IGN: Crash Bandicoot 2: N-tranced Review

January 21, 2003 - Almost exactly a year ago, Universal Interactive and Vicarious Visions yanked the Naughty Dog-created Crash Bandicoot out of the Wonderful World of PlayStation, and plopped that marsupial, for the first time, onto a Nintendo platform. Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure was the result, a surprisingly excellent 2D recreation of the platform design that PlayStation owners had been enjoying for years. Of course, success begets sequels, and once again Vicarious Visions was put to the task of reproducing the success of the first one in a second handheld adventure Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced. And for all intents and purposes the follow-up is a better platformer than the bandicoot's original GBA game, even though the novelty of "ooh, neat, Crash Bandicoot on a handheld" has certainly worn out a year later.

Features

More than 40 levels
Eight environments
Link cable support for two players (multiple cartridge)
Cartridge save (four slots)

In the original Crash Bandicoot: The Big Adventure, Crash had to get through the levels in order to restore the planet back to its original size and banish Dr. Cortex to space in the process. In N-Tranced, the evil mask Uka Uka and the evil Dr. Nefarious Tropy (double the evil this time around) set off for world domination themselves. To do this, he abducts Crash's posse (which includes his sister Coco and his pal Crunch), as well as Crash himself...but in transit, an evil Crash Clone is grabbed instead of the real deal (more evil...it's just dripping this time around). So our hero has to get through the different areas to rescue his pals and defeat Dr. Nefarious, Uka Uka, and the evil Crash Clone.

Though the storyline's changed, the gameplay really hasn't; yes, there are control and level design tweaks here and there that make the sequel a better production, but when you run the original and the sequel side by side the differences aren't exactly glaring. The game still focuses entirely on smashing crates and collecting whumpa fruits in both side-scrolling platform levels and 3D-style chase sequences; most of Crash's side-scrolling abilities are given right from the get-go instead of earned like in last year's game. So, in its place, the designers include a handy tutorial level that demonstrates how to utilize all of his moves before setting the player off to the true challenges. Crash will earn additional abilities later in the game, though, but they're more enhancements to his existing moves: a super slide, a rocket jump, a tornado spin, and a turbo run. The game will offer a handicap to those who constantly die at one location several times by handing over a one-hit-assist Aku Aku mask...definitely handy, as Crash Bandicoot games have always been filled with slightly irritating one-hit-death situations. Just like the original, the game's not over when all the levels have been completed, as players have to complete and re-complete levels in its time trial modes...an element that greatly increases the game's replay value.

The sequel's biggest unique element is its pretty darn fun Atlasphere challenges, inspired by the PS2/GameCube/Xbox Wrath of Cortex levels and powered by Vicarious Visions' Tony Hawk GBA engine. These levels are like a vicious version of Marble Madness where players roll Crash, Crunch, Coco, or Fake Crash around flatlands and halfpipes smashing into crates peppered around the areas. Each of these levels gets harder than the last because the designers throw in more of those annoying one-hit-death Nitro crates, rolling barrels, and take away rails that would normally keep the ball from falling off the edge. These challenges do suffer just a tiny bit from a weird collision issue on ramps, as the physics rolling down the quarterpipes should have been handled a little better than they were. The designers also work this level as a series of two-player battles and races through link cable connection; each player needs a copy of the game to take advantage of these fun little modes. Crash 2 even links up to the previous game, but only to transfer data from one version to the other; certain Crash: The Huge Adventure data will unlock characters and levels in the multiplayer modes of Crash 2.

Closing Comments
There are certainly a whole list of differences between the original Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure and Crash 2: N-Tranced, but they're not all as cut-and-dry obvious as you might expect. For the sequel, the developers took what worked, removed what didn't, and added a couple of unique ideas; this follow-up is definitely a much better game than the original, but don't expect a night-and-day difference.

IGN Ratings for Crash Bandicoot 2: N-tranced (GBA)

Rating	Description
out of 10	click here for ratings guide
9.0	Presentation A decent amount of levels, a good amount of variety, and link cable multiplayer containing connectivity with the first game. Not too shabby.
8.0	Graphics The side-scrolling and "chase" engines aren't much more advanced than what VV did last year. The addition of the polygonal-based Atlasphere levels is really good, though.
8.0	Sound The audio quality is, again, great, thanks to the Shin'en folks. But the "Crash" tune style can get a bit on the old side.
8.0	Gameplay It's a solid platformer with plenty of variety in its level designs. Some one-hit-and-your-dead situations are still on the annoying side, but that's the only real complaint.
8.0	Lasting Appeal Replay is increased by time trials in the single player mode, as well as link cable Atlasphere challenges.
8.5 Great	OVERALL (out of 10 / not an average)