Crash Twinsanity – Retrospective

I am back to writing. Apologies, I have had a cheeky mental breakdown for a few months there. Nonetheless, it is appropriate to mark my return with a mental breakdown of a Crash game, Crash Twinsanity.

After a rocky start to the PS2 era for Crash Bandicoot with Wrath of Cortex, next up was a new approach to the genre of game that Crash had perfected in its first three entries. Crash Twinsanity is a game that divides opinion. With its back story being very well known by now, I sat down to finish this game, and give my genuine opinion on what I thought of the experience.

Story –

Crash Twinsanity does try to have more of a story approach than previous games. Cut scenes are aplenty and there is far more dialogue. I thought that Twinsanity had moments that were peaks for the Crash series at the time in terms of story. The concept into Cortex’s time at the Academy of Evil, amongst his treatment of Victor and Moritz, are some of the most interesting expansions in the series. That being said, the story is still not anything to blow you away. However, I do not feel that is all too important in a Crash game personally.

(Source: Crash Mania)

Character Portrayal –

Crash games had been introducing a variety of modifications to character appearance and portrayal in the years leading up to Twinsanity. Crash himself remains largely the same, so no complaints there. Other notable characters such as Aku Aku, N’ Brio and N’ Tropy almost have zero bearing on the game despite their presence. They never really feel relevant. This could be said about every character that is not Cortex and Crash. Even characters such as Nina, who play crucial roles near the end of the game, do not even speak a single word. It was odd.

Speaking of Cortex, I feel this was a game where his character excelled. A look into his past, as well as plenty of funny and iconic lines, make this one of his more memorable portrayals. I especially loved the line of ‘Wrath of Cortex hadn’t done as well as we would have hoped’ and ‘there was supposed to be two dimensions but we ran out of time’. Meta quotes like this are in line with the humour of a Crash game, although admittedly the meaning behind them doesn’t hold well to Twinsanity as a game.

‘Open-World’ –

As mentioned earlier, this was the first time that Crash had moved into a new genre of gameplay. Obviously, at its core, Twinsanity remains largely the same as the original formula, that being, smashing crates and platforming. However, Twinsanity does have more of an ‘open-world’ feel to it. This would become a trend for the remaining titles that would release on the PS2 for Crash. Although it does feel odd, I would not necessarily say it failed as a new turn in ideas, and would genuinely love to see what a new Crash game in this style could accomplish if given the resources and polish of what Crash 4: It’s About Time got.

Length –

I am not one to complain about length in video games. No game has to meet a certain threshold in terms of hours for it to feel worth my time. However, that being said, Twinsanity kind of is ridiculous in terms of length. If we ignore glitches that allow the game to be beaten in minutes, it will take the average person five hours to finish the game. It took me just over four hours to finish the main story and collect 75% of collectables and other items of interest. This is due to cut content or lack of time, which was noted in the literal script of the game itself, but that doesn’t excuse the lack of content here as a package. It was still a full-priced product when it was released despite the knowledge of rushing and cut content.

Glitches, Cut-Aspects –

This is where the game is inexcusable. I do not think I have played a game where this many glitches occur naturally throughout a playthrough. There are compilations of glitches for this game, that is how many bugs crop up throughout.

Off the top of my head, I can note missing sound effects throughout many large portions of the game, making it feel incredibly awkward. Missing or extremely quiet music, this was the case particularly for the first skiing mission upon Cortex. Elsewhere there are glitches where Crash just floats along the ground, rather than moving any of his limbs, or when Evil Crash chase mission, Evil Crash would endlessly twirl in place and fail to even chase after Cortex every single time without fail.

These are just some of the bugs I encountered, there are quite literally hundreds more that not just myself, but other players have encountered. This game was released in an unfinished state, and that is inexcusable despite the common trend of modern games releasing in unfinished states.

Conclusion –

Crash Twinsanity was an okay time. There is so much potential here that it almost hurts the game, even more, to see where it all went wrong. I can acknowledge the new approach and even embrace it in many instances. I think Twinsanity is truly the first time Crash hit a low point. This game is buggy, unfinished, and just a genuine waste of potential. This is not the fault of the developers if their crunch and time schedule is to be believed, but that still does not make it okay.

Final Rating – 5/10

Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy – Retrospective

I always admired Jak and Daxter from afar, even as a child. However, as a child, my options of games were limited throughout the year, and when I did get the chance it was usually Crash Bandicoot or Spyro that I turned to rather than Jak and Daxter. Since maturing though, I obviously have had a chance to revisit some games from the past, and one of them was Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. So, what did I think all these years later?

Story –

Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy follows Jak and Daxter. They were caught in the midst of stalking on Mirage Island and ended up in an accident in which Jak accidentally pushes Daxter into a pot of dark eco, turning him into a ferret-type-thing. As you can probably imagine, Daxter wants to be turned back to his old human self. This is where the duo set out on a mission to collect power-cells and travel across the world in an attempt to try and manage to convert Daxter back to his old self before Daxter realising he would have to sacrifices his chances to ever become his old self again for the sake of the world.

(Source: JakvsRatchetFanPage)

The story of Jak and Daxter is nothing special, but then again, nor was many games in the Playstation 2 era. However, it does suffice. The story is mainly brought alive by the expressive characters and voice acting performances that give off that butterfly feeling of being a child and loading up a new game for the first time.

Game-Play –

Jak and Daxter follows similar feedback game-play loops to a lot of 3D platformers like Spyro and Super Mario 64 in the late 90s and early 2000s. The game has a lot of counters, for the player to keep track of what power cells they haven’t gotten yet, as well as what precursor orbs they haven’t got. The game is nothing deep or complex, and missions and collectables are pretty easy to figure out. Despite this, it is incredibly satisfying every time you get a new power cell, giving off that same feeling you’d get when getting stars in Super Mario 64 all those years ago. However, just like Mario 64, there is plenty of levels and power-cells that grind the gears, with some of the checkpoints being nothing short of completely ridiculous.

(Source: Basement Rejects)

The world feels alive, and large. There is very few loading screens and transition from area to area feels very natural. A big part of the game-play in this game for me was actually becoming immersed in what I was doing at a given point in time. This lack of loading and breaking the immersion is something that helped me in going through large spaces of time of continuous play. It is genuinely quite impressive how fluid and connected the world is for this era of gaming.

Visuals and Graphics –

Visually Jak and Daxter is obviously quite aged. Admittedly I should have played the HD version of the games on PS4, but I wanted that authentic PS2 experience. Despite ageing, these games have such a vibrant and atmospheric charm to them that it is hard to not feel impressed. Even with the aged resolution, there is a lot to be in awe by.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Once again, the world is impressively connected, and the characters are impressively animated. This can be seen especially in Daxter, whose face and mouth movements bring him to life, and his dancing whenever you get a power cell makes it feel like these aren’t just hollow bodies, and are actual characters that you could get to know.

(Source: Game(r)-Views)

The game has aged, but the charm is still all there for you to take in, and that is what is a big draw in for a lot of people returning to these old and classic games from this era.

Conclusion –

Jak and Daxter is really one of the best games on the PS2. It takes a lot for an old game to maintain my interest, or any game really, yet Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy manages to do that. It is a game with a lot of charm, world-building and simple, yet addictive game-play loops that feel similar to that of the stars in Super Mario 64.

Final Score – 7.5/10