I feel very conflicted about crash 3. The platforming levels are amazing. By far the best in the entire trilogy. The tiger levels are good too.

Every other gimmick levels are terrible though. They ruin the pace of the game and they're not satisfying to control.

These are probably the best bosses in the original crash trilogy. They're a decent challenge without feeling like they drag on too long. The power ups are cool too and are mostly functional. I rarely used the death tornado spin or double jump since the double jump just feels really awkward and clunky to use. Even when you understand the weird timing to it, it just feels really bad (very happy they fixed it in crash 4).

I usually don't like time trials in platformers, but the platforming levels actually feel like they were designed with this in mind so it's actually pretty fun to do them and doesn't feel like padding to me.

This leaves crash 3 as a game with really high highs and really low lows. Ultimately the whole thing balances out to being extremely average since while I love the actually platforming levels I mostly remember how frustrating everything else was. This ultimately makes crash 3 way less replayable than the first two games for me.

When you get to cut loose and play the traditional Crash Bandicoot platforming stages, this game offers by far the best version of that formula. I'm not a very skilled speedrunner but it feels incredibly satisfying to blaze through the stages at top speed, especially on repeat visits when you've refined your gameplay and your ability to traverse the stage.

Unfortunately there's a lot of gimmick stages in this game, tons of weird vehicles and the usual on rails animal riding levels. They're far from the worst thing ever, but it's a mild disappointment when they're stacked up against some of the best platforming the series has to offer. And it's kind of unfortunate that they break the pace of what is otherwise a super fun game to try and 100%. Also Hot Coco is just ass I'm afraid. That being said it's a testament to how fantastic the normal Crash stages are that none of this really hurts the game.

"You're either a Crash 2 fan or a Crash 3 fan" is the line I've heard parroted over and over again over the years, and for years I would've wholeheartedly answered that I was a Crash 2 fan. Something about a lack of gimmicks and a pure laserfocus on the same kind of gameplay style was comforting to me as a concept after having been burnt by a similar "jack-of-all-trades, master of none" many times before by similar mascot platformers. Crash 3 was always a game I typically avoided based on the pre-assumption that it'd faulter like all the rest do when it's time to "introduce more variety" to the core concept.

So weirdly then after years of having built up this image of Crash 3 in my head as an overbloated, overcooked sequel... it's the one I came away preferring. Engaging storytelling, varied but intriguing level themes, the best soundtrack of the trilogy to tie it all together and the gameplay perfected to boot. It all comes together fantastically here.

I still have my problems with the title that peeved me off at the time such as minor control issues and some of the later powerups feeling unnecessary, but Crash 3 is a fantastic game that I wish I'd played sooner.

As I said when I reviewed those games, both Crash Bandicoot 1 and 2 ended up falling short for me, not terrible games by any means, but they are plagued by problems, both from its original design and the ones that the N'Sane Trilogy spawned. If I had to define Crash Bandicoot in one word, it would be ''mediocre'' and Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, while it did introduce a handful of upgrades both in gameplay and in presentation, it was a rather small step that wasn’t enough to solve the core problems with the original, which were very much still present. Plus, the whacky hitboxes and platform collision only added salt to injury, and resulted in a pair of 3D platformers that, while competent, felt really underwhelming and filled with flaws...

...then Warped entered the room and NOW WE ARE FUCKING TALKING!

Despite all of my problems with the previous two, I kept pushing, 'cause I really wanted to experience the marsupial's first trilogy and I really wanted to like it, but I'll admit that after Crash 2 not being the leap forward I hoped it would be, I went into Warped mentally prepared that maybe it would just be another Crash game, and yeah, I was right, it wasn't a leap forward... but rather a jet propelled jump.

Crash Bandicoot: Warped is still cursed by some of the already existing problems of its brothers, hitboxes are still far from perfect, the fact that in this one it was the least noticeable out of the three doesn't make it less excusable, and sometimes the game has a hard time communicating distances and hou long needs your jump to be (tho sometimes it may be the platform collision messing it up), but as a whole, it really feels like the game is playing on a league of its own.

It takes many of the things introduced in Cortex Strikes Back and ramps them up to eleven: the warp rooms, a little more of focus of in the story department and mini cut-scenes scattered through the game all come back stronger than ever. The set up for this one is well done, introducing the biggest menace yet with Uka Uka, giving Aku Aku finally some personality and in general they manage to feel the stakes somewhat high, which is honestly very surprising and welcomed. Also making the warp-rooms unified and giving the context of being a time machine instead of some random, unknown place like in 2 is a really neat touch and adds a lot to the game's thematic. Also the music is really good once again, tho in my opinion the previous game soundtrack is amazing and a bit better than this one, this game has some absolute bangers, especially with the bosses, Dingodile's theme in particular feels out of this world, it's a freacking bop.

But alright, the perfected the presentation, neat, but where Crash has limped a little has been in the level design department; levels from the previous entries ranged from ''that was neat'' to ''that wasn't really good...'' and my favorite: '' I don't wanna see this level ever again''. So, imagine my surprise when Warped levels turned out to be... fun! Like, really, really fun and well designed, and finally shows how much Naughty Dog had learned from their previous outings. Level use the time travel theme to their fullest potential, creating obstacles and enemies that make senses within the theme at play (dinosaurs, medieval, futuristic,...) and at same time creates really interesting layouts that are really fun to traverse and pose a challenge almost never feels like a chore. It never stops moving, constantly trying new ideas, and while levels of the same theme tend to follow similar beats like the previous game, this time around they ALWAYS introduce something new or put a really interesting and fun spin, for example: the first dino level has a 2-D section and a chase part with a triceratops, and the next dino level does have these things too, but it introduces new enemies, obstacles, and section here you can ride a baby T-Rex, and those small changes make the level feel both like a blast and original. They also vary a lot with new styles of gameplay, I've heard that many people dislike the non-platforming levels but I actually really love them, they control nicely (for the most part, we will get to that) and a really cool way to spice things up and try new things, and honestly I don't think that Crash on an armed airplane would suppose a menace to society but it ended up being extremely fun, so I have very little to complain about.

I liked almost all the levels here, which is a huge contrast with my experiences with the other games... but I'll say this: I have no idea who approved of that level, and it maybe is ebcause of the N'Sane trilogy new controls, but Road Crash is one of the worst levels I've played in a while. It isn't fun, turning is incredibly difficult, if you fuck up once you pretty much lose the entire level and the rest of motorcycles levels aren't even as fucked as that one, so I don't know what happened there.

Anyway, returning to the good stuff: THE BOSS FIGHTS. Holy mother of N.Brio what a glow up. In the past games, bosses were easy, simple and extremely boring, and in this one, they are easy, simple, and extremely fun! They aren't complicated in the slightest, but this time they manage to be really entertaining, they go by fast, and in general are still pretty well designed, and the final boss fight this time around is actually remarkable and cliamtic! Tho I say, I wished they played with the time travel theming a bit more, Tiny Tiger has this really cool boss fight on a Rome Colosseum, with lions included, but the rest just feel like average Crash bosses with not that much of that of the time travel theme on them (except N.Tropy I guess, but I digress). There's also much more build up to them, they are introduced by this little cut-scenes before levels where they talk to Crash and Coco, and it goes a long way in making them more feel like characters, giving them a personality and making you want to take them down. And if ALL of that wasn't enough, when you defeat one you get a power-up! In 1 an 2, bosses were kind of in the way, they appeared, you beat them, and continue with your adventure. This time you get an upgrade to your move set, which once again goes a long way in making this encounters feel more climatic, and the power-ups and incredibly useful and amazing additions to Crash's control, the double-jump in particular being an incredible implementation.

You may be asking at this point why the hell I'm so over enthusiastic, after all this all sounds like basic things that there would be on a competent platformer, and in fact I doubted if giving this game 3'5 stars instead of 4, and it's still possible that I change my mind in the future, so why am I gushing so much about this game? Simple: not only does this finally feel like what these games always strived to be, but also it executes it masterfully, it's a game that is a blast to go through... but I can't imagine it that it can be very fun to complete.

Everything positive I said doesn't change the negatives I already stated, plus the fact that some of the vehicles, like the jet-ski and motorcycle, while fine enough to control on its own, sometimes and when trying to go fast, it's clear that they are anything but precise. I believe this is once again a problem with the N'Sane Trilogy, and that honestly sucks, 'cause it’s another flaw to add what this time around would be an incredibly amazing game.

Warped has become my favorite by a long-shot, I think that fact has been apparent though most the review, and while it still as polished and well-designed as I would have liked, it was a joy to go through and it has finally managed to make me really value the orange rat.

It may still be flawed, but it has a ton of heart... AND DINOSAURS LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

I've been a fan of the Naughty Dog Crash games ever since the PS1 days (I guess that makes me an ancient), so while they're very familiar to me, going through the remakes for the first time made me realise the trajectory that these games took from 1 to 3. For better or worse (mostly better), ND really fished for that casual audience as the series went on! Playing 1, 2 and 3 in such close proximity makes it more readily apparent than ever how insanely easy 3 is compared to the first game.

So yes, Crash Bandicoot: Warped, aka 3, aka the one with much of the challenge removed. This is a pretty easy, breezy affair. Chill bait. The definition of comf. Even the platinum is a relatively stress-free time. This is also the entry where ND went a little too hard in on the gimmicky levels. There's a lot of vehicular stuff going on here, and most of it is passable, but it's not nearly as entertaining as the conventional platforming stuff, and it does make me miss that perfect balance achieved by 2. Still a jolly good time all in all though, and the faithfulness of this remake is testament to how well Warped holds up even all these years later. Just don't go into it expecting it to test your platforming mettle.

Warped is not my favorite PS1 Crash game but it's my favorite in the N. Sane Trilogy remakes. While I have my gripes about the art style and the hit boxes in the first two games, Warped just looks and feels great. It definitely feels like they put the most time and effort into recreating Warped and then went back and retrofitted the other two games on the Warped engine, which unfortunately would explain why NST Crash 1 and 2 feel a little bit "off" to me.

Sadly, Warped is still Warped so I have to dock half a star for all those copious vehicle levels. "Oh yay, another water ski section!" said no one ever. Why did Pura only get two levels but that damn water ski got four? Pura's on the box!

The last Crash game in the trilogy.

It detaches for a bit from the platforming levels replacing it with more variety: underwater, air battles, jetski levels and such. Ain't bad but I do prefer the platforming levels much, much more.

Talking about those levels, they did perfected the level design here giving it a lot of variety with it's 3D and 2D sections. The best platforming levels in the trilogy. More now that we have new powers after defeating bosses.

Again, completionist will be pleased. It derivates from exploration and secrets like in Crash 2 rather than raw ability like in Crash 1. It's a bit more tricky than the second game to get all of the boxes, you may want to see a tutorial if you get stuck or don't know where to find some.

Relics are here as well, this game was made for chasing the best times. Thus, making it the easiest game to go through in that sense. Just, make sure to defeat the final boss before that.

The overall package for me it's very positive. But I can't get the feeling that most of those vehicle sections were forced and don't add much to the main formula. But, it's ok.

V.PS4 - A differenza di molti io questo titolo l'ho digerito a malapena. I controlli di Crash sono migliorati molto e le nuove mosse implementate sono divertentissime da mettere a punto. Il level design è anche migliorato .... quindi che cosa è successo ??? I LIVELLI SUI VEICOLI. Li ho odiati , ogni volta che dovevo salirci sopra pregavo di non doverne più affrontare e invece ne stanno parecchi. Per nulla divertenti da controllare e noiosi sino allo sfinimento. Le prove a tempo poi sono una pugnalata.