Travelers Tales tries to take up the mantle of Crash Bandicoot after Naughty Dog's well received first 3 Crash games and does a much worse job due to the use of gimmicky and rehashed game mechanics. Everything in this game feels so phoned in, first being the enemy AI(if you can call it that). Its a sharp downgrade compared to the previous titles, most enemies function on preset commands for their attacks which makes the game quite easy when the only major difficulty arises from the platforming and inaccurate hit-boxes. I cannot tell you how many times I died in this game due to a nitro box or enemy attack nearly touching me but still doing damage, which becomes very frustrating in the later levels. The level design is also a downgrade; most levels focus on platforming but sometimes splice in annoying vehicle sections, some of which ripped directly from Warped(the air plane ones). I guess that's my main problem with this game, it feels like the development team modeled the game completely after Warped. Don't get me wrong Warped is my favorite in the series, but if anything there's definitely a "been there done that" feeling when playing this game. The boss fights are also a disappointment, instead of different interesting bosses Wrath of Cortex would rather you fight the same enemy 5 times with different powers while using the old(more interesting) bosses as easily passable obstacles in the ball rolling levels. In summation ff your a fan of classic PSX Crash Bandicoot you will be in for some disappointment. There is still fun to be had but it seems to me that this is just a case of Naughty Dog being the more competent developers when it comes to Crash.
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
(2001 Video Game)
A very lackluster follow up to a distinguished series
10 June 2015
Warning: Spoilers