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Intro That crazy bandicoot, will he ever get a break? It looks like he won't be anytime soon as Crash's friends have all been put in a trance, and a not-so-good one at that. Crash must defeat his friends to awaken them, and also get a helping hand, in this second and very enjoyable Crash release for the Game Boy Advance. Gameplay: 8.5/10 Crash is back! I wonder how many times that has been said? For those unfamiliar with the Crash Bandicoot series, the original PlayStation releases were heralded as some of the best platformers of all time. While a follow-up or two failed to have the same magic, I found the GameCube version of Wrath of Cortex to be a worthy successor and it definitely put the series back on track. In the second GBA outing, N-Tranced, there is a mixture of the old and the new; the standard Crash rules of 2D platforming and behind the back pseudo-3D missions are present, but, like Wrath of Cortex, N-Tranced adds more gameplay elements to keep things exciting. Starting out on a world map, Crash must enter portals to complete the levels within, and in doing so, open paths to more portals. The objective isn't to just complete the course, but to also grab power crystals, and to also beat the clock. Luckily, not all of those have to be done at once, in most cases, the player can play through the level and grab the main crystal on their way to the end, and then go back and grab any goodies and to try and get a better time. The levels themselves are as varied as ever with some having Egyptian and Persian settings, while others are in space, and some are played out on top of volcanoes. There's far more as N-Tranced is a pretty lengthy game, and each level does a good job of breaking of keeping things interesting. Gameplay style is key here as it is really what keeps Crash from getting stale. The American Gladiator-styled rolling cage sequences are back, and pretty difficult thanks to some touchy controls, but there's also surfing portions that have the player going towards the camera and dodging a trailing shark, and also a cool Space Harrier level or two, with Coco trailing a target and dodging oncoming fire via a behind-the-back view as a fireball is on her tail; since there are several playable characters, keep in mind that each example will be played through by more than one character. There will also be goodies like jetpacks to use, and all take advantage of multiple camera angles; however, some angles will either be too high or too low to make an accurate decision. Helping to alievate some of the character problems, Crash also learns some new moves along the way, like power sliding, super jumps, and more. While having to slide into an area not seen because of the viewpoint isn't the best option, it's better than the alternative of jumping in blindly and getting killed. While N-Tranced is a great game,
it isn't perfect. There's an abundance of orange and brown in many
levels, and that can make it difficult to make out enemies, projectiles,
and platforms. The controls can also be spotty, particularly in
the roll-cage sequences - some of which are just poorly designed
- and the difficulty, on the whole, can become a bit much. Thankfully,
lives are plentiful and the last life is also given with the power-up
that allows for an extra hit. How much you like Crash will also
weigh heavily here; some people will find the variety perfect, while
others will miss the standard style that's just Crash and not so
many novelty elements. I found the variety to be just right and
N-Tranced to be an all-around enjoyable title, while fans of the
past few Crash titles will enjoy the new extras, those who haven't
tried them will enjoy the solid gameplay and wealth of variety. Graphics: 7.5/10 Sound: 7/10 Control: 7.5/10 Overall: 8/10 [ top ] |
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