PixlBit

Crash 1 was good. 2 was great. Warped is one of the best platformers ever made. It's a lot like the NES Mega Man games in a way, while it didn't quite make the leap in quality 2 did, the improvements it did make were for the better, where the game felt just right. It was also the first game I ever got really excited for, I knew by the end of Crash 2 that Dr Cortex wasn't finished, otherwise they would have shown them. And when I saw what to expect in the commercials, I was stoked. Dinosaurs, motorcycles, dogfights, it just felt like Naughty Dog knew what I thought was awesome and stuck it in the game.

The game did not disappoint one bit. I played more of Warped than any other game after it was released, and I didn't even own it. The thing I appreciated the most, even as a kid, was how they really improved the diversity of levels. Very seldom were two of the same level in one area and when they were, the game added a lot of diversity to make them feel really different. For instance, in N-Gin's set of levels, there's two Egypt levels. One is a standard level, but the other has long areas where water was always rising and you had to jump onto something to keep you alfoat until it went back down. 

Even the diverse levels made sure they felt different. While 1 was content to make boulder chasing and boar riding in jungles while 2 had bear riding and boulder chasing in snow, areas which existed without these gimmicks, But in Warped you were running away from dinosaurs and riding a tiger cub across the Great Wall of China. It even added Coco for the really different levels such as jet ski and tiger riding.

The diversity was not just in areas either, but in what you were doing. In addition to the afformentioned tiger riding and jet ski, the game would have you scuba dive (with some of the best underwater controls by the way), race a motorcycle, and get in dogfights. The diversity wasn't just in taking a break from the platforming either, as there were many levels that sought to do something different, such as the water level in Egypt I mentioned above.

The game spread out the variety perfectly, I never dreaded getting away from the platforming but the platforming never got stale either. It was perfect, which was helped by letting you select the levels in order. The upgrades received by bosses added even more variety, as the new tricks such as the double jump were incorporated well into new areas, making there always be something new to master.

The best of these were the speed shoes, which opened up the time trial modes. Playing these years later are what convinced me just how brilliant the game was. Not only is it designed so that the platforming is challenging taking your time and getting past every obstacles, but it's designed so getting to the end of the level as fast as you can works equally well. Adding time trials was like the game almost doubling the amount of levels. The non-platforming ones weren't that changed, but I'll stand by my opinion that Crash's time trial mode is a better Sonic than any 3D Sonic.

The bosses were also head and shoulders better than the others. While 1 and 2 had a dud or two in their boss rosters, Tiny the Tiger, Dingodile (half dingo/half crocodile and he has a flamethrower. Awesome), timelord N-Tropy, scientist with a missile in his head N-Gin, and of course Dr. Cortex with his own evil version of Aku Aku, Uka Uka.

Crash Bandicoot Warped is a game that will never bore me. It will always be one of my favorite games and I'll be replaying it until the day I die. I can't think of anyone I wouldn't recommend this game to, it's fantastic in every way and controls better than any other 3D game on the PS1.