Crash Bandicoot: N-Sane Trilogy (2017)

[CrashRatchetFan]

2 hours ago, Raccoonatic Ogilvie said:

So are they going to just copy/paste the levels with modern graphics and better controls?

I guess it's better than nothing... maybe it will revive enough interest in the brand for new games?

...maybe we can also ignore the original reboot and continue where Twinsanity left off?

It'll retcon everything after Warped.

So basically, expect Crash 4 if these things do good enough. 

EDIT: Titans was NOT a reboot. Why does everyone have to assume that? 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

They haven't said anything about retconning anything, so a new Crash game could very well take place after Twinsanity.

[Dejimon11]

41 minutes ago, CrashRatchetFan said:

It'll retcon everything after Warped.

So basically, expect Crash 4 if these things do good enough. 

EDIT: Titans was NOT a reboot. Why does everyone have to assume that? 

Considering how drastically different it was in terms of tone, characterization, gameplay and the designs it's kinda hard to think that's not a reboot. And it doesn't help that his younger brother Spyro has been rebooted a few times.

[Ratcicle King]

Just now, Dejimon11 said:

Considering how drastically different it was in terms of tone, characterization, gameplay and the designs it's kinda hard to think that's not a reboot. And it doesn't help that his younger brother Spyro has been rebooted a few times.

Thing is, Crash of the Titans and Mind over Mutant references a LOT of other stuff from the series, N.Brio and Cortex's fallout after Crash 1, the Academy of Evil from Twinsanity, the Evolv-O Ray from the first game...

[Dejimon11]

5 minutes ago, Ratcicle King said:

Thing is, Crash of the Titans and Mind over Mutant references a LOT of other stuff from the series, N.Brio and Cortex's fallout after Crash 1, the Academy of Evil from Twinsanity, the Evolv-O Ray from the first game...

Oh yeah that's true. Were those games any decent? I hear a lot of people say they were terrible but I thought that they were just exaggerating because of how different it was.

[Ratcicle King]

They're pretty linear and repetitive for some, the story and humor can be a huge detractor, it's cringe worthy at some points, gameplay wise, the first game has a HUGE difficulty spike at certain parts but other than that they're pretty fun, the titans add a lot of variety, and one thing I like about it, the first game follows a similar idea of the original Crash, where you're on a journey, you can feel yourself progressing through the islands into Cortex's base and no level looks the exact same, they always add something new, that and the constant change in enemies and titans keep an otherwise repetitive game fresh.

As for Mind over Mutant, it honestly did Free Roaming better than Twinsanity, you have a vast world to explore and the story is basically a set of missions that once completed will allow you to open up and explore new areas of the game, find new titans, NPCs and enemies, and now that you can pocket a Titan, they have these titan specific puzzles that enforce the idea of free roaming, either to progress with the plot or to get a few goodies. My only beef is that the post game stuff is REALLY nonexistant, you can get those goodie, but all they unlock is upgrades and artworks, you can max out titans' powers but nothing will come out of that, and honestly the only interesting thing for me, you can go back to two old areas and find/fight the leader of a certain species of titans(You already meet 4 of the 6 leaders in the plot of the game).

I'd suggest you check an LP of it but honestly, there's next to no good LP of these two, thanks to their reputation.

[Jango]

1 hour ago, Dejimon11 said:

Oh yeah that's true. Were those games any decent? I hear a lot of people say they were terrible but I thought that they were just exaggerating because of how different it was.

Crash of the Titans is an okay-ish game, honestly. Yeah, it changed the designs for worse, changed the core gameplay and... added the titans. But it's not a full reboot. You still platform around jungles, temples and what not, but the main focus is combat, and that can become repetitive real quickly like most PS2 era hack and slash games.

The story is actually decent, with nice twists, despite being comedic for like 99% of it. Like TwinSanity, but even more so. It has some fourth wall break moments and actually funny one liners here and there. Some people might find the humor try-hard or cringeworthy... I think it never outdone itself. Lex Lang's Dr. Cortex is funnier than ever, as well as Nolan North's N. Gin. Also, there's not-Mike Tyson as Tiny.

It's a fun game in general, it did what it proposed decently IMO. Also, you can use Aku-Aku as a skateboard anytime, which is awesome and fun.

 

Crash Mind Over Mutant on the hand, felt lackbuster at best IMO. I don't know why, but I remember very little of it, just to proove it how forgetable it is... The story this time is all over the places with hit or miss "original" animations. The gameplay is the same with a few tweaks. OH, one thing I remember, they removed the Aku-Aku skateboard!  

 

I recommend Crash of the Titans, but Mind Over Mutant? Not so much.

[Person]

I'm going on record and saying that Titans and Mind Over Mutant aren't as bad as people say. As games they're pretty fun, and I like the art direction/level design.

Really, the only things I didn't like were Coco and Tiny's redesigns, and the humor. MOM's humor was a little better though, and toned down on stupid stuff like Crash's babbling thing.

[CrashRatchetFan]

7 hours ago, Dejimon11 said:

Oh yeah that's true. Were those games any decent? I hear a lot of people say they were terrible but I thought that they were just exaggerating because of how different it was.

TITANS, is frankly a great game -- it's just that all it shares with the other games is story and such. 

Crash still has his spin attack (which, through upgrades, becomes an overpowered gamebreaker allowing you to easily get the combo high scores). You still use the Aku Aku mask to protect yourself (and amusingly, as a snowboard and weapon if you upgrade your abilities).

There are tons of conversations in the game that you can overhear from the enemies in the levels that reference story points in the old games -- there's even a mural in the game depicting Aku Aku locking Uka Uka away under the islands, for instance. If you view Titans and Mind over Mutant as a "side-story" then the games are much better for it. They're like a branched off universe, like in comic books. 

Titans honestly has more in common thematically, atmospherically and story-wise with Crash 1-3 than most of the other games, it's just that the gameplay is pretty different. There's still a ton of platforming and puzzle solving (Moreso in Mind over Mutant than in TItans, albeit) but it's just got brawling added in. It's definitely got more in common with original Crash than say, Knack does, even IF you're not counting the story, characters, locations, and lore.

People get all up in arms about the character designs, and that kind of bugs me. Crash himself looks largely the same, except he has tattoos instead of fingerless gloves. 

The two masks I will grant you, although I think Aku Aku looks fine. Uka Uka is completely different, yes, and Tiny Tiger is bastardized, I will agree. He is the only character though, that was completely changed. Everyone else looks similar enough (sans Uka Uka) and is recognizable -- anyone who says they were "UNRECOGNIZABLE" is blind as a bat in my eyes. 

Uka and Tiny changed visually too much, and Tiny was a completely different character, which I hated, but other than that, the games stayed true, and I say this as someone who helps run a Crash fansite and Twitter account. I grew up on these games, they are my bread and butter franchise. 

Mind Over Mutant, much like Titans before it, focused its story on the original trilogy -- it's all about N.Brio, Cortex's original sidekick, and his disdain for working with Cortex again, but people like to ignore the throwbacks, and the story elements, and the world building, because the gameplay is different, and some of the characters got redesigned.

Mind Over Mutant references N. Brio creating the Evolvo-Ray, for instance, making it one of its key plot points, whereas the lauded and beloved Twinsanity completely biffs that aspect and attributes it to Cortex. Is the story in the Titans universe games perfect? No, but it pays a lot more tribute and love to original Crash than people ever give it credit for, and frankly a lot of that hate seems to be from people who didn't play it, or didn't PAY ATTENTION when they DID.

And for those of you who don't think that kind of love and care to the IP is worth enough -- play Crash of the Titans DS -- it's an entirely different game with much closer to the originals gameplay and style.

A lot of people accuse me of being a "Crash apologist" when I defend Titans and MoM, usually say things like "you like them just because Crash is in the name" blah blah, etc.

[E-122-Psi]

The two titans games were okay, but they ran on a sometimes repetitive formula. There were too many times throughout both games I would rather be playing as Crash himself than some more limited button basher creature.

Titans felt the most polished and cinematic, aside from the debatable issue of designs, it is probably the most lush Crash game made prior to the current goings on. The games are fun to play in at first, but then it sorta goes the Werehog syndrome on you, stopping the gameplay to force more and more slow paced and repetitive beat em up segments onto you. It's a shame because other stuff like Aku boarding and Crash's evolving move set had potential. I had a blast with the first five or so levels, then things just started to drag.

MOM was pretty much a step forward step back routine. It downplayed the issues that held back Titans, there's less focus on beat em up and more on platforming, with a healthier variety of differing backdrops and puzzles and item collecting missions and what not. However it also omits a lot of the stuff that made Titans fun, Crash plays more limited in places, the Aku boarding is gone, and while the levels are more varied, they also feel more basic and the streaming design makes them feel more like glorified hub worlds you backtrack through. This along with the cheap flash parody animations made the whole thing feel more like a cheap mini game than a dynamic cinematic experience like Titans was.

I liked the addition of multiplayer in both, especially since MOM added Coco, for once not a dud player (though admittedly Titans felt better fit to the gimmick due to optimising the camera for both players while MOM has that whole awkward 'P2 trying to stay onscreen' issue that the old Sonic games do with Tails). I'm hit and miss about the redesigns, as well as the characterisations and the humour, some of it works and some of it just plain out makes me cringe. I will say that I thought Titans Crash was far more loveable than Twinsanity Crash however, and I liked how in spite of the excess focus on pop culture and gross out gags, they did give odd bits of characterisation that were sometimes lacking in previous titles (eg. Crash's earnest care for his little sister, Nina being a conniving understudy of Cortex and N. Gin being...a bit too devoted a subordinate to the doctor). I also loved those little mini-cartoons they made to promote Titans.

[Person]

Random thought about the remakes:

It may just be because I'm not very good at video games, but Crash 1 needs a new way of saving.

Because, quite frankly, the original game has the most ass-backwards way of saving I've ever witnessed in a video game. Requiring me to beat bonus stages, especially ones where it's easy to die, is not OK.

Also, don't make all of the crates in the stage re-load if the player dies after a checkpoint. That was way too frustrating.

Crash 1 is the only one of the original trilogy I didn't 100% for these reasons.

[CrashRatchetFan]

2 hours ago, Person said:

Random thought about the remakes:

It may just be because I'm not very good at video games, but Crash 1 needs a new way of saving.

Because, quite frankly, the original game has the most ass-backwards way of saving I've ever witnessed in a video game. Requiring me to beat bonus stages, especially ones where it's easy to die, is not OK.

Also, don't make all of the crates in the stage re-load if the player dies after a checkpoint. That was way too frustrating.

Crash 1 is the only one of the original trilogy I didn't 100% for these reasons.

They'll definitely fix the save system and box count.

But if I had to say... I wouldn't mind a difficult mode where it plays like the original (boxes regenerate after you die and such) to add some challenge. 

[StaticMania]

Boxes respawning even after you pass checkpoint then die isn't really fair challenge...a difficulty option that brings that design flaw back might as well remove checkpoints anyway since it requires no death run.

[CrashRatchetFan]

There's an interview with Sony Europe's Jim Ryan and starts talking about Crash around 10:45.

Quote

Q: Even if [the PS4 Crash Bandicoot Collection is] a remaster and we're delighted about that, it does give us a little more hope that perhaps one day we'll see a new Crash Bandicoot?

"You know, we've got to keep you guys hoping for stuff that's coming in the future. Tease you a little bit as well."

 

[Jango]

Ok, but first show anything of the Collection!! I NEED IT.

[CrashRatchetFan]

Thought this would be important:

I think this pretty much confirms that these are fully remakes. 

From here:

http://linkedin.com/in/stevemoss

[Jango]

Holy shit man, if it's a full remake I will buy a PS4 now. I can't wait for the debut trailer to roll up, it's gonna be legendary. I actually pictured a trailer using Dingodile's theme from Crash 3 and the sayings: "After years on a vacation, Crash is back... literally back!" (literally because is a remake of the past games). IMO, I think it would fit a trailer perfectly, this theme is pretty recognizable among fans and it has an exciting pace.

 

 

[Failinhearts]

Since this is a Crash topic, I think this'll be of interest...

If you look closely, you can see DR. NEO CORTEX as a SENSEI included in the Crash Edition.

[Jango]

And the classic design no less! Looks totaly awesome!

[Agie]

Can Crash at least be used in the Wii U version? Since DK and Bowser have been reported to be useable there, it'd be neat to complete the trifecta there, even if it means having to buy two copies of the same game.

[Failinhearts]

 

1 minute ago, SurrealBrain said:

Can Crash at least be used in the Wii U version? Since DK and Bowser have been reported to be useable there, it'd be neat to complete the trifecta there, even if it means having to buy two copies of the same game.

Crash will be usable in the Wii U version and is apparently getting a single pack. It's just that the Crash Edition will get him at launch.

[CrashRatchetFan]

High-res version

[Jango]

Holy crap, looking really psycho there, Doctor o.o Pretty much like Crash, his design is closer to Zembillas' original drafts, love it.

[Failinhearts]

Got one more pic for the Crash Edition, showcasing the figures unboxed. So you can get a good look at Cortex, Crash, Golden Queen, King Pen, the Fire Creation Crystal and the SWAP Force Portal.

[MegasonicZX]

Man I don't care what anyone says, crash and cortex's designs here look beautiful.