this game is bad
Lately, it's a different story. Sony bought up Naughty Dog in the early 2000s, and the development studio then turned it attention to its new Jak and Daxter series. Sony also gave up its exclusivity to future Crash games, and new titles were published through other companies. The title that was just released, Crash Bandicoot: Mind Over Mutant, is being published by Activision Blizzard after a merger with Vivendi Games, and development chores were handled by Radical Entertainment.
Mind Over Mutant takes us through a new adventure, but a lot in this game is similar to what you've seen before. It's a 3-D action/adventure title that in many ways is a pure throwback to the original Crash game, with a colorful, goofy-looking marsupial is still breaking crates for goodies, jumping around changing terrain in classic platform style and tossing out spin attacks at a large collection of bad guys and strange creatures.
Jacking a stunned enemy is a necessary skill.
Here things change a bit with the ability for Crash to stun a large mutant creature and-as the game name implies-take over control of the beast by jumping on its back and "jacking it"…which involves commanding it in where to go and who to attack. The move turns the wacky Crash into a formidable hero, and adds a layer of strategy to the game, as you need to figure out how to best put these awkward partnerships into play for your benefit. It certainly enables you to take on some sizable, more capable foes as you advance through the world, but when the time comes for more delicate maneuvering, you can alternate between Crash and the current mutant that you've "jacked" with a tap on the Right Bumper. If you aren't using the mutant, it can be safely "stored" in your pocket (an interesting thing as most mutants dwarf your character).
The main concept of the game is the collection of gem-like Mojo. The little colored spots are everywhere around each level, and also are earned for defeating creatures and bashing some incidental objects in the world. Successful combat (not taking any hits, while chaining together a series of offensive strikes) is rewarded by increasing your multiplier, which in turn helps you rake in more Mojo. The more Mojo you get, the faster you can earn upgrades for Crash and his cronies, and with the multiplier going up to 20x if you can string together the hits on your opponents, you can really rack up the earnings.
As you pursue the main and secondary missions, you'll find that you're winding your way around a lot of the same places on the map. And with a lot of the Mojo replenishing in the locations where it's been cleared up, there's plenty of opportunity to keep banking your earnings. Your travels also enable you to unlock special items, such as concept art from the making of the game, the cutscene videos you can then watch at any time and a collection of user-submitted Crash-terpieces.
While the gameplay isn't all that inspired, Mind Over Mutant does have incredibly strong voice acting and humorous dialogue that will probably remind you of "Ren & Stimpy" cartoons. It's not surprising, considering that Billy West and Tom Kenny (best known for "Spongebob Squarepants") are among the veteran voice-acting cast used to give the creatures in this strange cast a lot of personality.
For those wishing to take on the gameplay with a friend, Radical added versatile co-op to the game, though only for two participants on the same system. Co-op is fun, but it'd probably be that much better if it supported online users pairing up.