The sequel to Crash¹s GBA debut The Huge Adventure (known simply as DX in Europe), Crash Bandicoot 2: N - Tranced introduces all new crates, characters and special moves... but is it enough to bring new life to an aging franchise?
While the Crash series has never really been recognized for its story lines, which are generally created with the sole purpose of introducing a good variety of gameplay, the GBA stories are particularly shallow. Basically, the villains Uka Uka and Dr. N -Tropy have hypnotized Crash’s buddies and forced them to do evil. Crash, with the help of some other friendly marsupials, must defeat the villains, find their hideout, and free his friends from the baddies’ brain washing experiment. Not only is the plot shallow, but it¹s also so convoluted it’s often hard to follow. I just ignored the story and completed the tasks at hand, which luckily are all very clear.
The first level is really more of a tutorial, with your buddy Aku Aku explaining the simple controls and leading you through very standard obstacles. It takes a long time for the game to get reasonably difficult. With the exception of the later levels, it¹s obvious N- Tranced is aimed primarily at kids.
For those unfamiliar with Crash on the Game Boy, most levels are much like the bonus levels in the PSX adventures except with all the traditional enemies and icons. The basic objective in most levels is to collect the purple Crystal and then warp back to base. Crash jumps and spin attacks to kill various baddies and open boxes containing free lives and power ups on his way. Every once in while, Crash must instead face a boss in a single non-scrolling environment. For the most part, the boss battles are very unspectacular, though one of the later battles in which Crash faces his ultimate nemesis: an evil Crash look-alike who mimics his every move, is one of the most ingenious parts of the whole game.
Unfortunately, swinging ropes, flying carpets and lava rafts add little variation to the traditional game style. Even new moves like the self-explanatory double jump can’t break up the monotonous and tired gameplay. To make matters worse, almost every level is repeated many times with only slight variations, and soon will feel all too familiar.
Luckily, developers Vicarious Visions had the sense to add some pseudo 3D stages, which add welcomed variation to the overwhelming numbers of side scrolling levels. Such stages include simple outer space levels in which you, as Crash¹s sister Peach, collect floating icons in a hoop while flying through space, as well as levels featuring Crash wakeboarding. The wakeboarding stages are similar to the space ones, except that you look back on Crash as he avoids various floating obstacles and collects the usual icons while a shark follows in close pursuit. Last of all is a series of levels in which you control various Crash characters as they roll around in a useless ball called an ŒAtlas Sphere for no particular reason while avoiding explosive crates and other obstacles. Unfortunately of these three level types, only the last kept my interest.
On the bright side, Crash has remained very much the same as in his PlayStation titles. It definitely would have been nice to see some genius new ideas in N -Tranced, but especially for those who never played through the PSX titles, Crash Bandicoot 2 on the GBA can still be fun. Most importantly it still uses the same friendly pick up and play mechanics as the PSX games. Within minutes you¹ll be jumping from enemy to enemy like a pro, though Crash always succeeds in looking clumsy and lucky rather than skillful, as all charming characters do. None of the new stages excite or impress, but they still offer a good break from the original (or rather unoriginal) Crash GB gameplay. At least N-Tranced still contains the solid mechanics that made the series famous.
Beautiful lush graphics and smooth animation compliment the game very nicely. Though repetitive, the graphics are colorful, fairly detailed, and easy on the eyes, even if you don’t have an SP or DS. The 3D-like levels are particularly impressive, though on the wake boarding stages crash looks alot sharper than the background, which gives the image a somewhat undimensional look.
The sound quality is good, but the music is forgettable and limited. There¹s only a small handful of songs, though they do evoke that classic Bandicoot feeling.
Crash N -Tranced is forgettable but playable. With few faults, fans of the first who want more of the same should check it out. Otherwise, with so many great platformers to choose from on the GBA, I suggest N-Tranced only to the kids who have never experienced the joys of Crash on the bigger screen.
