Crash: Twinsanity
Score: 93% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: Vivendi Universal Games Developer: Traveller's Tales Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 Genre: Platformer (3D)
Graphics & Sound: After three years of being frozen, Dr. Cortex is back, and this time, he has brought all of Crash’s villains with him. But before Dr. Cortex can exact his revenge, two new enemies arise. These Wicked Twins want to destroy Dr. Cortex and enslave Crash and his friends. Now the bandicoot and his creator must join forces (reluctantly, of course) to stop this invading enemy. With this new dynamic, Crash: Twinsanity proves to be the wackiest Crash Bandicoot game to date. There isn’t really anything spectacular about the graphics of Twinsanity. They don’t stand out as being revolutionary, but there aren’t any major flaws in the looks department either. Crash’s graphics find themselves on the upper end of the "par for the course" range that has been part of the 3D-Platformer genre for a few years now. The music does a good job of adding to the slapstick feel of the entire game. To add to the less-than-serious feel even more, you are treated to a multitude of shouts, hits and bangs as Crash and Cortex fight their way through the game, which seem to come straight out of a Warner Brothers cartoon.
Gameplay: The combined characters have several different ways of interacting. They can either be connected with a crystal (that Cortex refuses to let go of), rolling around on the floor in a Looney Tunes style brawl, sliding down a slippery slope, or running blindly through obstacles. If the two are held together by a crystal, then Crash can use Cortex as a weapon against reinforced crates, enemies, and switches. Cortex can be thrown, spun, or slammed into just about anything. As the Rollerbrawl, you will have to control the mass of flying fists through tunnels and ramps reminding me a lot of Marble Madness. With what the book calls "Doc Amok," Cortex will be frantically running through the level with no sense of direction and blurred vision. It is up to you (controlling Crash) to clear the way for Cortex before he gets you both destroyed. But you won’t be playing as just Crash and Cortex. You will also get the opportunity to play as Dr. Cortex’s niece, Nina Cortex. Each of the three characters has his or her own moves that will enable them to do what needs to be done in order to stop the Wicked Twins from going through with their evil plan.
Difficulty: There were parts of Crash: Twinsanity that were difficult. There were parts that got to be a little frustrating (you know, those little mistakes that come up in any good platformer). Overall, Twinsanity wasn’t hard. It was a fun ride to go on and there were definitely some challenging aspects -- but you should be able to go through the game at a fairly constant pace without getting angry or exasperated to the point of turning off the console. In general, Crash was a good play, and the difficulty was right on the cold, wet nose.
Game Mechanics: Crash: Twinsanity’s way of handling two characters simultaneously reminded me a lot of other platformers that have come out over the past year. The Rollerbrawl feature (where you are guiding a fighting Cortex and Crash through various levels as a ball of fists and feet) reminds me a lot of Ninja-Bowling from I-Ninja, while the sheer joy of throwing around another character attached at the wrist seemed to come straight out of Whiplash. I’m not downing on Twinsanity for this, in fact, these aspects were some of the ones that I loved the best from these other two games. Crash’s latest exploit belongs on the shelves of any platform gamer. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes the other Bandicoot titles, or just wants to have fun using another character as a weapon.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
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