Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex (PS2)

Product Information

Crash and Coco lose a life when they are struck by an enemy attack or suffer any other type of damage. Universal was worried about handing the franchise over to a new studio after Naughty Dog's contract expired, which led them to bet on a safer approach of producing a game with similar gameplay mechanics to the previous instalments, a decision that resulted in Cerny being ousted from development. At 35-40 seconds per level, these are unacceptably long, allowing me to take a nap whilst waiting for the level to load! A lagging game camera also makes it difficult to judge perspectives, which can make navigating even the simplest of levels somewhat nightmare-ish.

As no lives are lost in the Time Trial mode, the level can be played through as often as the player desires. Lafferty described the audio as "fun, with a solid soundtrack and over-acted vocal characterizations".By harnessing the destructive energies of earth, fire, air and water he creates Crunch, a Super-Bandicoot that is ready to demolish all that lies before him. The Atlasphere levels were positively received and commonly compared to Marble Madness, with Bedigian remarking that "Traveller's Tales could develop a whole game based on the sphere levels alone". Due to the console's inferior hardware, this version was not going to be a direct port, but it was going to be as similar to the other versions as possible, and it was being developed by Sensory Sweep.

Details about the game's progress and development are scarce, although Cerny has revealed that the game was to feature open, free-roaming environments, as opposed to the linear structure Crash Bandicoot was known for at the time. If you find you have a little extra room for another game in your PS2 library, then this might well be the thing to fill that space. Aku Aku is an omnipotent witch doctor mask who guides and aids Crash and Coco in stopping the plans of Doctor Neo Cortex. Traveller's Tales had to begin development of the game from scratch and were given only twelve months to complete the game.Gallant also criticized the sound mixing, and complained of a "loud, unidentifiable thunking noise" throughout the first vehicle-based level in the GameCube version. Universal was considering Mark Cerny as the designer for the new game (which came to be Crash Bandicoot Worlds), and intended to have it distributed by Sony as a PlayStation 2 exclusive. Coco Bandicoot, Crash's younger sister, is a highly intelligent computer expert with an interest in Hong Kong martial arts films, having developed a highly masterful ability of martial arts from being self taught.