wrestleman
Member
Yeah, but take a look at the massive numbers Crash drew for them (in likes and shares and comments) and I think my point that Crash is very much loved, even today, stands.
I sincerely disagree. Well, partially.
Wrath of Cortex is pretty miserable. Twinsanity is good in some places, great in others, and severely lacking in all remaining areas.
TITANS, however, I seriously disagree -- My girlfriend and I just 100% completed Crash of the Titans in Co-Op mode on Hard difficulty, and it's frankly a great game -- it's just that all it shares with the other games is story and such.
Crash still has his spin attack (which, through upgrades, becomes an overpowered gamebreaker allowing you to easily get the combo high scores). You still use the Aku Aku mask to protect yourself (and amusingly, as a snowboard and weapon if you upgrade your abilities).
There are tons of conversations in the game that you can overhear from the enemies in the levels that reference story points in the old games -- there's even a mural in the game depicting Aku Aku locking Uka Uka away under the islands, for instance. If you view Titans and Mind over Mutant as a "side-story" then the games are much better for it. They're like a branched off universe, like in comic books.
Titans honestly has more in common thematically, atmospherically and story-wise with Crash 1-3 than most of the other games, it's just that the gameplay is pretty different. There's still a ton of platforming and puzzle solving (Moreso in Mind over Mutant than in TItans, albeit) but it's just got brawling added in. It's definitely got more in common with original Crash than say, Knack does, even IF you're not counting the story, characters, locations, and lore.
People get all up in arms about the character designs, and that kind of bugs me. Crash himself looks largely the same, except he has tattoos instead of fingerless gloves.
The two masks I will grant you, although I think Aku Aku looks fine. Uka Uka is completely different, yes, and Tiny Tiger is bastardized, I will agree. He is the only character though, that was completely changed. Everyone else looks similar enough (sans Uka Uka) and is recognizable -- anyone who says they were "UNRECOGNIZABLE" is blind as a bat in my eyes.
Uka and Tiny changed visually too much, and Tiny was a completely different character, which I hated, but other than that, the games stayed true, and I say this as someone who helps run a Crash fansite and Twitter account. I grew up on these games, they are my bread and butter franchise.
Mind Over Mutant, much like Titans before it, focused its story on the original trilogy -- it's all about N.Brio, Cortex's original sidekick, and his disdain for working with Cortex again, but people like to ignore the throwbacks, and the story elements, and the world building, because the gameplay is different, and some of the characters got redesigned.
Mind Over Mutant references N. Brio creating the Evolvo-Ray, for instance, making it one of its key plot points, whereas the lauded and beloved Twinsanity completely biffs that aspect and attributes it to Cortex. Is the story in the Titans universe games perfect? No, but it pays a lot more tribute and love to original Crash than people ever give it credit for, and frankly a lot of that hate seems to be from people who didn't play it, or didn't PAY ATTENTION when they DID.
And for those of you who don't think that kind of love and care to the IP is worth enough -- play Crash of the Titans DS -- it's an entirely different game with much closer to the originals gameplay and style.
A lot of people accuse me of being a "Crash apologist" when I defend Titans and MoM, usually say things like "you like them just because Crash is in the name" blah blah, etc.
Crash Boom Bang is absolute trash. Played it once and never touched it again, despite being hyped for it all year... Mind Over Mutant DS (completely different game from the console versions) is also garbage. Crash Purple is passable at best. I have a love hate relationship with Twinsanity. Like I said, parts of it are great, the rest ranges from ass to 'okay'. Nitro Kart is hit or miss. The GBA games are too rehashy, and fall into the same trap as WoC does -- trying too hard to be Warped. N-Tranced is the better of those two though.