With Mario getting his space
adventure (Mario Galaxy) and Sonic getting a few second chances at being
in a quality game (Sonic RPG for the DS, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic
Games, and not to forget the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Brawl), it’s
only fitting for Crash Bandicoot to appear back on the scene and throw his name
in the mascot hat. What is Crash Bandicoot up to this time around? Radical
Entertainment, who has developed such projects as The Simpsons Hit & Run
and The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, are pitting Crash against
his arch nemesis again, Dr. Neo Cortex. Can this rivalry between Crash and
Cortex produce another interesting storyline or will it drudgingly drag along at
a snails pace boring players?
Let’s begin with the basics of the
storyline: Cortex has returned to Crash’s beloved home and kidnaps Coco and
Aku-Aku. For his return, he brings along mutated monsters that are set to
destroy the island and everything Crash loves. This is where the story begins
and in principle, Crash sets off to stop Cortex and get rid of the giant
monsters on his island. I must commend Radical Entertainment for their title for
this Crash video game; Crash of the Titans is fitting and catchy. With
finishing my college course on mythology, and I am sure many high school
students going through their mythology classes, people should know that the
Titans are from Greek mythology. I absolutely love the title, but a title of a
video game doesn’t provide quality in a video game, it’s the gameplay in my
opinion that makes or breaks a video game.
The gameplay in Crash of the
Titans revolves around the concept of jacking the monsters and taking
control of them to fight off even bigger monsters. Crash, in his small stature,
isn’t able to go mano a mano with these creatures, so Radical has provided the
ability to jump on the back of the monsters and manipulate them to Crash’s own
well-being. The monsters are susceptible to attacks (beware, they do block later
in the game) and if an attack lands, they’ll be dazed for Crash to jump on board
and gain control. With this all in place, it creates a combat-heavy platformer
that focuses on eliminating all the enemies on the screen before advancing. I am
not in favor of gameplay mechanics where it asks for the players to kill enemies
before moving on and Crash of the Titans does just that. But there’s a lot more
in the gameplay besides wasting your time fighting the same enemies with giant
monsters.
Radical has given Crash the chance
to collect mojo orbs and use them for his own benefit. Mojo orbs provide him
with ability upgrades and stronger moves through combos. The combos aren’t
complicated, but get the job done with providing Crash a maneuver set that is
effective. As for the platforming, players will have the chance to double-jump
to higher areas, but needless to say, Radical cut back on the puzzle-solving and
platforming. Making up for the lack of platforming, there are hoverboard
sequences scattered in, but it isn’t enough to give players a well-rounded
experience.
If there’s anything that saves
Crash of the Titans it’s the cooperative mode. The second player that joins
the fray assumes the role as a clone of Crash. Both players will be on the same
screen sharing the camera, which ends up being a problem with the first player
attracting the camera more so than the second player. I’ll admit that this is
one of the better cooperative modes in recent memory for platformers, but
Radical needs to fine tune the camera and center the next Crash title on co-op
alone.
Crash of the Titan’s visuals
are decent in comparison to the last iteration. There are nice textures thrown
into the environment, great lighting to illuminate the characters, and even some
motion blur added in on the animations. While everything sounds dandy, the
motion bblur is more of a detractor than anything; the new character designs
haven’t won me over yet, and a lot of the up close environments look dismal. To
go along with decent graphics, Radical put together a voice-cast that adds a lot
of humor to the game. The rest of the audio is sub-par and isn’t anything
special.
http://gzdev.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/s32363_360_18.jpg
Crash is still in an identity crisis
but Crash of the Titans helps push him in the right direction to doing
so. Radical has the right pieces to deliver a quality game, but Crash of the
Titans doesn’t have enough to keep the attention of gamers outside of the
6-8 hours it takes to complete the storyline. If they decide to jump on board
for another Crash game, they should focus on the co-op and deliver more
puzzle-solving aspects that I love in my platformers.
|
Review Scoring Details for Crash of the Titans |
Gameplay: 6.7
Following the path of repetition, Crash of the Titans becomes monotonous
three hours into the game.
Graphics: 7.0
While not the prettiest game on the 360, the graphics hold up for the genre.
Though, Radical needs to figure out how to effectively use motion blur.
Sound: 7.0
The voice-cast pulls through and delivers funny dialogue that will make
players chuckle.
Difficulty: Easy
Centering on combat rather than puzzles, players will have an easy time running
through Crash of the Titans and completing it.
Concept: 5.0
Is Crash vs. Cortex new? Nope. They need a new attitude and direction for
Crash if they plan to give him a new life on this generation of consoles.
Multiplayer: 7.1
The co-op mode is the saving grace that gave me a lot of enjoyment allowing
my girlfriend to jump in and tag along for the story.
Overall: 6.4
Crash of the Titans is nothing new or revolutionary. Players will find
better platformers to play this holiday, so I’d say it would be best to find a
different game to play this winter. Save for the cooperative mode, there’s not
much here worthy of a gamer’s time that is devoted to buying and renting the
best games.
