Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy - (Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back) - Review



Review By:
David Strickland


From mystic rain-forests, the spine chilling arctics, sticky slimy sewers, all the way to space, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back sure lives up to being the direct sequel to Crash Bandicoot, everyone wanted, adding more to the gameplay, and to the overall story of the “N. Sane Trilogy”

 
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back offers everything it's prequel offered except in a better sense of gameplay and replayability. Unlike its prequel, Crash was only able to spin and make very precise jumps, depending on whether or not you'll make that jump was determined by timing it correctly or your perspective of the jump was right on point. Though most of these challenging platformer segments still exist within this sequel, you'll be very pleased to know that they added on, and made a few changes to make Crash play, and feel even better. In addition to the umping and spinning, they added two new gameplay mechanics, these include the slide, and the body slam. Giving each feature its own little mix in with the challenging levels. Whether it be running away from a boulder and having to slide under an obstacle blocking your way, or having to body slam crates beside "TNT" labeled crates hoping that you'll hit every one besides the TNT crate. The addition of these few mechanics as a whole make Crash play smooth, and really makes it feel a lot better when trying to get the grip of the controls. With the addition of newer enemies some of the new gameplay mechanics can help you easily take care of whom or what may be standing in your path. When I was playing around with the controls I for sure got a better sense of how to control Crash and it actually made it a lot easier to traverse on rough plains such as the ice in the Arctic themed levels, building up momentum can be a bit frustrating, but the slide mechanic makes it easy to get around the slow ice skating.


Being able to complete a level and collect the shiny purple “Power Crystal” at the end can feel very rewarding for the player as the levels continue to aggressively become more challenging, but Power Crystal’s aren’t the only things that make the game feel rewarding, the return of the gems help give the game replayability, as well as the return of the colored gems this time being required to collect them by accessing a secret path to another level, or beating the level with a timer, instead of playing through the level without dying. Although the gems are a nice feature to have, there’s one other thing that was added to give you bragging rights to your friend, “Time Relics” these collectibles not only add more to re-playability but also, makes it even more challenging as there are three tiers of the relic, sapphire, gold, and platinum, each are awarded depending on how fast the player can clear the level in a time trial, with the help of time crates to freeze time giving you an extra few seconds to make up for a wrong move, or running into a wall, and the addition of the new gameplay mechanics to help Crash get to the end of the level much faster than usual. Even though most of these collectibles are only able to be achieved by playing through most of the game, to get them it can be very challenging, even I was having trouble trying to find secret exits, and had to go search up on the internet and make sure I was doing something right, how else would you know that jumping down a pit actually wouldn’t kill you?
Conclusion


Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back has its challenging moments, and can also be a little more or less challenging than its prequel. Though there are some levels such as the arctic ones where it feels like the ice physics could’ve been a little bit better, and sometimes landing beside an enemy can cause you to die instantly due to the hitbox being too big, or some of the bosses being way more easier than expected. It’s fair to say that Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back redeems itself with re-playability and somewhat of a great story to start building off of. Levels with themed from various landscapes truly is an eye-catcher and if you want to jump straight into Crash without playing the first one, I’d say give it a shot, definitely will serve as a great introduction to the series, without having any prior knowledge of the first game, as some of the elements aren’t discussed regarding the prequel at all within the story.

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