Video Games: Buy Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure Online

Average Rating:

Groundbreaking graphics aren't expected on portable consoles. But I have to say this game does gives off some sharp graphics, more then expected. It's as good as Rayman's graphics, with even more detail incorporated into the background. Crash looks excellent, and his moves are very fluent. The enemy character designs are also remarkable, and can look cartoony at times. The sharks and penguins are just some of the enemies in the game, but they look the best. Levels are designed profoundly well, with applicable surroundings according to various areas. I honestly haven't been more graphically impressed from a GBA side-scroller to date.

Level variety is very important in side-scrollers adventure games, and you won't be let down here. This game even surpasses Rayman in the level of variety. To name a few, you'll find yourself in the jungle, underwater, getting chased by an Abominable Snowman, and crossing icy tundra. In every level the main goal usually remains the same; collect all the boxes and try to find some of the bonus items hidden in the level. Each level can also reward you with a time icon after trying the level a second time, if you complete it in a certain time limit.

Smashing hundreds of boxes and getting weird shaped fruits equals fun right? If it doesn't sound like fun, don't be disappointed even though that's the main basis of the gameplay. For some weird unexplainable reason, it doesn't even start to feel repetitive. Along the way you'll fight off enemies, jump over gaps, and avoid objects that can move and hurt you. You'll want to progress in this game, hoping to see what the next level brings. After completing a level, you'll have the option to replay any level you want that's already been completed. After a set of levels, you'll find yourself up against a boss. They're not to hard, and can easily be beaten once you figure out their pattern. Fans of the series will recognize the characters, and all of them are back in this sequel.

The story is the Evil Mask, Uka Uka, is talking to Neo Cortex, obviously tired of his plans to destroy Crash failing. Neo reassures Uka Uka that this time Crash won't be able to do anything, with his special machine. What's Cortex's plan you ask? Shrink the world into the size of a melon, which is exactly what he does. Now Crash Bandicoot sets out once again to save the world. Why he ends up crossing arctic tundra one day and the jungle the next? What do you want, the world's a size of a melon!

Boodaga! If you think you've heard this before, you probably have in past Crash games. It is the sound you get after getting a mask power-up, which is very catchy. The sounds in this game are excellent, easily beating any other game in the genre. Various effects include Crash's spins, jumps, breaking boxes, and TNT boxes going off and counting down. Make sure you have the sound on in this game, or you won't know what you're missing.

Some level you'll know when you've missed a box, by accidentally starting a TNT countdown or by breaking a box without trying to get the box on top. Also, sometimes you are required to jump on an enemy and bounce off their backs to get to a box. If you can get all the boxes in the level, then a special diamond is awarded. These are needed for 100% completion, and it might be hard trying to find all the boxes. Special boxes can be found sometimes that spin faster, and give different opportunities to get a different item. The longer you wait, the faster the box spins, until it self-destructs. Lastly, don't forget about the nitro boxes, which explode immediately upon impact. They're green in colour so you can't miss them.

Power-ups can help a lot in this game, but you will mostly rely on lives. The first time you find a mask power-up, a little mask will hover around you. This gives you protection from one hit, upon which it will then disappear. These power-ups will stay with you as you progress through levels, and you will lose them when you die. The second time you find this power-up, a gold mask hovers around you. This guy will now give you two hits from an enemy until he disappears. If your lucky enough to get a third power-up while still having the gold mask, invincible mode begins! For about 20 seconds, you can just run straight through the level, over nitro boxes, TNT boxes, and any enemies in your way. Be careful to not be near an enemy when you think invincibility is about to end, because you can take a hit rather abruptly.

For an adventure game, it does a great job of pulling you back to want to play more. After all, if you want to get 100% completion then you have to get all the special items from each level. With over 25 levels all different from the last, this game won't get boring. If you want, rent it first and try it out. However, if you already have played Crash games and you know you like them, you'll have a great time with this game.

Crash Bandicoot tried to become to PSone what Sonic was to SEGA. The attempts failed, but he's still known fairly well as a video-game character. Crash has been dismissed lately by a lot of people, moving on to the PS2 and 3-D adventure games. Luckily, we've been treated to another great Crash game, and it's on a portable device. It can't get any better then this for fans of the genre.

The only part of this game that may disappoint you is that you are not getting nearly as much variety in your levels as you do in some of Crash's other adventures. To me, this has always been one of the great things about Crash Bandicoot. Sometimes the game is sidescrolling, sometimes it is a third person view from behind, sometimes a third person view from the front where you have to run from something behind you. Then there were different types of levels to break up the monotony--riding scooters, cart racing, riding a tiger, etc. You will find none of that here. There are four worlds with a total of twenty levels. In each world, you will have one underwater level, one hang-gliding level where you have to shoot blimps down, and three standard side-scrolling levels. You cannot help but get the feeling after awhile that you are just playing the same levels over and over, just with increased difficulty. Also, the bosses are not nearly as difficult as they are in the console games. The final boss was actually the easiest one for me to beat. I really did not mind this too much however, since I do not like difficult bosses anyway.

Most of Crash's trademark moves are here as well. As usual, you earn them after defeating bosses. However, the bazooka is notably absent here. That would have been a fun addition. You will also notice that there are fewer levels than your standard Crash game, which would have 25 levels rather than twenty, I assume because they would not have fit.

Overall, this game gave me what I wanted from it--a simple pick-up-and-play platformer with classic Crash environments. This is by far the easiest Crash game I have ever played, so it was a nice way to relax and numb my mind when I needed to. Despite the fewer levels, the full Crash experience of trying to earn 100% completion by time-attacking the levels and collecting the boxes is still there. This game could easily give you dozens of hours of gameplay, which is not bad for a GBA game.