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Beauty treatment for a nasty character

Before I begin this review, I have a confession to make. It will surprise many of you, perhaps even change the narrative of history, but for the sake of this text it is imperative that I state this cruel truth: I, Mattis May, god gamer and video game almanac with excellent taste in music, have never owned a (stationary) console. There, word is out. The dirty truth. I'm part of the PC master race. But with only one TV in the house, on which Navy CIS, CSI, Mc Leod's Daughters, Judging Amy, 7th Heaven, Tatort ("Crime Scene") and, when my brother and I got hold of the remote control, various Star Trek-iterations were on in constant rotation, there was simply no room for Playstation and such So to enjoy exclusive titles like Jak & Daxter, Tony Hawk and even Crash Bandicoot I had to visit my friends who had a Playstation - my regards go out to Paul and Richard. And for this reason I am also predestined for a neutral, objective look at the corpus delicti: the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy.

The evidence

With the N. Sane Trilogy handelt es sich um ein Remaster der ersten drei Teile der Crash-Bandicoot-Reihe für die Playstation 1, die von Naughty Dog entwickelt wurden: Crash Bandicoot von 1996, Cortex Strikes Back (1997) und Warped (1998). Thema ist der namensgebende Beuteldachs Crash, der seinen Erschaffer, den bösen Doktor Neo Cortex, aufhalten muss. Mehr Infos braucht man für die eigentlichen Story nicht, denn mehr gibt es auch kaum. Die Geschichte ist ebenso gradlinig wie das Spielprinzip, das sich vom ersten bis zum letzten Teil nur gering weiterentwickelt. Das Spiel konzentriert sich viel eher aufs Gameplay, was mit Blick auf die tausende von Open-World-Story-Blockbuster da draußen eine willkommene Abwechslung darstellt.

The Crash Bandicoot-series is Jump 'N' Run par excellence, in both positive and negative ways - more on this later. The goal is always the same: reach the end of the level and collect all the crates. In addition, diamonds are hidden in the later installments and, for the very hardcore, each game contains an alternative ending if you complete each level without dying once. That sounds easier than expected, because the games are one thing above all else: hard as hell.

The suspects

The remake comes from Vicarious Visions, who have recently made a name for themselves as masters of the remake. Most recently, they released the highly acclaimed remaster of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 , and the upcoming Diablo II: Resurrected also looks set to be a faithful remake of the 2000 hack 'n' slay. The N. Sane Trilogy is in no way inferior to this promise of quality. The gaudy art style, the reworked animations and the lovingly and faithfully recreated levels effortlessly transport the now over 25-year-old games into the present and show the nostalgia-dimmed eyes of fans a direct comparison of how ugly the games were back then.

From a purely technical point of view, there is nothing to criticize the game for, as it is an exact general overhaul of the originals from back then. Great graphics, great sound design and sensible adjustments - restoration work doesn't get any better than this. And three games in one? On paper, that sounds like a guarantee for many hours of fun. My playthrough took me a good 20 hours, but not all of it was pure bliss. After all, not everything that was entertaining 25 years ago has to be fun today. For example, rather than playing it, today I would at best drink Hugo ; only freaks collect CDs, and you don't really hear about Bill Cosby anymore either. And unfortunately, as good as the games may look, they haven't aged well.

The reasoning

It starts with the story. As already described, it is very simple: As the result of a failed experiment, Crash becomes a super bandicoot and escapes from Neo Cortex's lab. But now he has to go back to save his girlfriend Tawna, who Cortex also wants to brainwash into his henchman. Period. That's it, nothing more. Crash now has to jump across several islands, at the end of which there is always a boss enemy. Who are they? No idea. Why one of them is a dog in a straitjacket? No clue. Why Tawna is waiting for us at the end of each of the hidden bonus levels, only to be snatched away at the last second by Cortex on a glider? Nothing. And why does Crash have a little sister with whom we can also play the levels, which has zero effect on the gameplay? Well go to Wikipedia, I'm sure it will be explained there.

It doesn't help that the stories of the games are seamlessly linked. Thus we defeat Cortex in the first installment - oops, spoiler! - so that he falls into a cave full of crystals and comes up with the idea of subjugating the world using their abilities. Cut to a year later, he has completed his space station, but the crystals are still on Earth. He has no henchmen either, which is why he contacts Crash and asks him to fetch the crystals for him - which he naturally does in his good faith. You don't have to understand this, but the story is just a placeholder anyway, so that you can jump through all kinds of different scenarios.

None of this would be a problem if the game was entertaining in its main discipline, the gameplay. And in my opinion, it doesn't do that for most of the time. The actual gameplay is quickly learned, and even if more facets are added from game to game, it always remains the same. Jump on crates, jump over chasms, jump on enemies or avoid them. It doesn't help that the levels are often very similar. But what is fun in Super Mario and the like, leads to imprecise jumps and unintentional deaths here thanks to 3D optics. And there is nothing more frustrating than virtually biting the dust due to external influences - lag sends its regards. And when you reach the end of the level and instead of receiving a reward, you are condemned to watch Crash as the crates you missed for whatever reason come crashing down on him, you almost don't feel like playing the next section.

Now, of course, you could say that the feeling of success must be all the greater if you manage to collect everything and, in the best case scenario, even play through the level without dying. But no, in this case there is a little dance from Crash and a note in the level selection. And the knowledge that you would have to perform such a miracle for each level in order to benefit from this waste of life.

That sounds more harsh than I would wish, but that's basically what it is. The title comes from a time when it was still about the fascination of games, which is inherent in human beings. The homo ludens who enjoyed this new form of gaming, Jump 'N' Run in 3D! Wow, look at the possibilities! That may have been a selling point back then and nostalgics will accuse me of heresy. But due to the lack of reward mechanics, such as those in Dark Souls, which is also challenging with its level of difficulty, the games are simply not much fun - and that's what it should be about.

The verdict

I was looking forward to the N. Sane Trilogy to a little blast from the past, to simple gameplay based on simple game principles. And it was great to see this experiment, this reinvention of a game that I would have done anything to play 25 years ago. I would probably have had countless hours of fun with it and played every level to 100%. But I had to realize that this is no longer fulfilling for me today without a reason.

One reason would be nostalgia, another a timeless game concept. Both are missing in Crash Bandicoot and take away my desire for the 4th part, which I actually wanted to play. And it scares me. Scares me of remakes of games that I would like to play again. Be it the remastered Mass Effect-trilogy or a possible Kotor-remake. So many things can go wrong.

But conversely, the Tony Hawk-remake supposedly shows that a timeless classic can still work today. And that people with enough nostalgia will also enthusiastically play Crash Bandicoot . That's why I can understand the fascination, but unfortunately I can't share it and can only advise everyone to think carefully about whether they still find Bill Cosby funny today.