Aaron ThomasThe once mighty Crash Bandicoot franchise has fallen on lean times, but Vivendi Universal is looking to get the series back on track with the upcoming Crash Twinsanity, which is due out by Christmas this year. The fact that they are promoting no load times, after the horrendous ones found in the last game, is a step in the right direction. The demo at the show was enjoyable, and while it maintained the feel of the original games, the new gameplay styles were very refreshing.Everyone knows that Crash and Cortex don't like each other, and that fact hasn't changed in Twinsanity. What has changed, however, is that their world is being threatened, and only by teaming up will they be able so save the world so they may live to fight each other another day. The pair work begrudgingly together through a variety of team based puzzles, but ones that are more action oriented than cerebral. Some of the things you'll see are Crash leading a bee-covered Cortex through a level by clearing a path for him, Crash using Cortex as a weapon, and the duo in a ball, navigating a 3D maze whilst fighting the whole time.
The game is almost fully 3D now, and while this is certainly a much-needed step for the franchise, I felt the controls weren't yet up to the task. The flying level was very difficult, and even walking across simple platforms was difficult at times because it was hard to judge your depth. There's plenty of time for the controls to be tweaked, but they did deserve to be mentioned. The good news is that the game has the appeal of the old games, and is just fun to play, plain and simple. Crash's track record hasn't been great as of late, but the new gameplay ideas that Twinsanity is bringing to the table, means things are starting to look up.