Back in 1996, I would have given this a 9, since it was the first 3D platformer I ever played (IT'S TECHNICALLY 3D ALRIGHT? FUCK OFF WITH YOUR PEDANTRY!) and it was such a technical leap forward from all the 2D platformers I was accustomed to that there was no way it wouldn't leave a huge impression on me. Playing it nowadays though, the very first Crash Bandicoot has two glaring flaws - it's diabolically hard and the save system is bullshit. Yes, it's no secret that Crash Bandicoot is a difficult game. There are memes that it's the Dark Souls of platformers. That's not true though because CB is way harder than any Souls game I've ever played. Platformers in general were unforgiving back in that era so kid me just kinda accepted it, but now? There's no defending how crushing and downright unfair some of those later-game levels are. And of course this is all exacerbated by an archaic save system that only lets you save your progress once every four levels. Not a problem now if you're playing it via an emulator with save states, but play it as originally intended and it's a maddeningly unnecessary handicap forced upon the player that can't be overlooked.

But still, the fundamentals are solid. More than solid. It's a great platformer at its core, but it just happens to be undone somewhat by some arbitrarily punishing game design.

This is the exact moment the Splinter Cell franchise fell from grace. After a pretty impressive winning streak from the first game to Pandora Tomorrow to Chaos Theory, it all went to pot with this casualised entry that scrapped the fantastic stealth mechanics of CT in favour of something more watered down and streamlined. An increase in production values and a more cinematic approach to espionage wasn't worth the trade off.

Play the OG Xbox/PS2 version of Double Agent instead - it's a very different game to this and it's ace.

Not as many people know this as I would like, but the Xbox/PS2/GameCube version of Double Agent is a very different game to the 360/PS3 version. It plays similarly to Chaos Theory, but separates itself from that game by having a far more dramatic story underpinning all the stealthy antics. Whether you consider this is a good thing or not is down to preference I guess, since a lot of die-hard SC fans don't exactly play these games in the hopes of finding an engaging narrative, but I was personally invested enough that I liked the emphasis on storytelling this time around. In fact, this is the only story-centric Splinter Cell entry I've played that I actually liked. Double Agent PS360 and Conviction were bobbins.

A game this good shouldn't be forgotten about.