Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back Review
Released on the PlayStation in 1997, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back is a vivid, fun and iconic platformer which holds a special place in the hearts of many of the original PlayStation generation. Released by Naughty Dog Studios as a sequel to their 1996 original game, ‘Crash Bandicoot’, Crash 2 improves upon almost every aspect of the original games formula and remains fun and challenging throughout. Despite a few missteps and a tendency to recycle certain levels, Crash Bandicoot 2 is a classic PlayStation title which remains one of the best Crash games ever released.
Like in the previous title, the player takes control of Crash, an orange, somewhat deranged looking Bandicoot with a penchant for jumping and spinning erratically. The game is brought to life through its rich and vivid colour palette, and the graphics, lauded as being some of the best seen on PlayStation at its release, still look colourful and striking to this day. The same style of gameplay returns from the previous game with few changes, with crash jumping and spinning to avoid enemies, break boxes and scale platforms. One of the best changes from its predecessor is the improved saving mechanic, where the player can save their progress throughout rather than at specific unlockable locations as in the first game. Although the formula is not innovative, Crash 2 remains an example of the classic platforming formula done correctly.
The way that Crash 2 handles its worlds and levels is a big improvement on the previous game, with a series of warp rooms in each world that replace the linear progression path of the first game. This means that the player can progress at their own place through each world, and any levels which are initially too challenging can be saved for later. Additionally, the game encourages players to return and play different levels again, with a series of collectable gems that the player can get by completing a level without dying, or destroying all the boxes within that level. Although the game possesses a series of memorable and colourful levels, the player will find the same layouts and structures being recycled throughout, both in its physical appearance as well as basic layout. For example, there is a repeated level in each world where crash is chased by a large boulder throughout, and this stage soon becomes somewhat of a grind when it is repeated almost unchanged throughout the game.
A key component of Crash 2’s gameplay are its Boss fights. After completing all the levels in a world the player will have to defeat that worlds boss in order to progress onwards, eventually progressing to fight the game’s final boss and main antagonist throughout, Dr Cortex. While each boss fight is unique and requires a different strategy to complete, none of them are particularly difficult or interesting, the fights often devolving into formulaic encounters where you very easily identify the Boss’s fighting pattern. A rather disappointing example of this is the final Boss fight with Cortex, which remain significantly easier than many of the other encounters earlier on in the game.
Despite some of its recycled assets and occasional misstep with the pacing of the games difficulty, Crash 2 is still a fun, visually stimulating and memorable game with plenty of charm and character, remaining a great example of a classic platformer.
