The Game Master

There have been a few games/characters that captured my imagination throughout my gaming years, but none as much as that Eastern Barred Bandicoot named Crash. He is a marsupial, which means that the females of his species have a pouch for carrying young. Crash of course is a male and is from Tasmania, a small island south of Australia. I am not sure if he is any relation to the Tasmania Devil from a time long ago, but that would be digressing. From the time that Play Station introduced Crash to their system I thoroughly enjoyed the 3 games that were produced/developed by “NAUGHTY DOG”, especially the 3rd game “Warped” which has 30 levels of fun, danger, and thrills. It has been said that some of the best parts of the Crash series is the way that Crash looses his life throughout the levels. It is, to say the least comical, from his being “blown up” to where pieces of him come cascading down out of the sky, to being eaten by a shark, who then spits out his bathing suit, sometimes to the point of having him eaten just to watch the antics. I don’t know if anyone has the reason as to why Naughty Dog stopped doing Crash, as the subsequent series of Crash games that followed have not had the same level of excitement as the first 3. If anyone can tell me, please contact me. I never really tried the “Team Racing” game as those types just don’t really hold my interest.

Warped was enjoyable to me as each level, for the most part, had to be played 3 separate times in order to obtain all that was available to the gamer (that being the crystal, for completing the level, the diamond for getting/smashing all the boxes on that level, and finally the time trial, where you could obtain up to 3 different relics.) Certain levels can be completed for both the crystal and diamond through a single pass. On the time trials, level one time awards you a Sapphire, level two a Gold relic. In addition, there are Platinum relics and developer times set by the Naughty Dog and SCEA testers. If a gamer is game enough, you can defeat the entire game of 30 levels and receive 105% complete, which will reward you with a fireworks display at the end. Obtaining the 105% requires the gamer to achieve at least a gold relic time trial, in addition to getting the diamond gem and the 5 colored gems on each of the 30 levels.

As Crash traverses each level, you will find that there are different themes to them, such as the “Middle Ages” (Toad Village and Double Header), “18th Century Pacific Ocean” (Makin' Waves and Tell No Tales) and Ancient Egypt (Tomb Raider, Bug Light and Sphinxinator) to name a few. You will also find that on certain levels (Orient Express, Midnight Ride, Makin’ Waves, and Tell No Tales) Crash must sit them out and his sister “Coco” is required to complete the level. As I previously stated, each level has a crystal. Upon collecting the crystals of one set of levels, Crash must defeat a boss to proceed to the next set. Upon defeating the “boss” of each level, Crash is rewarded with a “special power” such as Super Belly Flop, Super Tornado, Spin, Fruit Bazooka, and Speed Shoes, the later is of most importance, as it will allow you to obtain the fastest time trials on the “running levels” to enable you to win the Gold or Platinum relics. I found that in order to obtain the maximum time on the “riding the tiger” levels (Orient Express and Midnight Ride) skirting the edge of the walls when ever possible shaved 2-3 tenths of a second. While being able to ride a “wheelie” on the bike levels such as Area 51?, Hog Wild, and Road Crash to name a couple would allow you to obtain the Platinum relic.

There are also certain levels (three of them) that are not open to you until you have obtained all 25 crystals and defeated Cortex the first time through, which rewards you with the “running shoes” that allows you to obtain the fastest running times through the levels. After beating the “three secret levels” and then the 2 “hidden levels” and receiving a minimum of a gold relic on each of the 30 levels, you must return to the “Time Twister” and defeat Cortex one final time in order to receive the 105% and watch the fire works.

Crash Bandicoot: Warped is considered by many to be the best platform game in the Crash series and also one of the best PlayStation games. This is attributed to the fact that the game is excellent all around, in terms of graphics, sound, game play, replay value, and overall playability. In addition, it is also considered to be the most humorous in the series, most of which is due in part to Crash's death animations. The game placed #26 on Game Informers list of the top 100 games of all-time. I rank it number one on the regular Play Station platform and number 2 behind Super Mario Bros 3 of the original platforms.