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Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of Cortex

PS2 Review by: Kazooie

Well, we've waited 2 years for Crash to go back to his old adventures in making Cortex and his henchmen eat dirt. During that time, Crash and his mates were taking a break by racing karts in Crash Team Racing, and partying hard in Crash Bash. But now, evil has once again risen again, so now Crash must get off his rump and defeat it!

Ok, now the story begins with a ''Bad Guy Convention'' that is organized by Uka Uka. The bad guys who end up showing are Tiny Tiger, Dingodile, N Tropy, N Gin and of course Neo Cortex. Uka Uka is mad at them for once again failing to stop Crash. But then Cortex says that for quite some time he has been working on his ''ultimate'' weapon, a Super Bandicoot called Crunch, but he doesn't have enough power to complete him. But then Uka Uka says that sometime ago, the Ancients fought against The Elementals, renegade masks of Earth, Water, Fire and Wind and voiced by Tom ''Biff Tannen'' Wilson, ''General'' R Lee Ermey, Mark ''Luke Skywalker'' Hamill and Jess Harnell. The Ancients sealed up the Elemental masks. So Uka Uka decides to release the Elementals so that Cortex can complete his weapon and finish off Crash.

Crash, Coco and Aku Aku are on the beach when they find that there are volcanoes erupting, earthquakes, tornados and tidal waves. Aku Aku senses that this is the work of the Elementals. So he tells Crash and Coco this and Coco builds the ''Virtual Hub'', which is essentially the level selector, which lets them go to any place on earth to obtain the Elemental Crystals, which can seal up the Elementals.

Ok, now lets begin. Graphically, the game looks great. There's lots of great new enemies, and their facial expressions are neat. It all looks just swell. The developers have put some work into the graphics. Unfortunately, this is where a big problem lies, which I'm sure that you would have probably heard before from some users at GameFAQS. The problem is...the loading times. They are long! Very long! It takes about 40 seconds to load the levels! This is bad, as if you are having a problem with a boss, exiting the level and going back to it is a pain. One way the developers could have countered this is by making the game DVD format, not CD format. But of course, this didn't happen.

But any Crash fan will tell you that they don't care! They'll say that it's all about the game play! And it is, it is. The game play is the same as the previous Crash titles, so it's more of the same, but still fun. Crash gets to ride some new vehicles, like a mechanical suit and a jeep. Also, for the first time ever, Coco is fully playable. She is no longer always riding a vehicle whenever you play as her. That's right, you can fully control her, make her attack, jump, etc. etc. The bosses are not Dingodile, Tiny Tiger and the like, but instead they are Crunch with an Elemental mask, so Crunch takes a different form each time. And yes, you do get a move every time you beat a boss. However, the original bosses appear in some of the levels. So, yes the game play is all right.

As for the sound, well the sound is great. The voice-overs are brilliant. The elemental masks are played by celebrities. Tom Wilson plays Rok-ko, the earth elemental mask, and he sounds just like Biff from Back To The Future! There are many memorable moments in this game.

Unfortunately, there is not much life span in this game. Getting through to the last boss is easy. Getting every single gem and relic takes a while, but eventually, like the other Crash games, you will finish it, and having done that might not return to play again.

But overall, The Wrath of Cortex is a good game. Not the best in the series, but its certainly no wet cabbage. Crash fans should take a look. I give Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of Cortex an 8/10. 8/10

Presentation Crash is back and at it again. He looks better graphically than ever before!	8.0
Graphics The graphics are great. Especially for a game like this. But, the load times are a big problem…	6.5
Gameplay The game plays just like previous versions. With the exception of fully functional Coco.	8.5
Overall If you are a fan of the Crash Bandicoot series, you should already know what to expect. For those of you new to Crash, its definitely not the best one in the series	8.0