Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (PS1, 1997)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-7 Control-7 Challenge-7.5/9* Story-5.5
Level Design-7 Frustration-8/9.5* Fun-7/5.5* Originality-4
Overall Score-7
*going for 100%
+
Four new moves (high jump (r1 or circle+jump), mid-air lunge/body slam (also makes you jump slightly higher and hit boxes at the same height as Crash), slide (MM-style, can be canceled) - faster than running and you can jump in mid-air after sliding off of a ledge like in DKC however the timing on it is a lot tighter here, crawl)
Mario-inspired gameplay (block switches, springs, hit boxes from below to get items, level paths that appear after collecting a certain item in another part of the world, etc.; the space chase tunnel scene is basically ripped from Earthworm Jim as well)
Save feature (four slots here, in-between levels and you don't have to collect anything to save here, shows collecting stats and number of lives)
Can exit any level at any point and replay beaten ones
Better variation (temporary vehicles and animal rides (sometimes time limited; motor-driven surf board which can boost and jump off of ramps, ),
Some creative level design (can sort of dig in one level to avoid the bees there - lets you still attack while being protected from the bees but not from the hammer guys or bombs, jet pack levels - basically a 3D on rails version of the ones from Battletoads GB except without a time limit)
Mid-level checkpoints (sometimes more; they do seem to save your box opening progress here)
Enemies can still be bounced into objects or other enemies behind them
Temporary invincibility power up (collect three masks)
Some alternate paths through levels (pretty rare though and they make 100% more tedious with boxes placed in both paths - see below)
Pretty good use of color overall and improved overall animation (death animations return)
Many hidden boxes and one hidden room/world (the levels here tie into previous ones though)
Exploding box puzzles
Some good (komodo joe & moe) and some decent bosses (ripper roo, tiny, n.gine - 3 phases)
One alternate ending if you 100% the game (decent) - the regular ending kinda sucks
+/-
Partially non-linear (choose between 5 levels at a time on each floor/in each warp room of the hub area)
Extra lives system (easy to rack up lives but also easy to lose them)
Can't control the camera (the auto angles aren't always the best (especially when moving backwards in a level) and Crash easily ends up off screen if you stray just a bit from the path),
Die in one hit in the animal ride levels
Can't carry any alternate power ups (vehicles or animal rides) with you to other levels
Can't body slam after a dashing jump or a high jump
The masks/extra HP are somewhat rare
Mostly straightforward and linear levels
Can't jump on regular boxes without destroying them (could've been used to reach new places however you now have the high jump and can bounce on certain enemies)
Fairly steep difficulty curve
DKC-inspired setting (tropical islands with some sci-fi elements)
Spinning into items makes them fly off screen
Charge/cooldown timer on your attacks was changed (now have to wait for about .3 seconds before you can spin again between each attack)
You still loose slope momentum from jumping? - didn't notice here
Crash never talks during cutscenes
-
The nighttime levels (would've been fine if the firefly didn't suddenly move ahead several times so that you can't see anything when there are pits and other hazards around)
Sometimes glitchy hit detection for the lowest boxes in bonus rounds (Crash won't always bounce off of and destroy a box when you land on it)
The frustrating backwards/out of the screen segments return (boulder & bear chase levels, trial & error+difficulty spikes)
Some points of no return in levels (can't revisit a beaten bonus segment either if you missed a box) and you still can't switch the camera view when moving backwards in one - this combined with branching paths in some levels (in some you are teleported back to where you were - should've been done in each level that has them)+not being able to restart from any reached checkpoint in a beaten level+the game not saving your collecting progress for a finished level either makes getting 100% completion much more tedious
Still can't view how many boxes you had left to find and open on a level when in a hub room or during a level
Some control issues (so-so mid-air control after jumping or bouncing on a spring or box, can't hold slide to keep sliding through a longer narrow space nor can you start sliding again while in crawling position, annoyingly unresponsive and floaty controls when on ice, no analog support (the controller was released about 8 months before this game), lose momentum after sliding unless you also jump, some delay after lunging/body slamming, somewhat hard to judge distances on the z-plane - still can't pan the camera upwards)
No difficulty options
Somewhat bland bonus rounds (just a different location like in SMB1)
Still kind of generic art direction overall (some nice backgrounds though)
Most levels still don't flow as well as in Mario/DKC/Sonic
Tedious to collect all boxes in some segments (bouncing on ones with multiple apples to make them break for example)
Sometimes unforgiving hit detection/physics (exploding boxes reach a bit farther than it looks like, some larger enemies and hazards)
Lots of pits and death traps
Some trial & error (some gem and alternate route (death route) locations, the high jump isn't explained in-game - see the manual, the dodge while climbing ceilings isn't explained (circle button to pull yourself upwards a bit), sliding on top of a TNT (countdown to explode) box makes it blow up - wtf?, finding where a box was spawned by hitting a !-block in some levels, can't make enemies respawn without dying?, see camera angles, in some levels you can end up missing the crystal (required to progress in the hub area) from taking an alternate path and not being able to backtrack for it - there' also backtracking into a minefield of nitro boxes in this level if you went and grabbed the gem, some invisible walls (ruins level for example), some boss patterns (space chase vs Cortex due to there being pop-up on the obstacles for some reason, N.gine's second phase - also a bit tedious since you can't damage it quickly))
Douchy main character (does a pelvic thrust dance after collecting gems and beating bosses)
Fairly stereotypical tribal theme with mostly forgettable music
Some plot oddities (why is Cortex's rival trying to stop you from collecting the crystals while at the same time wanting you to collect all gems (100% boxes in a level=1 gem)?, if you get the bad ending you don't even hear from this rival guy before or during the ending)
Can still be eaten by plants while invincible? - didn't notice
Unskippable credits
Bugs:
-Invisible holes at the end of the second boulder chase level on both sides of the path
-Sometimes glitchy hit detection near platform edges (got completely stuck in a platform in a ruins level once)
Level Design-7 Frustration-8/9.5* Fun-7/5.5* Originality-4
Overall Score-7
*going for 100%
+
Four new moves (high jump (r1 or circle+jump), mid-air lunge/body slam (also makes you jump slightly higher and hit boxes at the same height as Crash), slide (MM-style, can be canceled) - faster than running and you can jump in mid-air after sliding off of a ledge like in DKC however the timing on it is a lot tighter here, crawl)
Mario-inspired gameplay (block switches, springs, hit boxes from below to get items, level paths that appear after collecting a certain item in another part of the world, etc.; the space chase tunnel scene is basically ripped from Earthworm Jim as well)
Save feature (four slots here, in-between levels and you don't have to collect anything to save here, shows collecting stats and number of lives)
Can exit any level at any point and replay beaten ones
Better variation (temporary vehicles and animal rides (sometimes time limited; motor-driven surf board which can boost and jump off of ramps, ),
Some creative level design (can sort of dig in one level to avoid the bees there - lets you still attack while being protected from the bees but not from the hammer guys or bombs, jet pack levels - basically a 3D on rails version of the ones from Battletoads GB except without a time limit)
Mid-level checkpoints (sometimes more; they do seem to save your box opening progress here)
Enemies can still be bounced into objects or other enemies behind them
Temporary invincibility power up (collect three masks)
Some alternate paths through levels (pretty rare though and they make 100% more tedious with boxes placed in both paths - see below)
Pretty good use of color overall and improved overall animation (death animations return)
Many hidden boxes and one hidden room/world (the levels here tie into previous ones though)
Exploding box puzzles
Some good (komodo joe & moe) and some decent bosses (ripper roo, tiny, n.gine - 3 phases)
One alternate ending if you 100% the game (decent) - the regular ending kinda sucks
+/-
Partially non-linear (choose between 5 levels at a time on each floor/in each warp room of the hub area)
Extra lives system (easy to rack up lives but also easy to lose them)
Can't control the camera (the auto angles aren't always the best (especially when moving backwards in a level) and Crash easily ends up off screen if you stray just a bit from the path),
Die in one hit in the animal ride levels
Can't carry any alternate power ups (vehicles or animal rides) with you to other levels
Can't body slam after a dashing jump or a high jump
The masks/extra HP are somewhat rare
Mostly straightforward and linear levels
Can't jump on regular boxes without destroying them (could've been used to reach new places however you now have the high jump and can bounce on certain enemies)
Fairly steep difficulty curve
DKC-inspired setting (tropical islands with some sci-fi elements)
Spinning into items makes them fly off screen
Charge/cooldown timer on your attacks was changed (now have to wait for about .3 seconds before you can spin again between each attack)
You still loose slope momentum from jumping? - didn't notice here
Crash never talks during cutscenes
-
The nighttime levels (would've been fine if the firefly didn't suddenly move ahead several times so that you can't see anything when there are pits and other hazards around)
Sometimes glitchy hit detection for the lowest boxes in bonus rounds (Crash won't always bounce off of and destroy a box when you land on it)
The frustrating backwards/out of the screen segments return (boulder & bear chase levels, trial & error+difficulty spikes)
Some points of no return in levels (can't revisit a beaten bonus segment either if you missed a box) and you still can't switch the camera view when moving backwards in one - this combined with branching paths in some levels (in some you are teleported back to where you were - should've been done in each level that has them)+not being able to restart from any reached checkpoint in a beaten level+the game not saving your collecting progress for a finished level either makes getting 100% completion much more tedious
Still can't view how many boxes you had left to find and open on a level when in a hub room or during a level
Some control issues (so-so mid-air control after jumping or bouncing on a spring or box, can't hold slide to keep sliding through a longer narrow space nor can you start sliding again while in crawling position, annoyingly unresponsive and floaty controls when on ice, no analog support (the controller was released about 8 months before this game), lose momentum after sliding unless you also jump, some delay after lunging/body slamming, somewhat hard to judge distances on the z-plane - still can't pan the camera upwards)
No difficulty options
Somewhat bland bonus rounds (just a different location like in SMB1)
Still kind of generic art direction overall (some nice backgrounds though)
Most levels still don't flow as well as in Mario/DKC/Sonic
Tedious to collect all boxes in some segments (bouncing on ones with multiple apples to make them break for example)
Sometimes unforgiving hit detection/physics (exploding boxes reach a bit farther than it looks like, some larger enemies and hazards)
Lots of pits and death traps
Some trial & error (some gem and alternate route (death route) locations, the high jump isn't explained in-game - see the manual, the dodge while climbing ceilings isn't explained (circle button to pull yourself upwards a bit), sliding on top of a TNT (countdown to explode) box makes it blow up - wtf?, finding where a box was spawned by hitting a !-block in some levels, can't make enemies respawn without dying?, see camera angles, in some levels you can end up missing the crystal (required to progress in the hub area) from taking an alternate path and not being able to backtrack for it - there' also backtracking into a minefield of nitro boxes in this level if you went and grabbed the gem, some invisible walls (ruins level for example), some boss patterns (space chase vs Cortex due to there being pop-up on the obstacles for some reason, N.gine's second phase - also a bit tedious since you can't damage it quickly))
Douchy main character (does a pelvic thrust dance after collecting gems and beating bosses)
Fairly stereotypical tribal theme with mostly forgettable music
Some plot oddities (why is Cortex's rival trying to stop you from collecting the crystals while at the same time wanting you to collect all gems (100% boxes in a level=1 gem)?, if you get the bad ending you don't even hear from this rival guy before or during the ending)
Can still be eaten by plants while invincible? - didn't notice
Unskippable credits
Bugs:
-Invisible holes at the end of the second boulder chase level on both sides of the path
-Sometimes glitchy hit detection near platform edges (got completely stuck in a platform in a ruins level once)