by:	August 30, 2004

In the heyday of PlayStation back in 1996 Crash Bandicoot made its debut. The game’s simplistic nature is what gave it the lasting appeal, but after a few sequels and spin-offs later the franchise has started to run its course. This new Crash Bandicoot: Twinsanity is developed by Traveller’s Tales also know for their so-so Sonic 3D Blast on the Sega CD. The hands-on I had with Twinsanity is no different and from what was presented there might not be all that much Bandicoot to look forward to.

A new evil has invaded the island paradise of Crash Bandicoot with plans of destruction. In a strange twist, Crash reluctantly pairs with his archenemy, Dr. Neo Cortex, in order to save the world. Through the unorthodox partnership, Cortex is abused as Crash’s favorite weapon when Crash and Cortex are controlled as one.

It sounds like a cool concept, sort of like that ill-faded game Whiplash but despite high hopes for that game it didn’t exactly come out to be spectacular either. With the help of Cortex you can apparently create new vehicles and solve puzzles to get to a goal. The part of the game I played appears to be the beginning and uses Crash. Instead of the quirky “2D” views we came to love in Crash games you are presented with sprawling but uninspired fully three dimensional levels. The first flaws in the game are made apparent when you have difficulty controlling Crash to jump from a platform, bounce on the small little crate suspended in the air, then jump on the next platform. Even parts of the environment do not interact with you as they are supposed to such as monsters that you need to jump off of in order to advance onto a taller platform. With all the new full 3D in the game, if you happen to fall in water that could be ten feet from shore Crash drowns? I remember in the PlayStation Crash games he had complete underwater levels to complete but if you fall into ocean line water you die for no apparent reason. These shortcomings aside with level design if the controls and bugs in the game are fixed it could be at least a fairly entertaining platformer.

I don’t know what could save this game from being a lackluster adventure but the game’s storyline is written by Joran Reichek of Ren & Stimpy fame, Reichek himself promises to preserve the quirky style of the older Crash games while introducing his own the make it exceptionally humor. The game will feature two new playable characters Cortex the antagonist of older Crash games and his niece, Nina Cortex. Other promises about the game have been made such as streaming worlds with no load times, but with such a dull looking game you’re obligated to obtain no load times. The environments are colorful but sparse, and actually from what I have seen although not the finished version looks like a step back. What happened to the fur-shaded Crash from the last game? If anything this looks like a smooth version of the old 32-bit version Crash.

Hopefully before the game’s release later this season the team at Vivendi has far much more to show then what the level of took for a spin had to offer. That the levels are far better thought out and the game is decent enough in the replay factor to bring you back for more. Check out or review of the game in the coming weeks.

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