One of my favorite PS1 games is Crash 2 and when I heard that we were getting the first three Crash games totally redone from the ground up I was interested but when I saw videos of how good they looked I got excited. So this is a collection of Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: The Wrath of Cortex, and Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped in one package for $40. If you haven't played a Crash game before they are a blend of a 2D & 3D platformers. They are games from the 90s so they have a few outdated mechanics about them but Vicarious Games did an awesome job updating these games. A cool thing about this collection is that you can play as Coco on most levels if you want. She’s Crash’s sister and she plays exactly like him but it’s a nice change to those that have played these games before. People have been wanting a new traditional Crash game for a long time and I can say that it’s so nice to have him back!
I want to talk about the graphic a bit first. I played on a PS4 Pro and a 4K TV and all these games look incredible! The fur on Crash looks great, and the environments are lush and so colorful! The levels are the exact same layouts but they honestly look and feel new with how everything moves and how smooth the games run. It’s not 60 fps but it’s a solid 30. Some of the levels have very dark areas and the lighting looks so good that I actually stopped and appreciated it a few seconds the first time I saw it. I especially appreciated the levels in the jungles and the water levels in Warped! They all look so great in 4K! Some of the villain models in 2 and Warped look a tad rough when you see them up close since they do the hologram heads in 2 and the heads in the loading screens in Warped.
These games are hard! Maybe I’m just older and I suck more at games now or maybe this remake was just made to be harder but I legit died over 100 times just in the first game. So many game over screens! Crash just has this heavy feel to him and every time you have to do a longer jump I never knew if I was gonna land it or not. That feeling was mainly in the first game cause you get the slide jump in the second game and the abilities in Warped. Other than these games being hard, I do think the levels are well designed. The second game has the levels riding the bear and riding the jetpack and Warped has the plane and motorcycle levels. I will say that the driving on the motorcycle levels feels really stiff but the game knows it and they're not over hard because of it.
I don’t so much have problems with these games as I had to remind myself that these games are the older games with a complete graphical overhaul. What I mean by that is that if you played these games before then you're in for a great nostalgia throwback, but if this is your first time playing them then you may have a steep learning curve since they don’t play like modern games. Some jumps require a certain precision that most platforms now don’t and you have to deal with game overs. I know that Mario games still have game overs but they feel more punishing and frequent here. The story is pretty bare bones but that’s fine cause you aren’t playing a game like Crash for the story. I will give them credit though, the story is at least consistent and makes sense.
The games are pretty short but they have a ton of reasons to replay them. They have gems to get for breaking all the boxes, time trials, and secret exits to some levels. All three games have a separate platinum trophy as well!
I you like platformer games then I’d recommend picking this collection up. You get three classic games for $40. If you've played them before then you can relive your childhood and if you haven't played them then you can see where PlayStation platformers got their start. They do have some outdated mechanics but this is a very solid collection of games!
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