Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of Cortex (GameCube)

• Platform:   GameCube
• Media: Video Game

Never less than fun, yet never a realistic contender when compared with the genre-defining Mario 64, Crash has sometimes received a fairly rough ride from the press. With original developers Naughty Dog passing on the chance to produce a next-gen version, Travellers Tales have created this effort, and in terms of gameplay there's no progression here whatsoever. This is Crash as we know and tolerate him, albeit with fancier lighting effects. All the familiar faces return, including (obviously, given the title) arch-goon Dr Cortex.

And it's great, as it goes. Ignore the on-rails nature of the gameplay; it's unlikely you'll come across a jauntier, more ridiculous, stupid-brilliant game for some time. As well as the usual platform action, there are mine-cart chases à la Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom, hysterically playable Marble Madness-style levels, secrets, bonuses, vehicles, new moves; all kinds of everything, as Dana might have put it if she were into video games rather than winning the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest. Simple to pick up and play, crammed with outlandish ideas, colourful, loud and a laugh riot into the bargain, it would be a hard heart that didn't warm to this old 'coot. --Steve Colton

Product Description
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, the first next-generation addition to the bestselling PlayStation series, delivers the same mix of intuitive gameplay and elaborate adventure that fans have come to expect, with many enhancements and all-new environments and missions. Neo Cortex is back, and he means to rid himself of Crash once and for all. To energise his most diabolical creation to date, Cortex channels the power of the Elementals, a group of renegade masks with the destructive power of Air, Earth, Water and Fire. To stop the Elementals and Cortex's new weapon, Crash or Coco (a fully playable character for the first time) will face five game hubs, 25 dynamic levels and five unique bosses, as well as the appearance of a new character that will rock the Crash world.

You can complete specific levels of the game to play as Crash's fiery sister. Coco will have a wide variety of moves and animations tailored to fit her personality. New free-roam sections will be implemented within certain levels of the game. These sections feature puzzles and hidden areas never before seen in a Crash game. New bosses and mini-bosses offer up a Noah's Ark-sized list of new creatures. The game also has an all-new graphics engine that brings vivid life to environment and characters as never before. What's more, the terrible loading times that blighted the PS2 version have thankfully been fixed here.

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• PC & Video Games > Games > Arcade & Platform