This was one of the first games I ever played, after 20 years I finally got around to beating it.. Crash XS was the first attempt to bring Crash to the handheld, and while not perfect, it’s a fun game that does its job well.
Cortex decides to shrink the whole planet, this doesn’t really change anything because everything was shrunk, but Crash must collect 20 crystals and restore the planet.
The structure is the exact same from the original trilogy, there’s gems to collect for breaking boxes in levels and colour gems allowing you to find new routes in older stages.
There is quite a bit of backtracking to get 100% here, but the game is pretty short so I didn’t mind too much.
The game doesn’t really do anything new, except a new take on jet pack levels, it’s a safe game with a bit of swimming, bit of flying, but mostly 2D Crash gameplay.
The control is good but not perfect, it’s a little unresponsive, but this only really matters during the returning time trials.
XS doesn’t do much beyond that, there’s only a few stage themes, but generally level design brought satisfying platforming the series is known for. It’s aged graphically, though it does look better on original hardware. The music is mostly just Remixed Crash 2 music, but it works.
Crash XS is a fine game, but when the original games are so easily available, I feel it has less significance - still glad to finally beat it - 7/10
Cortex decides to shrink the whole planet, this doesn’t really change anything because everything was shrunk, but Crash must collect 20 crystals and restore the planet.
The structure is the exact same from the original trilogy, there’s gems to collect for breaking boxes in levels and colour gems allowing you to find new routes in older stages.
There is quite a bit of backtracking to get 100% here, but the game is pretty short so I didn’t mind too much.
The game doesn’t really do anything new, except a new take on jet pack levels, it’s a safe game with a bit of swimming, bit of flying, but mostly 2D Crash gameplay.
The control is good but not perfect, it’s a little unresponsive, but this only really matters during the returning time trials.
XS doesn’t do much beyond that, there’s only a few stage themes, but generally level design brought satisfying platforming the series is known for. It’s aged graphically, though it does look better on original hardware. The music is mostly just Remixed Crash 2 music, but it works.
Crash XS is a fine game, but when the original games are so easily available, I feel it has less significance - still glad to finally beat it - 7/10