My favorite Crash game, and the one that started the whole franchise for me. Honestly the remake does an amazing job remaking all the levels, assets, and music. Really this a great remake of a great game.

As for the original game though? Well, it certainly has it's flaws, but a lot of that is manageable. From weird perspectives to backtracking to just some really cryptic secrets, Crash 2 is a game with a lot of quirks that kinda go unnoticed once you notice them. Like there are several no death paths that require you to go backward and get boxes you missed because you took a split pathway, sometimes outright fighting the camera perspective in order to make a lot of faith jumps. Then you also have some of the oddest ways to find hidden areas where some levels actually led to other ones, just straight up you could be in world 3 and come out in a world 1 level. We also have a good amount of difficulty spikes throughout the game. While most of the game is a slope of difficulty, some of the levels are just way harder than others. Looking at the level list, I always wondered why the final world is a relieve to me on site, but it turns out nearly all the hard levels are in fact in the 4th world.

For the most part though, a lot of the difficulty is mainly put on 100%-ing the game over actually beating Crash 2. So if you just want to pick up and playthrough Crash 2, it's a fairly manageable experience, and a large reason why a lot of it's flaws can be overridden. While I certainly think this is the best game overall, I completely understand that a lot of these failing points are made better in Crash 3 and how some people actually prefer that game. I will still have nostalgia for figuring out all the cryptic secrets and 100% this game though; as it does truly feel like an accomplishment that satisfies more than it frustrates.

I don't really know what happened here, but... I just didn't like Crash 2. I had low expectations coming from the original, and while I'd find it difficult to say that this is ostensibly the worse game of the two, I found it far more dull than its predecessor, perhaps partially due to how little I engaged with its 100% requirements.

Again, I don't think the Crash world is all that remarkable. You have the same few level aesthetics repeated ad nauseum throughout the game and it somehow feels even more played out this time around. The forests feel like a rehash of Crash 1 while the ice and sewer levels just introduce such dull mechanics that fail to justify their existence. Level design feels even more infuriating in this one, with more tight, awkward to time jumps that never offered a fun challenge. Then you have the gimmick levels which provide some needed diversity, but usually wound up even less fun than the regular levels. While I liked the polar bear sections, the jetpack portions almost put me to sleep.

And there was no satisfaction in beating this one, either. The bosses are overall much worse, with the penultimate one being a drawn out button masher that only provides a mild challenge during the final phase which, if you fail, you have to repeat the tedium all over. I hestiate to blame the game for this as I played on Steam Deck, but a crash that occured during the final blow of this fight put me in a real sour mood. To get the platinum relics in this one, you need to have already beaten the game, as you'll require the running shoes in order to speed through most of the levels. This, on top of awkward gem requirements for certain levels, made the process of collecting everything a chore, something I gave up on after the first world. Maybe I would've enjoyed my time more had these been possible to get on my first trip through the levels, but padding a lot of the completionist runaround into the post-game totally put me off.

I'm not sure I'll ever enjoy Crash Bandicoot. I'm still going to give Warped a shot, and likely even see it to the end, but I'm doubtful it's going to turn me around on this franchise. 4 looks fun, I suppose.

Crash 2 N-Sane is great. The level design still holds up and is just as fun to play as it was in the original.

The jet pack levels are pretty awkward and slow but they're nowhere near as awful as the gimmick levels in 3.

Final boss is very anticlimactic and falls flat on it's face in comparison to the rest of the game, but the overall completion experience is so fun it doesn't matter.

Crash 2 refines the formula from the first game to a pristine shine. The addition of the slide to crash's move set is a game changer in how crash is played as if used smartly chunks of level can be skipped with ease and it increases the tempo crash can be played (body slam is mid). Each new level theme is a winner and returning themes are better than previously with the biggest improvement being the river levels that now promote a speedy playstyle seen with timetrial like gems. The addition of secret exits, death routes and unique gem unlock conditions add depth to levels not present in the original. Three alternate playstyles are included to give variety with the balance still leaning towards traditional platforming levels. These playstyles retain the core games quality with polar in particular being standout. The warp room format allowing players to choose from five levels to play is a neat structure change but loses the first games grand journey feel in exchange. The ost is a bop full of great tracks and is the best in the series. On the more negative nit picky side the boss fights are nothing special with the final boss in particular being poor. The biggest problem with the game is it's uses of back tracking when going for completion as due to the camera angle it can be hard to see what's ahead when going backwards leading to unfair feeling deaths. All in all crash 2 is a textbook example how to do a sequel and for my money is the best platformer in the franchise.

Crash 2 is the one of the original trilogy I was most familiar with going into my first time completion of all of the N-Sane Trilogy remakes, and I rather get the feeling the overfamiliarity of failed playthrough attempts and watching a lot of casual and top level gameplay of this one dulled the edges that the game offers a little too much for me. I can recognise that it's presented way better, is much more player friendly and overall improves the experience in every conceivable way, yet my own pre-exposure to it really lead to it lacking that punch and feeling of trailblazing Crash 1 had about it in my eyes.

It's really a game I'd want to come back to once I've spent enough time away from it and the dust has settled. But weirdly, finishing it for the first time didn't confirm the opinion I thought it would that it's my favourite like I'd been convinced of for so many years, it actually ended up currently slipping down to 3rd place.

Crash Bandicoot 2 es una secuela que sabe muy bien hacer su trabajo: Tomar las buenas ideas del juego original, y pulirlo para superar la entrega anterior.
La bajada en dificultad que tiene este jugo a comparación de la primera entrega es considerable, los niveles no requieren una enorme cantidad de intentos para poder superarse, y lo que es más importante, es en general bastante más divertido de jugar.
La cueva de dificultad es notoria llegando a los últimos niveles, pero no a un punto insano como en el juego anterior (con la excepción del nivel de las abejas, que solo me pude pasar cuando descubrí una forma de matarlas todas a la vez). Me gustó mucho el nivel de las luciérnagas, los niveles de nieve son más entretenidos de lo que esperaba, pero los niveles con el jetpack son super tediosos. Las boss fights van bastante en línea con las del juego anterior, pero hay 2 en concreto de las que me gustaría comentar alguna cosita. La primera es la pelea contra N. Gin, la cual propone una forma de jugar muy diferente al resto del juego, y que sí bien en primera instancia me pareció algo interesante, termina por hacerse súper tediosa debido a los horribles patrones que tiene el jefe para abrir sus puntos débiles, termina por ser un embole absoluto en cada intento. La segunda sería la pelea final contra Cortex, que si en el primer juego ya era bastante mala, en este creo que es incluso peor XD. Realmente es una pelea tan tonta que creí que simplemente era un calentamiento antes de la verdadera batalla final, pero no, es una persecusión tonta que termina sintiéndose incluso más anticlimatica.
Algo de lo que quería hablar también es de la historia, aunque tampoco es que haya mucha historia, pero en este juego pasa algo raro que no termino de entender. ¿Por qué se supone que Crash hace lo que le pide Cortex? Si es el villano a lo largo de todo el primer juego. ¿De dónde sacó Coco las herramientas para hacer un holograma? ¿Cómo supo comunicarse con Crash? Realmente no entiendo por qué hicieron una historia tan incoherente y estúpida, si simplemente alcanzaba con decir "Cortex está de vuelta, hay que ir y patearle el culo" y listo. Además que los hologramas aparecen cada 2 niveles y siempre son aburridisimos de ver.
Con sus fallos y todo, es una secuela que supera ampliamente a su predecesor, que no se vuelve frustrante ni pesado, y que genuinamente puede ser disfrutado a día de hoy sin sentir que es un juego totalmente anticuado y obsoleto.
Por suerte no me tardé 6 años en pasarme este (?

My favorite of the bunch.

It's easier than the first, but that doesn't mean it's automatically a easy platforming game far from it.

It's also much better than the first one in my opinion, but I think the remake kills some of the physics compared to the classics. Dunno what can be but it does feel differet. Call me biased but I liked the old ones.

Outside of that, it's the same original game. Relics added for completionists like me and the dash from Crash Warped. Jetpack level sucks, that's pretty much it.

Be prepared if you want to go for the completionist route, it can be tricky more than the first game. But it ain't that hard if you find something strange in a level and want to explore that single odd thing that can lead you to something you were looking for.

In short, better than the first in almost every way. More variety could've worked but I'm glad it's still keeping the platforming goodness intact.

I think the Crash stages in 3 are the peak of the series gameplay but as far as the best overall game goes, it's gotta be this one. You don't get all the crazy powerups like you do in 3, but the level design is still damn strong and endlessly replayable, and the gimmick levels are either not that bad or kept to a minimum. The absolute worst things in this game are the jetpack stages, of which there are VERY few and aren't even that bad, just a bit boring. Sadly that does include the final boss which is probably the most underwhelming in the trilogy, but Crash 2 is still a great time for 99% of its run.