The last of the series and an end to an amazing era as Naughty Dog take off their classy fedoras and place them on the hat.. hook thing and leave. This game was slightly better than the 2nd and was also a little shorter. I managed to complete it as a kid and the results were.. disappointed. It was great and it was one of my favourite PS1 titles up to this day.
Oh Naughty Dog. We miss you so much. Well, this game was released in 1998. A year after the original release of the second game. Do they time themselves or something? I don't think even Call of Duty produces games that quickly (Promise me.. we'll come to that game at a later time..). Like.. I swear they just start making a new game the moment they release the previous one, but this game wasn't bad. It was great and I loved it. I guess game sequels don't need a stupidly long time to create without it being a horrid mess of vomit on the floor. I should stop rambling now.
The game (as you would expect from the Godly Dogs) was set straight after the second one. No bullshitting you with filter. Just "new game" then boom!. The ruined space station of Cortex crash lands into some ruins and frees Uka Uka, Aku Aku's twin and evil brother. Uka Uka joins Cortex and the time-crazy Doctor Tropy to gather the power crystals (are you seeing the pattern being created here?) and bla bla.. Crash has to stop them and things.
This setting and the time thing going on allows the creators to make great and contrasting levels, from the roman times to the future. This resulted in amazing visuals. As like the previous game, this follows the main characters Crash and Coco.
Production of Crash Bandicoot: Warped began on January 1998, with Naughty Dog given only 10½ months to complete the game. 10.5 months and they nailed it and slammed it into our drooling mouths. What would a new game be without new engines? Well a shit one. Programmers Andy Gavin, Stephen White and Greg Omi created three new gameplay engines for the game. Two of the three new engines were three-dimensional in nature and were created for the airplane and jet-ski levels; the third new engine was created for the motorcycle levels in the style of a driving simulator. These engines made up a third of the game while the rest was given the previous engines of the last games. Jason Rubin explained that the "classic" engine and game style was preserved due to the success of the previous two games and went on to say that "were we to abandon that style of gameplay, that would mean that we would be abandoning a significant proportion of gamers out there." which I adore and I will treasure this comment to this day. When you have creators who put their gamers.. THEIR GAMERS first before their game.. then they are gaming saints. As most large companies depend on making more money and DLC nowadays. A real shadow was given to the Crash character at the request of the Sony Computer Entertainment America producers, who were "sick of that little discus that's following him around."
As always, Josh Mancell from Mutato Muzika had another part in the games music with also David Baggert and Mark Mothersbaugh, and the various different environments and time eras made the music producers work to create pieces to suit them all and they nailed it.
Crash Bandicoot: Warped is like the rest of the series; A platformer game. With the same objective as the previous game. Collect 25 power crystals and defeat Cortex. Much of the game takes place in the Time-Twisting Machine, which acts as the hub area of the game. The Time-Twisting Machine is split up into five chamber. Some levels contain a "Bonus Platform" that leads to a special bonus area, where the player must navigate through a separate area and collect everything in sight. Crash can do previous moves like spin attack and bouncing on enemies. And can use the Power slide and the body slam. This abilites can be upgraded when you defeat bosses which is a nice award for hard work and helps later on in the game.
The bosses are good. My favorite being Dingodile. They are all unique although Tropy's boss level is dull and repetitive at times. It wasn't bad but lacked more than the other bosses. There are levels requiring you to driving a bike and a plane. These are fun, I have to admit. They are easy to control but I don't really enjoy being forced to play in a different way than I want to.
This game was amazingly good. Critics agree with me, giving it a B+, 9s and 8s. It was made to be better but kept it's old charm that the previous games had. It was too bad that it was shorter and I wished they had added to it to make it a little longer. Although that might be due to me being too experienced with playing and completing this game, although I haven't completed it 100%, just the story. You should play it, even once. The nostalgia will kick in, and with that said I'm going to bed now.
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