Super Crash - Wrapped

Description - Super Crash - Wrapped
Crash has come a long way, from mascot hopeful to the hardcore platform fan's hero. His latest game may be largely more of the same that much is true.

Gameplay - Super Crash - Wrapped

Warped is a drop-dead gorgeous game. The textures are impeccable, the animation's top-notch, and the special effects kick some serious booty. It sounds great too (thank heavens for more musical diversity, although I had nothing against Mark Mothersbaugh's score for part two). Play-wise it's the best action-platformer I've played since, well, the last Crash.

On the issue of difficulty, Warped does come up one the easy side. It can be beaten by most experienced players in an afternoon. But it'll take days of play to truly complete the game, finding all of the items, and out-doing each stage's best time. Simple as it may seem, the time trial mode really does a lot to increase the game's longevity.

So what if the game may not offer the most innovation I've ever seen from a sequel? It still brings enough freshness (in the form of its semi free-roaming portions and new play mechanics) and refinement to the table to suit my tastes just fine. Not only that, it's an incredibly fun game.

Warped is very much like Naughty Dog's previous two efforts at its core. Crash still runs, jumps, and spins his way though vertically and horizontally-scrolling 3D environments, classic platforming game style. But it also has its share of improvements. Among these are a wider variety of locales (eight in all, from ancient Egypt to the future), a second playable character, and the closest thing to free-roaming environments we're likely to see in a Crash title; a biplane dogfight and Jetski-style ocean outing are just two. All-in-all, there are more than 35 stages.

There's also a time trial mode where you can compete against your buddies to see who can get through levels faster, plus unlock a secret warp room is you beat the top time in each. Naughty Dog has also taken strides to ensure that Dual Shock feedback and analog control are both supported in this sequel. You've no doubt played one of Crash's first two adventures, but how does his third stack up? Here's the verdict straight from our resident experts.