Review: Crash of the Titans (360)

Is there something about games featuring talking anthropomorphic animals that invariably mean they just aren't that good? Ok, there are the few exceptions, but for the most part the newer generation of Conker, the newer Sonic games, Spyro and so forth aren't exactly what you'd call classics. Crash Bandicoot used to be one of the exceptions during the days of the original Playstation, an excellent contender for the platforming crown when such releases were one of the most important types of games for a system, and when Naughty Dog were developing the games. Unfortunately since Naughty Dog left the reins of the series to other developers, moving onto successful I.P.s such as Jak and Daxter and Uncharted, things haven't been marvellous for the mammal. A string of sub-par platformers and party games have left Crash crushed.

Now Vivendi have handed the reigns to another new developer, Radical Entertainment, creators of decent licensed games such as The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction and The Simpsons Hit and Run, so it could work in theory. Crash of the Titans is the result and while it has some interesting ideas, it ultimately doesn't really take the character back to his glory days.

The story is your standard platformer stuff, evil scientist Dr. Neo Cortex wants to take over the world and Crash has to stop him. Pretty simple, but this time instead of bouncing on crates, spinning into enemies, or running away from giant Polar Bears, Crash uses the strangely autonomous mask character Aku Aku, to enslave the minds of his enemies, a feat that the games calls “jacking.” Jacking works thusly, you beat up the one of the titular “Titans” until its health bar is full (no we haven’t got that the wrong way round), which stuns the creature allowing you to essentially bend I tot your will. There are quite a few different varieties of Titans in the game, but there are four basic types that share similar characteristics and attacks. Once a creature is jacked, you use them to progress through parts of the level that simple platforming won’t allow. Which basically boils down to taking over a certain titan, beating up a load more Titans, or one of the games few non-jackable minions, with it’s special abilities until a certain type appears that allows you to either break down a wall, or hit a bunch of targets to knock down a wall.

Thus, like those walls, the Crash of the Titans premise comes tumbling down as the interesting action soon dissolves into a puddle of dull repetitive challenges. Every single level boils down to travel on foot, or surfboard, for a bit, then beating up bad guys for a few minutes, repeating until you come across either one of the games ridiculous difficulty spikes or bosses, though some times these are the same thing.

Yes, someone at Radical entertainment decided that the perfect thing to put in a game designed for young children were some idiotically frustrating sections that can literally take longer than the levels you traversed to arrive at them. One particular boss took almost 2 hours to beat because of its horrible design. The basic idea was to use the various Titans to beat up the boss until you could jack it to destroy one of three energy pylons. Repeat three times to succeed. Simple in theory, but considering the all of the bosses attacks were unblockable, and the other titans are also attacking you while you try to use your current steed’s abilities to damage the main villain, which takes a ridiculous amount of time. Sheer determination (and luck) will see you through, but should you really be swearing a game which is designed for children?

Wonky difficulty aside, it’s not all bad for the game, graphically the game is somewhat impressive, looking very much like a Saturday morning cartoon with its smooth animation and bright colours. Unfortunately the graphics themselves aren’t very well detailed, making the game look like a PS2 game with HD sheen over it. One pleasant surprise is the drop-in, drop-out co-op mode which lets two players jump and jack to their hearts content, attacking the levels from two fronts, which does go some way to making the game more fun, especially during the aforementioned problematic sections.

Overall Crash of the Titans is an average title that will provide some enjoyment to younger gamers just long enough until something better comes out. And let’s be honest here, it’s not like the 360 is brimming with decent platformer titles. It’s either this or the gonorrhoea that is Sonic the Hedgehog 360...

Rating: 5 / 10

Words by Garry Webber