They're not as obvious as they are in the later released games that were published by Activision but they're still noticeable if you're playing the game for a while with the volume on.

Difficulty & Complexity

This game is rated to be suitable for ages three and above and to be honest I think this is suitable but it's not as easy as other games with the same age rating as I remember playing Rugrats Reptar land and that was far easier than Crash Bandicoot as I used to play this game with my two sisters and even though there was three of us we still couldn't complete it until we were about eight/nine. I think that the levels in this game are pretty straight forward as well and I never had any trouble understanding the game and how to play at the age of five so I can't imagine that children of this generation would have a problem. I also wouldn't say this game is difficult unless you're a little younger as I can complete it in less than a day now but I'm 19 so that's expected.

Longevity

Like I said - now I can complete this game in less than a day and have done a fair amount of times (because I'm sad) and I think that this is one of the downfalls of Crash Bandicoot as the games are short and it's a shame that NaughtyDog didn't extend them a little - who knows Activision might have learnt something. However, the game takes as long as you want to complete it dependant on whether you only focus on the crystals or if you go for the gems as well.

Multiplayer

This game doesn't have multiplayer functions but if you want to play it with friends then the easiest way would be to do a level at a time.

Value for money

Well you can get this game second hand for around £10 which is more than some of the games on PS3 and Xbox360 so in this respect it's a bit of a rip off. On the other hand, I do believe these games are expensive for a reason and I think this will be down to collectors. I am collecting them new and unopened (because I'm sad) so I would pay it but I'd recommend buying this second hand to be honest if you only want to play it.

Conclusion

After the first one there was a bit hype and to be honest even though there was a couple of changes to the game I don't think this was a mistake I actually think this wass a slight improvement. Therefore I'll rate it five out of five stars because I'm taking into consideration the year it was made as well as the way that it had improved. I think that the only downfall is that the game does have the really annoying music which is a shame but the volume can be turned off so it's not actually that bad. I would recommend this even though it's donkey's old and I'm just a massive kid really.