“Crash, Coco, it is just as I feared.” A look back at the good, the bad and the ugly of Crash Bandicoot games!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the best part of 30 years, chances are you’ve taken at least one Crash Bandicoot game for a spin. Since Crash first hit our screens back in 1996, this franchise has since gone on to become the stuff of gaming legend, spawning a whole host of sequels, as well as the immensely popular series of Crash Team Racing titles.

So, as Crash Team Rumble hits our shelves, what better time than the present to take a look back at 4 of the best games to bear Crash’s name from down the years, as well as one absolute stinker!

Contents:

1. Crash Bandicoot: Warped

2. Crash Team Racing

3. Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure

4. Crash: Boom! Bang!

5. Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time

Crash Bandicoot: Warped

We kick things off by taking a trip back to the golden age of the PS1 and the final, most complete instalment of the original trilogy of Crash games, Crash Bandicoot: Warped. Although the first two games are bonafide classics in their own right, it seems like Naughty Dog saved the best to last as Warped built on everything its predecessors had achieved. 

In addition to bringing back the Warp Rooms, Warped threw time-travelling, new superpowers that give extra depth to Crash’s moveset, as well as a healthy dose of vehicle sections, into the mix which bumped the replayability factor up to 11.

Add to the above stellar music, varied level design and a gripping plot which sees you tackle a new antagonist, Uka Uka, alongside the familiar Dr Cortex, who’s still lurking in the background trying to thwart Crash at every opportunity, and it’s not hard to see why this game is still considered to be the pinnacle of this franchise even now!

Crash Team Racing

It’s time to put pedal to the metal now as we shift our attention to the final Crash Bandicoot game to be developed by Naughty Dog, Crash Team Racing, which was released in 1999. 

Although you could argue that CTR is always doomed to live in Mario Kart’s shadow, that doesn’t take away from the fact that Naughty Dog absolutely knocked it out of the park with their first attempt at making a kart racer.

With a fantastic cast of characters, tight controls, huge tracks that have plenty of shortcuts, this is one game that even now will have you on the edge of your seat for either some thrilling multiplayer races with your best buds or sampling the endlessly replayable Adventure Mode.

Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure

It’s time to fast-forward a little to 2002 with this week’s third entry, Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure (or Crash Bandicoot: XS to those of you in Europe) which represented three firsts for this franchise. The Huge Adventure was the first Crash game to be released on a handheld console (Game Boy Advance), not to come out on PlayStation, and also the first Crash title which gave fans a hint of the Crash Bandicoot multiverse, as it featured an alternative timeline to the events which took place after Warped.

Luckily for Game Boy Advance owners at the time, the transition to the world of 2D gaming was a smooth one, as this game featured a very similar layout and levels to the original trilogy, along with Crash’s signature moves, enemies and collectibles. 

As a result this game was a hit on release, attracting plaudits for its layout and graphics, although some critics noted its lack of innovation.

Crash: Boom! Bang!

We’ve had the good, now it’s time for the bad and the ugly with this week’s penultimate entry, Crash: Boom! Bang!, which was released on Nintendo DS back in 2006. Although Crash’s first foray into the world of party games, 2000’s Crash Bash, wasn’t exactly a barnstormer of a game, this title somehow managed to make it look like an absolute masterpiece.

With game mechanics which had gamers scratching their heads in disarray and gameplay so drab you’d rather watch paint dry, you don’t need to be a genius to see why this game got absolutely panned by critics upon release.

Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time

Last but not least, we round things off this week with 2020’s Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, which was a welcome return to form for the franchise as developer Toys for Bob’s decision to jettison every Crash game since The Wrath of Cortex (although it does include the occasional humorous reference to them) paid huge dividends, as they produced the sequel to the original trilogy we’d been waiting so long for.

Much like Warped did with the original two games, It’s About Time manages to stay faithful to everything that made the early Crash games so great, whilst also offering a fresh twist on the winning formula, with the addition of new features, such as multiverses, Quantum Masks, which allow Crash to defy gravity and slow down time, as well as the ability to control 5 characters, 3 of whom (Cortex, Dingodile, and Tawna) have their own unique gameplay and levels.

Throw in eye-popping visuals, as well as more challenging content than you can shake a stick at, and you’ve got yourself the recipe for an absolute cracker of a game.