Crash Bandicoot is coming back! He’s in the midst of his big reunion with gamers, opening with an appearance in Skylander’s Imaginators, and coming next year in the form of the first three Crash games getting remastered. In fact, I don’t even like to call these remasters. Remastering is taking the original and cleaning it up. With the Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy Vicarious Visions has stripped the original Crash back down to it’s core framework and rebuilt it on that foundation, using the same blueprints that built the original. That first taste is uncanny, and took me right back to moments from my early days gaming on PlayStation.
I’ve been eager to see how this trilogy would be handled since it was announced at E3. Would it be the Crash that we knew and loved? Would it be changed? Would any change be for the better or for worse? And then gameplay was revealed at PSX 2016, and it looked just like I remembered it, only, you know, better. Even better news? It was playable on the show floor and I had a chance to check out a couple of levels from the first game, testing it out to see how it feels when compared to games today. Those questions came rushing back. Would it match up to today’s standards while retaining that classic Crash Bandicoot feel?
The short answer is that this new Crash Bandicoot feels just like the original. Now it’s hard for me to say that with conviction since I haven’t played the original in probably about 15 years, but if you played the Crash bit in Uncharted 4, then you can get a good idea of how this new one feels too. There’s a certain stiffness to the controls that takes some getting used to, and there were a number of jumps that I embarrassingly failed in front of a long onlooking line because it doesn’t play precisely like games of today. Once I got the hang of it though, there’s no doubt that Crash is back in all his orange furred goodness.
Hoo-Duh-Buh-Guh!
It’s the little things that help to sell the experience. The sounds, from Crash himself, to the wumpa fruit, to the breaking crates. The level design being exactly the same, a higher resolution rebuild on top of the mesh of the originals. The collecting of boxes and bonus levels. It’s all here. The biggest worry about playing a classic is that time and rose colored glasses tint the memories, and the actual experience is at least somewhat diminished. Vicarious Visions has managed to take our memories, or mine at the very least, and tweak them in such a way that it retains a classic feel but doesn’t come across as dated. It’s a fine balance that they’ve had to walk in order to appeal to both sides of the equation, but my short time with it showed real promise.
Getting to finally play the rebuilt Crash trilogy got me itching for the full release. As I mentioned, younger gamers may find the controls to be a bit stiff at first, but anyone who originated with Crash back on the original PlayStation two decades ago will instantly feel at home here. There’s a volatile mixture that’s being worked here, and I’m just happy to see Vicarious Visions handling it with the utmost care and respect for lifetime Crash Bandicoot fans and newcomers alike.
Check out the latest PSX 2016 news and hands-on previews on PlayStation LifeStyle.
Now Loading PSX 2016 Impressions
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Now Loading PSX 2016 Impressions
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Cameron Teague
I loved the fact that Sony showed games from all different genres. It seemed like there was something for everyone in this presser and Sony spent a majority of the time showing what we all want to see and that is games.
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Chandler Wood
Sony's PSX showcase hit all the right beats. It had the right balance of games to keep everyone interested and hooked. There were some fun surprises, some expected reveals, and overall great pacing to keep the show moving along. Sony been learning quite a bit this generation and they're getting better and better making sure gamers know the PS4 is the best place to play.
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Stephen Bitto
When you combine their PSX keynote with their E3 conference, PlayStation makes a strong case that they truly have the best place to play.
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Zarmena Khan
I was pleasantly surprised. We got to see a lot of games and that's all I really wanted. I'm excited to get my hands on the Uncharted 4 expansion. Looks awesome! And I can't wait to see more of The Last of Us Part II.
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Alex Co
What can I say? Sony brought the hammer down! Bunch of game reveals, trimmed the fat, and even the Vita got some love.
Gone are the days when press conferences gave a chunk of its time to talk about sales, and other stuff that people don't really want to hear on stage. Now, the bigger question is: when will we see the games revealed? At this point, Sony has a TON of games announced, but a lot don't have release dates. I suspect we'll see some of these games at the PS4's tail end, which wouldn't surprise me one bit.
I have no clue how Sony will top this year's PSX presser with next year's E3 press conference, or even PSX 2017's.
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Mack Ashworth
In my eyes, PlayStation Experience 2016 was a huge success. Big proper exclusives from Naughty Dog started and concluded the show in style. Though PlayStation VR didn't get much attention, it was good to see a wide variety of genres talked about, and of course the PlayStation Vita support was appreciated.
