Crash Twinsanity for Xbox Reviews by Gamers

Ever have a friend who was dating one of the ugliest girls in school? You'd see them holding hands on their way to class and wonder what in God's name he saw in her. After enough time, you'd ask the question and he'd tell you one word: personality. And it goes a long way.

Crash Twinsanity isn't the ugliest girl in school, actually it's nowhere near ugly, it's just that after several lackluster attempts at duplicating the success and charm (see: personality) of the first three Crash Bandicoot titles, it seemed that our wumpa-munching friend was spinning in the wrong direction.

I am elated to say that it looks like that trend won't continue. Publisher Vivendi Universal and developer Traveller's Tales have infused so much humor and likeability into the game that you will literally laugh out loud. You'll look forward to defeating each boss not just because you're that much closer to beating the game, but to witness some of the best in-game dialogue and funniest voice acting around.

The story begins three years after Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex. Dr. Cortex and his evil partner Uka-Uka are frozen in an ice cube that's headed toward a tropical island. As fate would have it, it's also the tropical island our friends Crash and Coco call home.

With nothing better to do on a beautiful day, Coco is out chasing butterflies when she is greeted by Dr. Cortex's ray gun. He kidnaps her, dons a blond wig (while keeping his black beard), sports a hilarious girly-run, and tricks Crash into believing that he is Coco. The horrendously cross-dressed Cortex lures Crash into a trap featuring a lot of his old pals from the previous games. A battle ensues and after Cortex fails miserably to destroy his enemy, the two end up falling deep into the depths of the earth.

And that's where we get to the heart of Crash Twinsanity…

Gameplay

What you'll notice from the very beginning is that Crash can go anywhere. He's no longer on a guided track that simply goes forward, backward, left or right. He can do whatever he wants. But how much fun would it be if Traveller's Tales just made "roaming" Crash game without any new features? Not much.

After the first battle where the two end up plummeting to their certain doom, the two foes are locked together in a ball of flying fists. You control the two as the ball collecting fruit, and extra lives while avoiding the ever-popular TNT and Nitro boxes. Before you come to the end, though, make sure you stop the two for some funny animations. Maneuver the wild ball of flailing fists through the twists and turns until you're finally dumped out.

Upon reaching the bottom of the cavern, Cortex finds a power crystal. The earth begins to rumble and a huge drill surfaces, leaving the good doctor stuck on top, and this introduces us to the breath of fresh air infused into this version of Crash. The two characters must work together to get through the game.

So out of the drill come these little aliens wielding their own version of a light saber. Who are these guys and where do they come from? They look like they're collecting boxes, but why? And for who? Crash doesn't care; he just spins away destroying every last one of 'em and rescuing Dr. Cortex who's only concern is the power crystal…which Crash wants, too. You're then instructed to spin into Cortex to steal the crystal from him, but it doesn't work. He's holding on with all he's got and the two are officially a team, and it's this formation that you'll work through for the remainder of your time with Crash and Cortex.

To solve puzzles, Crash will need to smash, throw, spin, and more while using the good doctor. To be specific, you'll use Cortex as a hammer to smash boxes. You'll throw him across platforms to unlock hidden platforms. It's so much fun to abuse Cortex just to hear him scream and moan. During one of the boss battles, you need to throw him into his mouth (not a spoiler, the game tells you what to do which was one of my issues with the game) only to be spit back out. Just the idea of that seemed funny as hell to me.

The two love-birds aren't always attached. There are some levels where Cortex will be chased by something and Crash will have to disarm traps on the other side of the screen as Cortex blindly and wildly runs for his life. Comparing it to Lemmings is probably describes it best. These levels are ingenious and so much fun to play through.

At times, Crash will have to fly solo and when he does, his spin, his belly flop, and his slide are all available. Or sometimes you'll have to just use Cortex with his blaster or his gothic niece (or daughter?) Nina, who almost steals the show with her sassy skip and her Bionic Commando-like extension arm. I actually wouldn't mind seeing more of Nina in the future.

Crash Twinsanity does such a good job of making every level seem fresh that you really do want to keep playing. The transitions between stages are seamless and nothing ever seems out of the ordinary in how they progress.

The real problem lies in the camera. And what would a Bandicoot title be if it didn't have camera problems? This one has plenty and I think the fact that you can look anywhere plays a big part in it. It's supposed to be a 'free roaming' camera, yet when you move it around to jump on a box that happens to be high above non-swimmable water to get a better angle, it'll switch up on you and go to a default camera. This led to numerous falls and many continues. There were other times where I would try to get a better lay of the land, only to find that the camera didn't move at all! Needless to say, that led to many lost lives, too.

Another issue I had was in the on-screen instruction in regards to a boss. When I'm facing a huge totem monster for the first time I like to figure out for myself how to defeat him. Giving me details on how to beat him takes out all of the mystery. It's almost as bad as ending a movie with text (see: Unbreakable).

In each level there are six different colored gems to find. Each gem unlocks a special item in six different categories: Boss Extras, FMV Extras, Enemy Extras, Character Extras, Level Storyboards, and Unseen Extras. I really liked this feature because it was like a DVD's bonus materials. You want to see concept art? You got it. Want to show that funny FMV scene to your friends without having to replay the level? Go ahead; it's all there for you. Every time I got a new gem, I would pause the game to see what I unlocked. That feature alone will keep you going back long after you've beaten the game which should take around 10-12 hours (assuming you go back for all the gems).

Graphics

As in all Crash titles, the colors are crisp and vibrant which gives Crash Twinsanity a nice cartoon-like feel. Each stage that you play through gradually increases in difficulty (duh, I know, but bear with me) and when you draw closer to the absolute hardest moment, you can often look back at the level from a high vantage point and grin at how far you came. This might be too dramatic, but in some cases it really is impressive as you watch the level move and pulse and to know you just made it past all of it.

Defeating bosses will reward you with some sharp full motion video scenes that boast some pretty lighting schemes.

Sound

As I stated earlier, the dialog is definitely worth listening to, even if it's to die and play it back to your friends. Dr. Cortex (voiced by Lex Lang) shows a side of the evil doctor that we haven't seen before. The majority of it is the writing, but a good deal of it also goes to the delivery. The dialog for the remaining characters is solid, too, but Cortex is the one you want to keep listening to.

The music in Crash Twinsanity is very Crash-esque. The tropical levels are filled with island drums and other peculiar instruments that only the Bandicoot could get away with. Some of the music ended up wearing on my nerves after a while, particularly in the snow/ice level. I'm not quite sure how to describe it, but maybe a pop-jazz kind of feel. Either way, I wasn't a fan of it. That's just me being picky, though, because all of the music fits with the overall feel of the game. None of it seemed like it was made for a different game and slapped onto this one.

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