Crash Twinsanity

Back in the days of the Playstation, the Crash Bandicoot series was a reasonable action-platformer alternative to Nintendo’s Super Mario. Not anymore. Crash Twinsanity is a 3D action-platformer game along the lines of Mario Sunshine, Ratchet & Clank, and Whiplash, but it doesn’t play nearly as well. It attempts to stand out by giving you several playable characters, but it doesn’t add anything new to the genre. Crash Twinsanity simply can’t stand up to the top platformers we have now.

The Story So Far ...

The story starts off in typical Crash Bandicoot fashion with the evil Dr. Neo Cortex planning to destroy Crash. In a nice twist, his plan goes horribly wrong and he is defeated in the very first level. Suddenly, a set of twins from the 10th dimension rushes in and announces their plans to destroy Crash and steal Cortex’s brain. Crash and Cortex then decide to team up in order to get rid of their mutual enemies.

What makes the story sequences and really the whole game stand out is just how funny it is. There is a lot of physical comedy that will appeal to the kiddies, but there are also a ton of jokes that will have adults laughing out loud. They joke about the disappointing sales of the last Crash game among other things and it is all really well put together and surprisingly funny.

Gameplay: Quantity over Quality

The gameplay in Twinsanity attempts to stand out by giving you different characters to use through the game. You will control Crash by himself, Crash and Cortex together, and Cortex’s niece Nina by herself. There are also sequences where you play as the individual characters as they are being chased. All of these character combinations give you different moves you can use. Crash’s sections are more straightforward platforming sections. The Crash and Cortex sections let Crash swing Cortex like a hammer so they can break down obstacles and attack enemies. Crash can also throw Cortex over wide gaps so Cortex can hit switches. There are also sections where Crash and Cortex fight and they turn into a cartoonish ball of dust and flying fists. You have to roll them through chutes and tunnels and try to avoid hazards. In another section, Crash uses Cortex as a makeshift snowboard. Nina Cortex’s sections are similar to Crash’s, but she has cybernetic hands that allow her to attack enemies from afar as well as grab onto special rings throughout the levels.

Vanilla Through and Through

Having several different types of gameplay like this goes a long way towards easing any feelings of repetitiveness. You are constantly being switched between different characters and gameplay styles so the game manages to feel fresh all the way through. The game is fairly solid, but it isn’t really any different from the other 3D platforming games out there. Twinsanity doesn’t do anything to stand out from the pack, so if you have played any other platformer, particular buddy games such as Banjo-Kazooie or Jak and Daxter, there isn’t really any reason to play Crash Twinsanity.