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Crash Bandicoot Retrospective - Warped
- Thread starter RK128
- Start date
MaverickHunterX
Member
Great retrospective, OP!
If I can advise one thing about the crash ones, would it be possible to include all of the neat extras that the Japanese releases get in lieu of waiting a bit longer?
For example, Crash 2 had Dual Shock support and that crazy hidden version while Crash 3 had Pocketstation support, etc.
If I can advise one thing about the crash ones, would it be possible to include all of the neat extras that the Japanese releases get in lieu of waiting a bit longer?
For example, Crash 2 had Dual Shock support and that crazy hidden version while Crash 3 had Pocketstation support, etc.
Piston Hyundai
Member
Pretty much any level where you're not doing regular Crash Bandicoot shit is boring. That, and the bazooka trivializes a lot of the platforming after you unlock it. There's one level where there's people throwing bombs that light the ground on fire, and you can just shoot the people with bazookas to nullify the entire challenge.
Didn't know about that....okay, will edit the Crash 1 and 2 threads later today with information about the JP releases and update this OP in the Development history portion for the JP version.
To Far Away Times
Member
Naughty Dog's best game up until TLoU.
Voost Kain
Banned
Didn't get a chance to edit your information into the OP yet, so will be doing that later today. Looking for work and filling out a lot of applications takes quite a bit of time.
But I agree; WoC isn't a bad game at all and for a title that Travelers Tales had to rush out in under a year, it was a very solid attempt at making a Crash title.
I think they started before Crash Bash released, it's a pretty complete game, I think they didn't give themselves time to optimize it though, but nowhere as incomplete as Twinsanity, which still did a really good job otherwise.
Like I said I think WoC reveals the issues with Crash 3.
Voost Kain
Banned
Wait Crash 2 had duel shock support in the U.S. in alter copies.
However the japanese version does have some uh, questionable additions like this playing after defeating Tiny Tiger :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnP-lMWs4XA
Trying to remember because I played it once, the two headed guys in the later village level only have one head. Crash and COCO make annoying sounds after doing actions similar to Megaman X4, Aku Aku crates give hints which I think is a bit insulting unless japanese players really find it that hard, and quite a few things are removed. Enemies are missing, pits are missing, some icons look like place holders, and you get a cheat code after beating the game.
Pal one is interesting as well, such as the underwater levels turning all Aku AKu crates into regular boxes if you have 2 masks. I think they did that because you can't get 3 in those but the reason still is a bit odd. Also Pal version fucked up the Bazooka controls.
I think so to, or that was when Mark Cerny's Crash game was being prototyped and he left the project, leaving Travelers Tales about a year to make WoC.
Twinsanity is a very interesting case for its development and will get to that when I make that retrospective, but yes, it was incomplete.
Pancakes R Us
Member
What a thread. Subbed.
Thank you for the information! Would you mind if I put this about the JP version in the OP?
Voost Kain
Banned
Rapscallion
Member
Crash 3 is a great game, but I find myself returning to it less than Crash 2.
There's just that breaks up the platforming goodness. Levels like the polar bear runs, planes, etc. are great, but they're a little too frequent in 3.
There's just that breaks up the platforming goodness. Levels like the polar bear runs, planes, etc. are great, but they're a little too frequent in 3.
MaverickHunterX
Member
Really? I know all the US versions had analog support, but thought only the JPN one had vibration. Do you know which revision had full DS support? Thanks
If it helps, try these guys for more info...
https://tcrf.net/Crash_Bandicoot#Japan-Exclusive_Music
Voost Kain
Banned
Crash Bandy KUUUUUU
Late Black copies and greatest hits. Not sure i the first round of greatest hits had it.
Late Black copies and greatest hits. Not sure i the first round of greatest hits had it.
Voost Kain
Banned
Thanks man
The Nigerian Version of Crash 3 has you fight Tiny twice, 2nd time with Crotex shooting at you like in the last boss. Also you actually fight knights in the castle, can't find a iso of the game to play though because nobody is selling that ver on ebay. So I'll have to do some digging, but that version I need to record. Lots of interesting stuff.
Triforce141
Member
Can't wait to see Wrath of Cortex, I actually like that game.
Me too
. I think that game is a lot better then most give it credit. It does a lot right and continues the foundation that Crash 3 established.
SomePerson
Member
Me too
I think that game is a lot better then most give it credit. It does a lot right and continues the foundation that Crash 3 established.
Same here. I never got why it gets so much flack. Although I did have the Xbox version of the game so maybe I just missed out on the most glaring issues like load times.
Triforce141
Member
I think most complaints (aside from the original PS2 version's load times) are that it plays too safe and ends up feeling like an expansion pack.
While that's not a bad thing today with games like Shovel Knight, New Super Mario Bros U, or Ratchet and Clank (2016) being un-innovative in almost every sense of the word but having some refined game design and polish, this was back in 2001 or so. Games like Jak and Daxter, and Sonic Adventure 2 were hitting the scene with things that were basically impossible to do on previous gen hardware, so people maybe expected more out of WoC and were let down by it.
Rapscallion
Member
Those load times were insane. Like Sonic 06 level of badness.
I haven't played the game since it was released, but I hated it as a kid. I loved the original trilogy so much, that by the time 4 came around I was just about willing to love anything with the Crash name. Wasn't the case. IIRC, there are some really bad difficulty spikes, and the level design isn't up to par with the previous games.
Wrath of Cortex and Sonic Heroes might be the two games that have disappointed me the most.
That is my impression too; people wanted Crash to evolve, not continue the path the PS1 series of games laid out.
Will touch on this during my Retrospective on the game (which I have written up as of this post; just gotta add a bit more to it and then work on adding gifs/images/music), but the game overall is a solid title. Just not as 'fresh' compared to its competition of the time period.
KillerMan91
Member
Great game and I have great memories of playing this as a kid (I remember when I stayed home one day from school as I had fever and played Crash 3 all day lol). Next up is by far the best Crash game though (CTR).
PetriP-TNT
Member
My mind was absolutely blown when I found the UFO secret for the first time.
Also a nice Fake Crash cameo in this game.
Also a nice Fake Crash cameo in this game.
PeakPointMatrix
Member
Not only that, but just *look* at it.
It just looks and feels wrong. Something about the entire aesthetic of the game felt creepily off model and overly grey and gloomy. It felt like someone took Crash's skin and wore it over their body. Luckily Traveler's Tales really knocked it out of the park with Twinsanity's look:
Wrath of Cortex is pretty miserable and HARD to come back to playing. Half the character designs look as though they came straight out of a Rankin-Bass stop motion holiday special.
Warped is one of my favorites, behind Crash 2 of course but I wish ND didn't rely on the vehicles too much.
Voost Kain
Banned
No the game looks fine, you're looking at the PS2 version look at the Xbox version.
Voost Kain
Banned
Well you played the PS2 version. WoC is basically warped.
WoC was impossible on previous gen hardware, especially the Xbox version. but the other versions as well.
PeakPointMatrix
Member
The bottom screenshot at least, is from the Xbox version. They added the extra fur layer for that port and some other effects, on top of greatly improved loading times. Doesn't change the fact that it felt like I expected:
an instead I got:
Voost Kain
Banned
Just saying they are quite different, look at gameplay videos of each.
As for the gray and gloomy, which is fixed quite a bit in many areas but still there in the XBox version, can be explained.
Ir's an early PS2 game, the low contrast and the shadowing allow the game models and objects/backgrounds to look better and hid poly count. Add in the fact that they were trying to go a more realistic route in a game that was trying to be an early PS2 game (likely they worked with the PS1 and then enhanced everything later) that leads to things like that opening cutscene, the very obvious early attempt at a higher level CG. Now technically the CG of that table of bad guys and crash are "better" than the ones in warped. However it's basically the equal of early PSX Cg near the PSX launch.
I think the realistic like approach tot he levels and designs was also for a mistake for an early PS2 game that is supposed to be cartoonish.
PeakPointMatrix
Member
I totally get that it's a victim of being an early PS2 title, where the tendency was to crank up the geometry for little-to-no thought to the art direction. As a result, a lot of the character models suffered from overly rounded surfaces, which the shading and lighting did no favors in the appeal department.Just saying they are quite different, look at gameplay videos of each.
As for the gray and gloomy, which is fixed quite a bit in many areas but still there in the XBox version, can be explained.
Ir's an early PS2 game, the low contrast and the shadowing allow the game models and objects/backgrounds to look better and hid poly count. Add in the fact that they were trying to go a more realistic route in a game that was trying to be an early PS2 game (likely they worked with the PS1 and then enhanced everything later) that leads to things like that opening cutscene, the very obvious early attempt at a higher level CG. Now technically the CG of that table of bad guys and crash are "better" than the ones in warped. However it's basically the equal of early PSX Cg near the PSX launch.
I think the realistic like approach tot he levels and designs was also for a mistake for an early PS2 game that is supposed to be cartoonish.
It's not a "bad" looking game, and is actually extremely technically sound. It's simply a failure of aesthetics and art direction imo.