Crash Bandicoot (video game)
| Crash Bandicoot | |
|---|---|
 The North American cover depicts the titular character of the game. | |
| Developer(s) | Naughty Dog |
| Publisher(s) | Sony Computer Entertainment America Universal Interactive Studios |
| Series | Crash Bandicoot |
| Engine | Proprietary Naughty Dog PlayStation engine |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation, PlayStation Network |
| Genre(s) | Action-adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Crash Bandicoot is an action-adventure game published by Sony Computer Entertainment and developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation. It was released in North America on August 31, 1996,[1] in Europe on November 1996,[2] and in Japan on December 6, 1996.[2] The game, as well as being originally released on the PlayStation, was also emulated on the PlayStation Network in 2006, through which it can be played on the PlayStation Portable and, as of Operating System update 1.70, on the PlayStation 3.[3]
Crash Bandicoot is the first installment in the Crash Bandicoot video game series, chronicling the creation of the titular character at the hands of the series antagonist Doctor Neo Cortex and his henchman Doctor Nitrus Brio. The game's story follows Crash's effort to stop his creators' plans for world domination, clean up any pollution they have caused, and save his girlfriend Tawna, a female bandicoot also evolved by Doctor Cortex and Nitrus Brio.
Gameplay
The game has twenty-five normal levels, as well as two secret levels and six boss battles, the six bosses being the local tribe leader Papu Papu, the insane Ripper Roo, the muscle-bound Koala Kong, the gun-toting Pinstripe Potoroo, Doctor Nitrus Brio, and finally, Doctor Neo Cortex himself. The player must make their way through a limited environment whilst defeating enemies, avoiding pits and breaking crates, each of which contain some kind of bonus. Breaking all of a level's crates while not losing a life will reward the player with a gem.[4] The boss battles have the player avoiding the boss character's attacks, then attacking the boss when the boss is vulnerable. Crash's only forms of attack are jumping and spinning. The majority of enemies can be defeated by using the jump attack, but enemies that cannot be defeated by the jump attack must be defeated by using the spinning move. This move can also be used to hit enemies into other enemies or crates.[5] Also, in some levels, Crash will ride a hog, which he has limited control over. In levels such as these, the player must avoid obstacles such as enemies while continuously going forward at fast speed on the hog. Also, numerous levels have the player being chased by a boulder, in which players must run towards the screen while jumping over gaps.
The player can collect masks hidden in crates. When protected by these floating masks, the player is protected from one enemy's attack or contact. Collecting three masks will give players temporary invulnerability from all minor dangers.[6] Also available in numerous levels are tokens hidden inside crates. These tokens feature the likenesses of either Tawna, Doctor Nitrus Brio or Doctor Neo Cortex. Once the player collects three matching tokens in one stage, the player is transported to a bonus round, where the player can collect additional wumpa fruit and items. The Tawna bonus rounds can be used to save any progress made before that point.[7]
Plot
Characters
As the first game of the series, the game only features nine characters, a majority of them voiced by Brendan O'Brien. The game's protagonist is Crash Bandicoot, a bandicoot evolved by Doctor Neo Cortex, trying to clean up the pollution the doctor has caused and stop him in his plans for world domination with the help of Aku Aku. Doctor Cortex, while trying to create the ultimate soldier using the Evolvo Ray and the Cortex Vortex using Crash as one of his experiments, noticed that the experiment had gone wrong and chased him out of his castle. He considers Crash a failure due to his kind nature. Washing up on N. Sanity Island, he resolves to stop Cortex and save Tawna, another evolved female bandicoot. Aku Aku is the voodoo mask spirit of an old witch doctor. He watches over the three islands and aids Crash on his quest to defeat Doctor Cortex and clear up the toxic waste he has created.
Doctor Neo Cortex is a villainous mad scientist and the game's main antagonist. He has evolved the wildlife of the islands, turning them into anthropomorphic beasts, hoping to use them to form an army. Doctor Nitrus Brio is a deranged scientist and Doctor Cortex's right-hand man. The creator of the Evolvo-Ray, though with his lack of ambition he has let Doctor Cortex take the credit for its creation.[8] Naughty Dog created him as a foil to Doctor Cortex,[9] with Brio being successful to Cortex's failure, logical to Cortex's emotional. Also, as well as Cortex and Brio, Papu Papu, the deranged Ripper Roo, the muscular Koala Kong and The Godfather inspired Pinstripe Potoroo[9] all serve as bosses.
Setting
The game is set on a group of three Australian islands owned by Doctor Neo Cortex known as N.Sanity Beach . The main settings for levels, particularly on the first two islands, are either forests, tribesmen villages and fortresses, or beaches. The jungle environment focused on peace and harmony[10]. Some levels on the second island also take place in temple ruins, where the artists envisioned an overgrown, organic level[10], as well as the interiors of such temples, bridges high above the mountains, and even a volcanic mine. The third island is more industrial, and its levels take place in a large powerplant and a castle. The interior of the castle was designed to reflect Doctor Cortex's twisted mind[10].
A level's enemies depend on the level's setting. The numerous levels set on the first and second islands would contain mostly crabs, tortoises and tribesmen as enemies. In contrast, enemies in levels set in the power plants on the third island are mostly mechanical robots as well as several security guards and workers, while those set in the castle contain the identical android Lab Assistants and monstrous experiments and prisoners as the enemies.
Story
The game takes place on a small trio of islands just south-east of Australia, all owned by the evil scientist, Doctor Neo Cortex. With the aid of Doctor Nitrus Brio, he creates the Evolvo Ray, which they use to evolve the various animals living on the islands, all while causing terrible pollution. One of their experiments was a bandicoot, Crash.[11] Once evolved by the Evolvo Ray, the duo tests the Cortex Vortex on him, a machine that would put him completely under their control. However, this experiment on Crash fails, and Crash flees from his captors.[11] Falling out of a window of Doctor Neo Cortex's castle, Crash awakes on a beach on N. Sanity Island.[11]
During Crash's time in captivity, he had become attached with another evolved bandicoot, the female Tawna. Resolving to defeat Cortex, clean up the pollution he had caused and rescue Tawna, he sets off.[11]
From the beach, Crash makes his way through the nearby jungle and scales the wall of a giant wooden fortress, which is inhabited by the native tribe. Crash takes out the tribe leader Papu Papu, but is then pursued by the natives. He escapes by riding a wild hog through the remainder of the village and then by climbing over the opposite fortress wall. From there Crash crosses to the second of Cortex's islands.
The second island, hosting a giant tree, has been long abandoned and there is nothing more than jungle, a lizard infested city, dilapidated bridges high in the mountains, and the ruins of an ancient temple. However, having discovered that Crash was making his way across the islands, Cortex stationed another of his evolved mutants, Ripper Roo on the island in a temple at the start of a creek. Crash manages to cross the river and he defeats Ripper Roo beside a waterfall, and successfully makes his way through the the city and the temples. He is then confronted by another of Cortex's mutants, Koala Kong, in a volcanic cave mine but defeats him and finally crosses to Cortex island.
Crash then enters the power plant, the Cortex Power station. As well as hosting many of Cortex's industrial experiments and seeming to be the main power source for Cortex Castle, the building's operations are causing pollution, dumping radioactive waste into the sea and destroying nearby plants as well.
Crash makes his way through a gargantuan indoor wall of machinery, then goes from the main factory hallways to a generator room, which finally leads into the toxic waste dumping operations. At the factory core, Crash finds and battles the CEO of Cortex Power, mutant Pinstripe Potoroo. Despite fighting with a fully loaded tommy gun, Pinstipe is eventually knocked out by Crash and his stray bullets destroy the core, causing the Power Station to fall into ruin as well as the pollution to quickly vanish. Unable to get into Cortex castle after getting there via bridge, Crash climbs the tower walls despite stormy weather and climbs in through the window he had previously smashed through. After making his way through the dark hallways and the Castle's many machines, Crash is confronted by Nitrus Brio.
Brio mutates himself into a monster with the aid of several chemicals but is still defeated by Crash. The castle is set alight by some of the chemicals Brio was using but Crash manages to escape the tower passing the Laboratory and as the building burns to the ground, he makes it to Cortex's airship, where he is confronted by the evil scientist. Cortex attacks him with a plasma gun but Crash dflects his own projectiles against him, and sends Cortex falling to his assumed demise. United with Tawna, they escape the burning castle on Doctor Cortex's airship.
Development
Development of the game started in August 1994 with the title character, Crash, being designed by Charles Zembillas and Joe Pearson. The development of this game took place entirely in Los Angeles, California, after the entire staff had moved there from Boston, Massachusetts. Crash Bandicoot was the main focus of the Naughty Dog team during its development, so much so that ideas for another game, Al O. Saurus and Dinestein, were thrown out. Sony officially became publisher of the game during March 1995. In April that year the game went Alpha and was officially unveiled to the public in May of 1996 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, where it was well received. [12]
Reception
| Publication | Score | |
|---|---|---|
| Compilations of multiple reviews | ||
Reviews of the game were generally positive, with a 79% average rating on Game Rankings.[15] GameSpot was critical of the game, rating it 6.8 out of 10 calling the gameplay flat, dismissing the game as only slightly above average. Despite this, Crash Bandicoot has remained largely successful, according to positive reviews from other sites.[16] IGN rated the game 7.5 out of 10, praising the game's graphics, though criticizing it for having occasionally sluggish controls and being challenging at times.[14] IGN gave the 2006 PSP port the same score, saying, "Ten years later the Crash phenomenon has died down, but it's quite a testament that the original game still holds up fairly well." Gaming Target too praised the graphics, rating the game 9.3 out of 10.[13]
Legacy
Crash Bandicoot was followed by two direct sequels, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, as well as a kart racing game, Crash Team Racing, all for the PlayStation and all developed by Naughty Dog, with Crash Team Racing the final Crash Bandicoot game developed by the company before moving onto the Jak and Daxter series. [12]After Crash Team Racing, Eurocom developed the final Crash Bandicoot game for the PlayStation, the party game Crash Bash.[17] Since then, the series has had numerous developers and has become a multiplatform series, becoming the sixteenth-highest selling video game franchise of all time, with forty million units sold and growing.
References
- ^ a b "Crash Bandicoot (PlayStation) at GameSpot". GameSpot. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
- ^ a b c d "Crash Bandicoot at GameFAQs". Retrieved 2008-03-23.
- ^ "Crash Bandicoot (for PS3/PSP)". Retrieved 2007-05-28.
- ^ Keys and Gems - Crash Bandicoot Manual. Naughty Dog. 1996.
- ^ Defending yourself - Crash Bandicoot Manual. Naughty Dog. 1996.
- ^ Boxes - Crash Bandicoot Manual. Naughty Dog. 1996.
- ^ Bonus Rounds - Crash Bandicoot Manual. Naughty Dog. 1996.
- ^ Cast of Characters - Crash Bandicoot Manual. Naughty Dog. 1996.
- ^ a b "Crash Bandicoot character sketches". Retrieved 2007-05-28.
- ^ a b c "Setting". Retrieved 2007-06-15.
- ^ a b c d Welcome to the lands down under! - Crash Bandicoot Manual. Naughty Dog. 1996.
- ^ a b "Crash Bandicoot timeline". Retrieved 2007-05-28.
- ^ a b "GameSpot review". Retrieved 2007-05-28.
- ^ a b "IGN review". Retrieved 2007-05-28.
- ^ a b "Gaming Target". Retrieved 2007-05-28.
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help) - ^ a b "Game Rankings". Retrieved 2007-05-28.
- ^ Eurocom Retrieved 2007-07-9
External links
