Product Description

Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, the first PS2 addition to the series, delivers the same mix of intuitive gameplay and elaborate adventure that fans have come to expect, with many enhancements and all-new environments and missions. Neo Cortex is back, and he means to rid himself of Crash once and for all. To energise his most diabolical creation to date, Cortex channels the power of the Elementals, a group of renegade masks with the destructive power of Air, Earth, Water and Fire. To stop the Elementals and Cortex's new weapon, Crash or Coco (a fully playable character for the first time) will face five game hubs, 25 dynamic levels and five unique bosses, as well as the appearance of a new character who will rock the Crash world.

You can complete specific levels of the game to play as Crash's fiery sister. Coco will have a wide variety of moves and animations tailored to fit her personality. New free-roam sections will be implemented within certain levels of the game. These sections feature puzzles and hidden areas never before seen in a Crash game. New bosses and mini-bosses offer up a Noah's Ark-sized list of new creatures. The game also has an all-new graphics engine that brings vivid life to environment and characters as never before.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1399 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Sierra
• Released on: 2002-10-11
• Rating: To Be Announced
• Platform: PlayStation2
• Number of items: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Crash Bandicoot is a bargain basement Taz, a capering, rolling-eyed dingo-like creature. Over the few years before his PS2 debut, Crash Bandicoot: the Wrath of Cortex, he's appeared in various PSone titles--usually Mario wannabe platformers, but there've also been blatant Mario Party and Mario Kart rip-offs in the shapes of Crash Bash and Crash Team Racing.

Never less than fun, yet never a realistic contender when compared against the genre-defining Mario 64, Crash has sometimes received a fairly rough ride from the press. With original developers Naughty Dog passing on the chance to produce a PS2 version, Travellers Tales have created this effort, and in terms of gameplay, there's no progression here whatsoever. This is Crash as we know and tolerate him, albeit with fancier lighting effects. All the familiar faces return, including (obviously, given the title) arch-goon Dr Cortex.

And it's great, as it goes. Ignore the on-rails nature of the gameplay and the dismally slow loading times; it's unlikely you'll come across a jauntier, more ridiculous, stupid-brilliant game for some time. As well as the usual platform action, there are mine-cart chases á la Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom, hysterically playable Marble Madness-style levels, secrets, bonuses, vehicles, new moves; all kinds of everything, as Dana might have put it if she were into video games rather than winning the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest. Simple to pick up and play, crammed with outlandish ideas, colourful, loud and a laff riot into the bargain, it would be a hard heart that didn't warm to this old 'coot. --Steve Colton

Manufacturer's Description
Crash Bandicoot's first PlayStation 2 title returns to the stunning blend of platform and action elements of the million-selling PSone games, but uses the PS2's superior technology to create a larger and more interactive game world. As such, Wrath of Cortex finds Crash running, jumping and spinning through over 30 hazard-filled levels, with a host of familiar faces from the long-running series also along for the ride.

Once again the series' villain and Crash's arch nemesis, Dr Cortex, is up to no good--he's planning to use the power of the elements to raise a powerful Elemental Lord to kill our hero. Thus, Crash is thrown into a series of levels themed around Earth, Wind, Fire and Water, and must avoid contact with Cortex's many cronies while collecting bonuses and using whatever comes to hand in order to reach the end of the level.

Amongst the new additions to the PlayStation 2 game is Crash's all-new tiptoe move, while the series' use of vehicles has also been hugely expanded with Crash gaining access to gyrocopters, jeeps and a scooter. Players can also now control Crash's friends, with Coco also stepping into the limelight during the course of the game.

Customer Reviews

Cute fun!
A nice next-gen (well, last gen by now, but never mind) update of the classic Crash Bandicoot series. This instalment is more of the same - cute, brightly coloured, harmless platforming fun. You can pick this game up very cheaply nowadays, and you can't really go wrong.

Pros: Fun for both children and adults, good graphics, large variety of levels.

Cons: Dodgy voice acting (though it is a cartoon I suppose), long loading times.

Great!
This game is fantastic and is lots of fun! There are many new things such as characters and suits. But once again the Crash Bandicoot makers come back with a great platformer! You'll get alot out of it! That's all i can say really.... 10 out of 10!

Have a Smash with Crash!
If you find you have a little extra room for another game in your PS2 library, then this might well be the thing to fill that space. This isn't just Video Game Cement though, it is a good game on it's own. The graphics are most impressive, and the idea of the game - that you have to destroy the 4 elementals coupled with your stronger clone, Crunch - is irresistable! The warp rooms are full of interesting and sometimes very challenging levels. Collecting all the Gems is difficult, and I took a long time on the Air Elemental.
Anything bad about this game?
Yes, but only minor things. I wish the enemies were a bit more reactive instead of just standing in your path, chucking a little grenade at you mechanically. But then again, that's what the enemies in Crash 1&2 do, and they're two of my 10 favourite games. I suppose I wanted something a little more different.
Anyway, moaning aside, this game should be treasured by any Crash fan. But I don't see the quirky marsupial as my ultimate video game character, but i still enjoyed the game very much.
So, Buy this game!!