Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Backs Member Review for the PS

A Spinning Marsupial...

...what more could you want? Platformers were the rage back in the day, now recently two generations ago. And Crash Bandicoot wasn't the king of platformers, but he was certainly a knight of the round table (ha, see what i did there?) A pearl of the past is Carsh Bandicoot 2: The Wrath Of Cortex. A fantastic game for the PS1, and quite possibly one of my favourites for that console.

So in the first game, you kicked Cortex's ass off a massive cliff and got the girl, and maybe went back to the shack and made a little bandicoot love? I'll leave that to your imagination! But now, Cortex has come back (he survived the thousand foot + fall by the way), and is tricking Crash into obtaining these crystals that Crash believes will save the Earth from doom. But Cortex and new assistant N.Gin have other plans with these crystals, that Crash obviously doesn't know about.

The level gameplay is different from before. Instead of being linear, you have 5 stories in a tower. On each of these stories are portals to 5 different levels, in which you have to obtain the pink crystal to progress to the higher stories. When you have gathered all the pink crystals, you fight a boss at the end, and each boss is a challenge that will knock a few lives off your tally im sure! So a little more freedom, but not too much. But the levels themselves are awesomely fun! They range from the arctic, to a tribal river swamp, and all have imaginative enemies with crazy moves!

Speaking of moves, what can Crash do? Well he can spin, jump, slide, belly flop, and do a sliding jump! There are also utilities that Crash can use to progress EG ^^^ jetpak! There are also secret gems to collect that can be gathered to reveal a secret 5 levels. And then there's also the gems to collect where you have to break all the boxes, so a lot of replaying levels to get that 100% status! And it's a lot of fun to play! The difficulty isn't too tough, it obviously starts easy to begin with so you get the basics, but then towards the end of the game it becomes a challenge! So much fun all the way through though.

The grpahics are great for PS standards, infact most probably the best you can find. Crash's blue shorts looks like he bought them from a high class retail store like quiksilver. And trainers that stamp the label 'COOL' right across his forehead. Very clear, and accurate, but also they all have a cartoony sense which I like to see.

There are a few laughs here and there in the game. One example is riding across the snowy mountains on a baby polar bear! Then on a later level, you ride the polar bear baby whilst being chased by the angry family! Very fun to play! And of course there's the return of the cool and collected aku-aku! Many cool and fun characters around.

The music is fun, and makes you do a bouncy dance sometimes (just me?....) The sounds are funny and creative too, you get groans and squeeks from a wide variety of enemies like penguins, and turtles etc. All are of a good quality, and dont sound muffled at all. You will enjoy all the banter that goes on in the game!

So if you're in a retro mood at the moment, and are a fan of easy-going, but challenging platformers. I'd say Crash 2 is the game for you, obviously right now there are many Crash's out at the moment, but this one is my personal favourite and I recommend this the most! So jump out of the ass groove you've left in your chair and spin off to a used games store - Crash style!