Crash Bandicoot: Warped (PS)

Crash Bandicoot: Warped is developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony. "Crash Bandicoot" and related content is owned by Activision. Playstation is trademark of Sony.

“Old, but gold”. This saying may be used in many situations, but there is a world where it fits perfectly: games. The best games are ageless, because which defines a good game is how much fun you can get from it. Of course, graphics, sound, plot, and others characteristics are also important; however, they are nothing if the title is not funny to play.

Every gamer has some great old games as his favorite list. And, among some of my list, there is one called Crash Bandicoot: Warped. Released in 1998 for the Sony Playstation, the title developed by Naughty Dog is the third game of the marsupial series. Third, and probably the best Crash’s title until now, even after many new developers tried to achieve Naughty Dog quality level through the last years.

Crash Bandicoot: Warped box art cover

The game formula is simple. It gets every good point of its predecessors: mechanics, characters, basic level design; and then adds new great stuff, like new environments, original music and sounds, and a lot of exciting and funny challenges. Warped is a perfect example of how to improve a franchise. It is like the previous Crash games, but at the same time, it has much fresh new improvements.

You can select the levels before each boss, entering the Time-Twisted Machine.

Warped plot makes use of the time travels possibilities. After being defeated by Crash in the last game, Doctor Neo-Cortex releases an evil entity called Uka Uka, brother of Crash’s ally Aku Aku. Aiming to find the gems and crystals that Cortex was not able to (in the previous games), Uka Uka recruits Doctor Nefarious Tropy with his Time-Twisted Machine. Now, they will try to get them in the past.

The villains, from the left to the right: Dingodile, Tropy, Cortex, N. Gin. Tiny Tiger. In the top, the leader Uka Uka.

Aku Aku senses the return of his evil brother, and asks to Crash, and his sister Coco Bandicoot, to enter the Time-Twisted Machine. In order to collect the gems and crystals, the siblings must travel through many ages and locations. Crash has the majority of the levels, but Coco has some of the best challenges. The final battle is between Crash and Cortex, alongside Aku Aku versus Uka Uka. But don’t forget: there are always something extra to find in Warped.

Get the yellow clock in order to start a Time Trial Challenge

If you not familiar with a Crash Bandicoot game, don’t worry. Most of the levels follow a simple objective: run with Crash from the beginning to the end of a level, finding the obligatory pink crystal in the way. You will need to defeat enemies, escape from traps, chasms, and many other dangers. You can also get extra lives and Wumpa though the level. Coco’s levels are different, but you also need the pink crystal to beat them. And don’t forget the boss battles, always funny and challenging.

Coco's Jet Ski levels are a great addition to the game

As I said before, Crash’s best adventure seems to have made good use of the fans and critics feedback. Before Warped, some of the cons could be the high difficulty of the first title, the repetitive environments of the second, and the somewhat lack of different gameplay of both games. The launch of the third Bandicoots adventure is nearly perfect. It has the top graphics available in the PlayStation, with many exciting new gameplays, as Coco’s flying and Jet Ski missions, and Crash’s bazooka and motorcycle races.

The bazooka helps you to eliminate enemies and find secrets

The environments are very original and well designed. Using a time-machine, you can travel to different eras and locations, such as the medieval era, future, pre-history, Arabian nights, World War, Piracy era, among others. And the difficult level of Crash Bandicoot: Warped is well balanced. In general, levels are fair, with the boss battles needing more strategy. And, as usual for the series, the backtracking for crystals, gems, secrets paths and levels, and the new time-trial mode, is a great reason to keep playing after defeating Dr. Neo-Cortex.

Crash Bandicoot: Warped is probably one of the best 2.5D games of all time. It is a funny and challenging game, with the perfect difficult level: it is not impossible, but you will have to improve your abilities in every level played, mainly if you want to get all the secrets of the game. With amazing graphics and original level design, great sound effects and music, fascinating characters, and an addictive gameplay, Warped is really “old, but gold”.