PixlBit

So after CTR, I was stoked for the next real Crash adventure. Unfortunately I'd have to wait a while for it with Crash Bash coming in between, a game I never tried. I could give it a spin now, but it looks like a party game best suited for multiplayer and after Nintendo Land, every game like that seems like ass. Seriously, Nintendo Land is fucking amazing if you can get two to four people with you. But once Crash's next adventure landed, it took a while for me to eventually get the game (until I had an Xbox), but when I did, I was impressed....at the graphics.

While I had seen quite a few games that had a noticeable improvement in graphics over the PS1, Wrath of Cortex was the first game since I first played a 3D game to really wow me graphically. And the reason was simple: fur textures. Seeing every single strand of hair on Crash was just impressive as hell.

The game itself though was like a poor man's version of Warped. I didn't know until seeing a different developer in the title screen that Naughty Dog left Crash and these new guys didn't seem to understand what made Warped so good. Now don't get me wrong, Wrath of Cortex is not a bad game at all. It's just not a good game, mediocre is the only way to describe it.

For starters, they take the diversity WAY too far with this one. Out of the thirty levels (including the secret ones), the number of ones that are straight up platforming are in the single digits. Now, there are some which do have platforming, but these are also half driving or scuba diving, or something like that. The problem with this is that the levels end up dragging on way too long. Crash's levels were always just the right length. The game would have worked better overall if they went with more levels that were all shorter.

Speaking of the diverse levels, they were either ripped off from Warped or not as good as that game's. There was one involving an aircraft called a firefly that took me three lives just to figure out how the controls work. The baffling thing too is that this is the only one of these levels, why build a new control scheme if you don't elaborate on it.

This is just the worst offender of these though. The rest of the new diversity is just okay. Rolling around in a ball, driving a jeep, piloting a submarine, a robot mech suit, and a copter pack. That's right, not an awesome jetpack like 2 had, a helicopter pack. Now, you know how I love jetpacks, so just understand how ripped off I felt. The cool thing about them is it's like having a rocket on your back, that is fucking awesome. Having something that spins around over you just takes something awesome and makes it too kiddy. Bah.

But anyways, these were just not as fun as 3's motorcycle races or jetski bits. The recycled ones also just felt tired, they weren't as well designed as 1 like with scuba diving or they were exactly as I remembered them being in Warped. 

Then the game had you play as Coco for platforming levels. Coco just wasn't as fun as Crash. She walks a lot slower, in a much less fun way. Crash moves and attacks in a way that just look and sound fun like a Looney Tune, Coco is too dignified. She worked because you were doing different things, with platforming it just felt like a less fun Crash.

Then there was the deaths. I forgot about these when talking about 3, but I loved all the goofy ways Crash died. They included awesome slapstick humor and real creativity such as when a swordsman cuts off Crash's pants and he gets embarrassed and covers over his boxers. I couldn't remember any of WoC's deaths when I remembered almost every way Crash died in Warped.

The bosses and story were also less fun. There was this awesome plot where Uka Uka unleashes these deadly masks on the world, then combined with Cortex making a super bandicoot to fight Crash. The second part was just stupid, last time Cortex experimented on a bandicoot, he created Crash, he should have done something different. The first is a waste because combining these masks with regular bosses like Tiny and Dingodile would be a really cool idea, but fighting the same guy over and over with different masks was kind of lame.

So yeah, Wrath of Cortex was super disappointing. Fortunately, the next game in the series would redeem the bandicoot....for the time being at least.