Crash Bandicoot was a name that once meant something in the game industry. Super Mario 64 had recently set the standard for 3D platformers, and the Bandicoot was one of the first rivals to nearly usurp the reigning champion. A couple of decent sequels emerged, but the franchise eventually became stagnant. A few years have passed, and Crash has finally returned in a game developed with the Wii in mind. How does it fare?

Read on for our full review.

Crash of the Titans isn’t bad by any means, just painfully average. In fact, it feels just like a 3D platformer from the N64 era. You’ll run around, beat down countless hoards of enemies, jump on platforms, and collect endless doodads. At least the new gimmick that Radical added is pretty cool. By stunning big baddies, called “Titans,” you can take over their bodies and use them to smash your foes. There is a decent number of enemies to “jack,” and their special moves can be pretty fun. The problem is that you will spend the entire game doing exactly two things with those Titans -– smashing large objects and stunning bigger enemies. Repeating the same formula over and over again gets a bit stale.

Radical did a great job with the controls. Each of the Titans has a special motion-based attack. The monkey-scorpion will beat its chest and smash into the ground. One Titan can lift spikes out of the ground. These special motion attacks are fairly responsive and do add some fun to the game. I would definitely see a kid having a blast performing them. Not being able to control the camera is a problem at times. It’s hard to attack enemies that you can’t see because they are out of your field-of-view.

Although Radical supposedly spent time on making sure that the Wii version’s graphics were up to snuff, it doesn’t really show in the final product. The framerate is extremely smooth, but it still looks like an Xbox game. However, the art direction does make up for the graphical weakness. The enemy designs are fairly creative. In fact, a few of them are downright cool looking. The main characters are all still annoying talking animals, but this is a game aimed at children. Children love their “edgy” talking animals. Like the enemies, the levels themselves are colorful and decently varied. You’ll spend a lot of time doing the same thing over and over again, but at least the backdrops are different.

We won’t spend a lot of time dwelling on the storyline. It would take a PhD in literature to unravel the intricate plot. Alright, I’m just being smarmy. The storyline is fairly standard Saturday morning fare. Crash’s enemies have teamed up to crush the Bandicoot’s home island. They’ve also kidnapped his sister and frozen their strange bacon-scented cyborg animal friend. Crash and Aku Aku have to give chase and stop the Cortexes, Uka Uka, and their millions of minions. The story is told through a series of short cutscenes. The voice acting is competent for the most part. Nina Cortex, however, makes me want to claw my poor ears out.

Crash of the Titans is a fairly short game, coming in at around seven hours if you focus on just completing the levels. Perfectionists will have plenty to keep them busy here. Each of the game’s twenty levels has a ton of stuff to collect and goals to achieve, including concept art and new character skins. Those disappointed by the difficulty will find a real challenge in the hard mode.

As I said before, Crash of the Titans is a solid game that is just a little too average. There are some cool ideas lurking just below the surface. Radical should take the “jacking” concept and the control scheme and spend a little more time crafting the sequel. As it is, it doesn’t really feel like their heart was in the project, we ended up with half of a game. Unless you have children or really dig platformers, I’d give this a rental.

Score:

(Add a point if you have kids)