Crash of the Titans
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Crash of the Titans is an action-platform game developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Wii, and Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS versions of the game were developed by Amaze Entertainment. It serves as the first/penultimate installment of the Titans series, the sequel to the 2004 game Crash Twinsanity and is the sixth overall main installment of the Crash Bandicoot series.
For the GBA version, take a look at this page.
Story
In the beginning of the game, Crash Bandicoot aids Coco with a butter-recycling device. Doctor Neo Cortex arrives, captures Coco and Aku Aku and encases Crunch in ice. Crash throws Coco's machine at Cortex's airship, severing the chain holding Aku Aku's cage, which causes the cage to fall into the nearby forest. After Crash rescues Aku Aku, they discover that Cortex and Uka Uka are stealing Mojo from a nearby temple and decide to stop them. On reaching the temple, Cortex reveals his plot to use the stolen Mojo to create an army of loyal mutants, which will be used to build a robot known as the Doominator, that will crush the Wumpa Islands and take over the world. After failing to defeat Crash with his Yuktopus robot, Cortex boasts that Crash will never find his base and flies off, leaving Crash and Aku Aku to follow him.
At Cortex's base, Uka Uka told Cortex about failing to destroy Crash, and replaces Cortex with his niece, Nina Cortex, despite protests from Neo, N.Gin and Tiny Tiger. Nina has Coco brainwashed and makes her participate in the construction of the Doominator. Throughout the course of the game, Crash and Aku Aku interrogate Tiny Tiger, Doctor N.Gin, and Uka Uka on the whereabouts of Coco to which they all tell parts of Nina's plan.
When they confront Nina Cortex inside the Doominator robot, Nina summons her Arachnina robot and fights Crash. Crash eventually destroys the robot, liberating Coco and disabling the Doominator. The Doominator collapses and barely misses the Bandicoot home (and Crunch), sparing much of Wumpa Island. Escaping from the collapsed Doominator, Cortex praises Nina for betraying him, and promises to be more evil in the near future, though saying he was still gonna "spank her stupid". The Bandicoots decide that it is time for celebration, leading Crash to shout his first word in the series and the object of their celebration: Pancakes!
The DS version of the game largely follows the story of the home console versions, but with minor alterations such as Nina Cortex having a greater role and the inclusion of Dingodile..
Bad Qualities
Note: This will cover the console versions of the game
- Gameplay is completely different from previous Crash Bandicoot games, going from a linear platforming to a beat'em up with very minimal platforming. While it’s a good idea however, it lacks the platforming Crash Bandicoot charm of the original games, along with the redesigns.
- Crash weirdly doesn't even have his Spin Attack from the beginning, it needs to be unlocked, despite being his attack in the original games. Using the attack for too long also makes him dizzy, despite how the Spin Attack has been his trademark move since the first Crash Bandicoot game. Why only now does he get dizzy?
- On that topic, the characters' redesigns received mixed reception, as they look like fan OCs (some fans liked them, while many others did not).
- On the topic of new looks, the worst case is with Uka Uka and Tiny Tiger. Their new designs bear absolutely zero resemblance to their old designs, with Uka Uka having a different shape, no jaw (yet somehow being able to talk) and weirdly resembles a monkey and Tiny being a common tiger instead of an extinct Tasmanian tiger.
- The levels themselves are boring and generic with no replay value.
- Lame boss battles, while there are five of them in total, three of them follow the basic pattern of hijacking the boss and destroying everything, while two of them are just enemy rushes.
- Wumpa Fruits, one of the most iconic elements in the Crash Bandicoot franchise, aren’t well represented in this game, and only serve as health for Crash, due to the game introducing a new element called Mojo, which is used to upgrade Crash's combat abilities. Also, extra lives must be earned by collecting 25,000 units of Mojo.
- The "Titan" controls feel heavy, tank-like and lack an ability to jump (though thankfully they can jump in the sequel, Crash: Mind over Mutant).
- Uninteresting and generic plot.
- Very unbalance difficulty, with some levels being way too easy and other levels being way too hard.
- Continuing from Crash Tag Team Racing, characters are completely butchered, giving them significantly worse personalities:
- Crash became even dumber.
- Coco is now a tech geek who uses Crash to gather parts for her machines.
- Uka Uka is made into the incompetent villain that blames his failures on his henchmen.
- And the worst offender, by far, is Tiny Tiger. besides looking absolutely nothing like his old look, he went form a ferocious Hulk-like beast who spoke in broken English and referred to himself in third person, to a pacifist who speaks fluent English with an extremely annoying voice(Country of Chris Williams) that does NOT fit Tiny Tiger in the slightest, who hates violence.
- Bad and uncontrollable camera makes the platforming elements a chore.
- While there are 20 episodes in total, the game feels short and you'll get most collectibles easily on your first playthrough.
- In the PSP version, there are less sound effects then in the PlayStation 2/Wii/X-Box 360 versions and the graphics look SUPER water down and bleak, also some facile-expressions made by certain characters can be made at an odd time, such as Aku-Aku smiling as he (alongside Coco) gets captured by Cortex early on in the intro cut-scene of the game.
- The overall combat is just downright awful, as Crash moves rather stiff-like due to his animations not being properly animated right to make contact with the enemy, and the hit detection isn't good either with the strategy to get several combos by knocking out and defeating many enemies as possible not being programmed the best when it comes to how it's combined with the more slower-paced controls in comparison to previous games, and it's most likely that you could get hit by an enemy if your still trying to knock out another due to how slow the combat is in general, and this is easily the biggest problem with the combat as it's too slow and clunky to handle and with the game trying to be a different game than the previous games, it easily results in the game not being that fun to play in the slightest and makes a complete chore to get through when trying out the newly implemented mechanics introduced in these entry for fans of the series.
- It also doesn't help that the game forces you to rapidly mash the attack button to defeat all of the enemies which combined with the poorly programmed combat makes playing the game a far worse experience than previous games in the series.
Good Qualities
- This game has co-op mode, and while it is not as addicting and/or fun as Crash Bash, it can be a lot of fun now that two players can play the game.
- With the exception of Tiny Tiger, the voice acting is good, since some the voice actors from the original games return, except for Aku Aku, who was replaced by Greg Eagles.
- The cutscenes are fun to watch.
- The concept involving riding Titans is an interesting idea.
- The music is catchy and kinda memorable.
- The Mojo Mutants score some unique designs.
- Not only that, but with the small exception of three Titans, each Titan have a unique move-set themselves, making it feel like you're not playing the same exact Titans.
- Crash's new slide move is a good addition.
- The Mojo rooms can pervade a nice challenge, as well as a nice chance to get some extra mojo.
- The DS version is great and plays more like the PS1 games unlike the console version.
- To be fair, the idea behind this game could have worked well if it was a game on its own, or at least without changing a lot of stuff from it.
- There are lots of funny moments in this game.
- There are a few people who might like this game.
- At least its better than the GBA port.
- With the exception of Tiny Tiger and Uka-Uka the redesigns are actually ok.
- The graphics are vibrant and colorful, especially on Xbox 360.
Videos
Reception
The game received mixed to favorable reviews from official review critics. The redesigns of the characters to have a more steam-punk like look and the completely different gameplay style received mixed reactions by fans and critics alike.
The Nintendo DS version was positively received, however.
WatchMojo ranked this game the 4th WORST in Top 10 BEST & WORST Crash Bandicoot games.[1]
Trivia
- This was the first game where Uka Uka was voiced by John DiMaggio, who would voice him again in Mind Over Mutant and reprise his role in the N. Sane Trilogy and Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled.