Classic PlayStation Platforming

Crash Bandicoot was Sony's answer to Nintendo's Mario, to Ubisoft's Rayman and Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog. While it isn't the case today, Crash was essentially the PlayStation's mascot throughout the life of the original PlayStation.

Crash Bandicoot is a 3D platformer and, as with many platforming games, jumping is key here. In order to get anywhere in Crash Bandicoot you must jump over obstacles, enemies and bottomless pits. While that doesn't necessarily sound all that exciting, Naughty Dog added in a second mechanic to keep things interesting and fast paced; the spin attack. Crash can spin at high speeds to bust open crates and send enemies flying (or even send enemies flying into crates). With plenty of things to collect, stuff to spin and obstacles to jump over, Crash Bandicoot offered tricky levels that required quick thinking to get through.

On the presentation side of things Crash is a beautiful looking game and was easily one of the most impressive PlayStation titles when it was released back in 1996. It uses bright, vivid colours and detailed 3D graphics resulting in lush environments that feel alive. It also has smooth animations and a variety of comical death animations depending on how Crash met his maker. Like all platform games, you die, a lot, so it's nice to see the different animations and you may even start experimenting to see what animations you end up with. The sounds are also great and the music is the type that you will probably end up humming to yourself when you're bored, so, I guess that's a good thing.

There isn't too much of a story behind this game, but really it doesn't need much of one to be a fun game to play. Apparently, Crash Bandicoot was being experimented on to become some sort of Super-Bandicoot to serve Dr. Neo Cortex, an evil scientist bent on world domination. Crash escapes from the evil scientist's grasp and decides he needs to stop Cortex and his evil ways. Like I said, not much story here, but this is all the game really needs.

In short, if you enjoy relatively simple but fun platforming action, pretty visuals, funny animations and cartoony sound effects, you should play Crash Bandicoot. It makes a great game to play on the go on the PSP as well as playing it at home as originally intended.