Developer: Naughty Dog Publisher: Sony Release: 09/09/96 Genre: Platformer
The 90s were an interesting time. Mascot platformers were the most popular genre and almost every publisher had some anthropomorphic animal as their symbol. For console manufacturers if your system did not have a mascot it felt like it was not official. Nintendo has Mario, Sega has Sonic, NEC had Bonk and even the 3DO eventually had Gex. For the PlayStation that question would not be answered for an entire year. Crash Bandicoot would arrive to fill that vacant whole in the system’s library and is a solid first start for a now classic series.
What makes Crash Bandicoot so interesting is that at the time it came from an unlikely source. Nowadays Naughty Dog is revered as one of the best developers in the industry. But they had a rough start to say the least. Most still have probably never heard of Rings of Power, an interesting Genesis RPG that only suffers from poor control. At the time most knew them for Way of the Warrior, a god awful digitized fighting game whose creation is more interesting than the game itself. That Crash Bandicoot was probably the most technically polished games on the system at release was shocking to say the least. Luckily the game mostly lives up to its technical prowess.
Like the classic platformers of the 16-bit era Crash’s arsenal of attacks is small. Aside from the tried and true butt bounce his only offensive maneuver is a spin attack. The spin adds a little height to jumps and can also send enemies chaining in to each other. Normally Crash dies in one hit. Picking up an Aku Aku mask lets him absorb one hit. You can stack two more, with the third granting temporary invincibility. Wumpa fruit is the requisite collectible like coins to gain extra lives. The controls are tight and responsive which is crucial in a platformer such as this. They also make up for the awkward camera angles and perspective at times but I will get to that.
Crash Bandicoot is similar to old school 2d platformers. The levels are not free roaming despite being in 3d. Each stage has a path but you have some freedom of movement within it to avoid obstacles and enemies and find secrets. This restriction allows the developers to laser focus on tighter design. The various themed islands have unique elements that make them distinct. N. Sanity Island is the most straightforward with its only gimmicks being the forward scrolling stages as you are chased by a boulder. Wumpa Island features many ruins with plenty of new tricks and some of the toughest platforming in the game. The focus shifts once you reach Cortex fortress as you manipulate machinery, navigate mazes, and darkness. Despite the island theme they do an excellent job varying the gameplay although there are some annoying growing pains.
When the game is straightforward and sticks to a straight path it is great. Any time they experiment with a different viewpoint it stumbles. The running toward the camera levels are a cool concept but the execution is sloppy. The manic pace is at odds with it slowly revealing incoming obstacles requiring frustrating trial and error. The levels that allow you to wander around on the path slightly suffer from depth perception issues and lining up jumps. These flaws come to a head in Cortex fortress where the game recalls everything you have experienced and the difficulty curve spikes hard. When it is good it is great. When it is bad you want to chuck the disc. Crash Bandicoot is like a first year student with the ambition and drive of a twenty year veteran and fumbles a bit due to lack of experience.
Crash Bandicoot is a lot harder than it appears. The difficulty spike starts early and is daunting and not always in a good way as I have explained. The developers realize this as the game literally showers you in extra lives. Any time the game drops 3-5 extra lives simultaneously chances are you approaching a difficult and cheap section. It is surprising how easily you can rack up over fifty lives, it is insane. Normally this would break the difficulty scaling. In this case it merely attempts to even the odds. You can only save at the end of bonus rounds and if you fail tough luck. There is a hard limit to how many times you can save as a result. Restarting from a save point means replaying some of the rougher levels which can be a nightmare. Prepare to be humbled, especially if you are going for 100%.
At least you have some eye candy to soften the blow. At its release Crash Bandicoot was one of the best looking games on the market. Naughty Dog use creative tricks to wring every ounce of performance out of the console and that work pays dividends. The texture detail rivals the best PC games at the time and does an excellent job of realizing the game’s art. It is not all lush jungles; the island setting gradually gives way to mechanized fortresses as you reach Cortex lair. The colorful cast of characters exhibit a ton of personality thanks to the fantastic animation, especially Crash himself. Crash is never presented as cool in game despite the game’s aggressive marketing. In fact he is manic and the game sells that. I could keep going but you get the picture. As great as this game looks it would get even better going forward!
In Closing
Crash Bandicoot is an excellent realization of classic 2d platforming in a 3d environment and remains a solid effort. Its inventive level design, memorable characters, and engaging gameplay have solidified its place in gaming history. It has a few rough spots but that is the typical growing pains of the fifth generation. What it does is establish a solid base to expand on and brother Naughty Dog would do that in spades with the sequels. For both nostalgic fans and new players, it is a delightful romp through a colorful and chaotic world.
