Crash Bandicoot N’Sane Trilogy is a must-have for the Xbox One X. It’s a beautifully re-created/remastered trilogy that maintains the wonderful essence, as well as difficulty, that came with the original releases way back in the day. Vicarious Visions did a superb job with this one.
Crash Bandicoot N’Sane Trilogy finally makes its debut on the Xbox One X today after XB1 owners have had to watch the PlayStation 4 folks celebrate the return of everyone’s favorite Bandicoot for the last year. And I must say that the wait was worth it.
Bringing the band back together, Vicarious Visions’ Crash Bandicoot N’Sane Trilogy remasters Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, and Crash Bandicoot: Warped from the ground up. While I will only slightly complain that CTR didn’t make it to this collection, only partially joking, the above three have been masterfully rewoven with a modern look, some additional creative tweaks from Vicarious Visions to make it their own, and maintained the firm reminder that 3D platformers, such as Crash, can be a challenge at times.
Let’s get right into it.
Crash Bandicoot N’Sane Trilogy, first and foremost, is beautiful. From the opening animation where Crash is stuffing objects into a machine to update them to this generation looks, the game delivers on the presentation front. There were a few moments where it was just neat seeing a 90s character back in action and updated to look and represent all the wackiness that goes with the character. The textures, lighting, shading, and some small tweaks here and there with the environments make it look like something that was indeed given some care and love during the remastering phase. In addition, VV also added their own audio and updated animation, mainly because the original PS code didn’t work with the remastering gig, to bring some newness to the package. Some major kudos to Vicarious Visions for doing such a fantastic job on the presentation.
As for the control scheme, during the lifespan of Crash, I’m fairly certain, even though they were there, that the original PlayStation analog sticks didn’t come into play during gameplay. Most games at the time treated them as an option, rather than a necessity. I know, it’s odd, right? That said, I cannot fathom why that wouldn’t be the case because the game feels so good and nearly perfect when steering Crash around from level to level using the thumbsticks. The use of the analog sticks certainly saved my butt more than one time in this recasting of the game and they simply feel like they’re a perfect fit for the game construct. It’s a 3D-ish game, so it deserves some 3D control love. Vicarious Visions did a solid job with making sure the controls were accurate, which was vital because the games are so damn difficult at times. That last part might be the thing that catches some players off guard, especially those that never got to play the original trilogy. Speaking of difficulty, let’s talk about it.
The difficulty of each game varies. The first game is a mixed bag of nuts when it comes to throwing the player for a loop. You will have easy times during the first few levels of the game, then BOOM! You run into a level that requires you to play it over and over again before you beat it. For example, there is a level early on that has a slew of giant silver jump blocks. You have to jump on the blocks to propel Crash upwards, then you have to jump on another block to keep going up. If you miss a block, and you can pull Crash towards the screen to accidentally miss a block (it is 3D, ya know), then you have to do the whole thing over again. The game gets even more difficult once you go beyond these blocks, as you will shift to a more traditional platforming experience, where enemies, obstacles and fire pits will be thrown at you relentlessly. Some of the Crash Bandicoot levels are not for the weak-hearted. People of the Dark Souls generation may think they have a breezy game waiting for them from 1996, but no so fast. You’re going to find some frustrating challenges with this first game, and it doesn’t get any easier as you progress towards higher levels and worse enemies.
Beyond just straight up challenges and difficulty, the games do a great job of bringing some creative and fantastic level design into play. Each game brings its own personality to its levels. For example, Crash Bandicoot: Cortex Strikes Back features a frosty beginning which has Crash jumping around on ice, which is slippery, all while avoiding sliding seals and other forms of death. That alone breaks away from the norm of the first game and the game allows for more 3D roaming in comparison to the first. When you boot up Warped, you now have a variety of levels to choose from, which range from underwater Crash, who can use a mini-sub to move around in places, and other items of interest to make the levels more unique to the game. Ultimately, the trilogy shows off how beautifully designed the gameplay was when the games were created and how much less of a cookie-cutter template was used during their development. There’s a lot to love about the unique feel of each game. All of them contain a Super Mario Bros. feel to the purpose of progression and underlying design, but the creative venturing that is contained in each game just makes the entire experience epic.
Now, if you have never played the games before, and I’m sure some of you have not, then you will find some simplistic goals waiting for you. The game features Crash bashing boxes (you’ll want to get them all), playing on bonus levels after he collects items, riding animals, and sharing screen time with secondary characters that are playable. It’s straight-up what a platformer is typical. The game has never asked much from gamers in terms of goals and rewards, rather it has always played off of the level design and character design to drive the ship, so there won’t be much of a learning curve with regards to what a player is supposed to be doing during gameplay. Regardless, the game is fun, it’s a classic, and it deserved all the remastering love it has received.
Overall, Crash Bandicoot N’Sane Trilogy is a must-have for the Xbox One X. It’s a beautifully re-created/remastered trilogy that maintains the wonderful essence, as well as difficulty, that came with the original releases way back in the day. Vicarious Visions did a superb job with this one.
Hopefully, we’ll get some new Crash games in the very near future. Until then, enjoy this masterpiece of a release.
