Rose tinted glasses are are a heck of a thing. I remember when I was in high school, playing the Crash Bandicoot games thinking they looked amazing. Even when starting into the N. Sane Trilogy bundle, I thought–hey, I remember this scene.
Looking back, I didn’t remember very well–because while the art design has held up great, the technology of the time barely handled it. Fractured, low-polygon everything… Textures that were either blurry, far away to hide the low resolution, or just plain fuzzy…
It’s a good thing the art design held up really well, because the HD remaster done on this collection makes the game pop. Visually, it’s a really solid recreation. Everything looks how you’d figure it should, a cartoonish and sometimes garish pastiche of platformer elements and sceneries that just works.
However, as much as the visuals and audio have been improved–the somewhat-janky controls and physics are still around. Ledges are sometimes at a misleading depth, thanks to the isometric view that can hide the game’s true perspective. Getting to a ledge and slipping off the side, it’ll happen a lot. Jumping, hitting that ledge, and still somehow falling, occasionally.
But such are the trappings of a PSX era game, built to run on some ancient hardware at a time that three-dimensional anything was a brave new world. What’s new, though, is a strange new sort of bug wherein jumps are slightly faster and tend to push Crash forward a bit. These things, while minor, make the initial adjustments from modern platformers to the updated-greatest-hits a bit tougher.
That said, the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is a really, really good remaster of a iconic ’90s game series that’s due for a revival. And with three games in the bundle, a remastered cut level from the original game (of which GameShark let you play, back in the day), and a brand-new level with level design and art that make it feel like that revival’s probably in the right hands… I think N. Sane Trilogy, past its inherent issues from the source material, is a great set that’s a no-brainer if you’re looking for some platforming action.
Note: Activision provided us with a Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy Nintendo Switch code for review purposes.
This is an Absolute nightmare for my finances!
Ironically none of the announcements are actually related to Quake...
What stories of the Interstate Jackalope hear when this title comes to consoles this fall.
All the classic games and a brand new entry from this compilation of this iconic…
Sorry PC Gamers, you’ll have to wait til October 31st to get your hands on…
There's a well-rounded selection of new Nintendo eShop titles, content and sales launching today/soon for…
This website uses cookies.