Have You All Lost Your Minds?

[Kevvy Metal]

Well I'm right at the end of the first game and a lot of the opinion in here is so far wide of the mark and just totally makes me roll eyes. But that's opinion for you. This has been one of the most fun games I've played this year and the ...challenging... nature of the game makes it feel a lot more modern than I had expected. The Super Meat Boy thing is apparent to me. 

[SpagMasterSwift]

Weird to think that Crash was Sonic to a whole generation - no wonder the world is so fucked right now.

[El Spatula]

This topic is pretty much how I feel about Mario game since Mario 3 and possibly SMW.

[Mentazm]

I liked the first game when I was a kid. I'm sure it does not hold up well.

[ScouserInExile]

It's worth pointing out that this Crash mania is nothing new. The originals go for a pretty penny on collectors groups and the like, they're really sought after. 

 

This thread just highlights that we are not the average gaming public. We are gaming snobs, games elitists, "game-os" if you will. We're the gaming equivalent of the beardy bloke who claims any music that isn't a vinyl recording of live Albanian nose flute folk music is mainstream shite. We don't appreciate that most gamers are teh casual and don't like the more serious gaming stuff we do. We are throwbacks to a time when gaming was left to smelly teenagers, locked in their bedrooms with a copy of Monty Mole and a slightly flaccid joystick  We even sneer at FIFA players...

 

So yes, this has outsold "better" games, but its what most people actually want to play, for fun...

[Kevvy Metal]

I agree with the above sentiments. It's also very apparent that by spending all your time as a hyper-critical, impossible to please, armchair designer, videogame-snob then you'll often totally miss the mark and let things that are actually fun completely pass you by. 

I've found this replay of CB1 to be far better paced and well realised in comparison to "cooler" more recent hardcore platformers such as the afor mentioned Super Meat Boy or something like 'splosion man. 

[DC Lemon]

Also worth remembering that the only game to sell more at launch this year is Ghost Recon: Wildlands. Crash isn't our enemy, he's our saviour.

[Sprite Machine]

19 hours ago, Luseth said:

It's nostalgic to non-gamers.

To gamers, too. Crash is pretty bloody hard, man!

 

Back when I was a teenager with free time, I 100%-ed all three of these games. Whether they'd hold up now, I don't know, but I genuinely loved them. Well, maybe not the first one; 2 was my favourite.

[Shimmyhill]

Crash Bandicoot is the definition of all thats wrong in games, terrible character design, terrible levels, terrible mechanics and terrible to play - all in all its terrible.

 

Terrible news that its selling so well, nostalgia is weird when people who must surely know its terrible are saying its quite good - I mean compared to sliding down a razor blade using your balls for brakes it is quite good but compared to even the most mediocre platform its.... terrible. 

 

TERRIBLE 

[Kevvy Metal]

2 minutes ago, Shimmyhill said:

Crash Bandicoot is the definition of all thats wrong in games, terrible character design, terrible levels, terrible mechanics and terrible to play - all in all its terrible.

 

Terrible news that its selling so well, nostalgia is weird when people who must surely know its terrible are saying its quite good - I mean compared to sliding down a razor blade using your balls for brakes it is quite good but compared to even the most mediocre platform its.... terrible. 

 

TERRIBLE 

 

Crash Bandicoot and / or the new remaster are not terrible. They're excellent remasters of excellent platforms that have aged very well. 

Why not try the game, you know.. you might like it.

[Shimmyhill]

1 minute ago, Kevvy Metal said:

 

Crash Bandicoot and / or the new remaster are not terrible. They're excellent remasters of excellent platforms that have aged very well. 

Why not try the game, you know.. you might like it.

 

Because they are terrible, I picked them all up at the time because of the fraudulent reviews an they were terrible games outside of CTR.

 

 

[Kevvy Metal]

3 minutes ago, Shimmyhill said:

 

Because they are terrible, I picked them all up at the time because of the fraudulent reviews an they were terrible games outside of CTR.

 

 

 

How much of them did you play to ascertain that they were terrible? Do you find games with challenge to be frustrating so will drop them when the difficulty rams up?

For me, this is a large part of the appeal of the game. I love the challenge that give the whole thing quite different feel to a lot of modern games. 

[ScouserInExile]

7 minutes ago, Shimmyhill said:

Crash Bandicoot is the definition of all thats wrong in games, terrible character design, terrible levels, terrible mechanics and terrible to play - all in all its terrible.

 

Terrible news that its selling so well, nostalgia is weird when people who must surely know its terrible are saying its quite good - I mean compared to sliding down a razor blade using your balls for brakes it is quite good but compared to even the most mediocre platform its.... terrible. 

 

TERRIBLE 

Hark at Elitey McEliteface here...

[Christopher]

I enjoyed them back in the 90's and enjoying them today in this remaster. Weirdly I'd say they are better games today than they were upon original release. The challenge is fantastic and the simple pick and up play nature is not observed outside of Nintendo and indies, but Shovel Knight, SMB and N++ aside these games are much better than indie offerings.

[wretcherd]

Getting some mixed messages from Shimmy there.

[Petrousgyre]

55 minutes ago, Kevvy Metal said:

I agree with the above sentiments. It's also very apparent that by spending all your time as a hyper-critical, impossible to please, armchair designer, videogame-snob then you'll often totally miss the mark and let things that are actually fun completely pass you by. 

I've found this replay of CB1 to be far better paced and well realised in comparison to "cooler" more recent hardcore platformers such as the afor mentioned Super Meat Boy or something like 'splosion man. 

 

I don't think anyone's suggested that Meat Boy or Sposion Man were anything like the apex of platformers though (although I'd rank them both over Crash). Strange to me that not thinking Crash was a great game would mark you out as joyless husk of a faux gaming critic. It's been some time since I played through them but unless I'm remembering them unfairly I didn't find the trial and error gameplay much fun in the first place. 

[Christopher]

Crash is a terrible character though and quite unlikeable. 

[Clipper]

Crash was never a top tier platformer. On release in 1996 it was compared very unfavourably to Mario64. It was colourfula nd quite fun but the gameplay was very passe even then. Just go search out the reviews of the time, not all were gushing praise. Print mags were kind but even they noted caution, gamespot online gave it 6.8 and IGN a 7.5 so not glowing.

 

I had a PS1 as the time and it was a superb machine with superb games and as usual for any format there was alot of shovelware. To me, Crash was decent enough but nowhere near top tier.

 

PS1 was desperate for a decent platformer, that Crash was one of the best is not the be all and end all

 

(oh the mascot character stuff was embarrasing though- Sony neverr got that right)

[Petrousgyre]

8 minutes ago, suzzopher said:

Crash is a terrible character though and quite unlikeable. 

 

Oh I didn't mind the character - within the setting and the sound design it all hung together quite well. I especially liked the rotating fruit he picked up, the colour gradient from deep red though yellow into electric lime green was very pleasing. I'll freely admit I'm deranged, mind you. 

[DC Lemon]

4 minutes ago, Clipper said:

On release in 1996 it was compared very unfavourably to Mario64.

 

So was every game ever made. In 2017 it is compared favourably to Yooka-Laylee.

[Christopher]

1 minute ago, petrolgirls said:

 

Oh I didn't mind the character - within the setting and the sound design it all hung together quite well. I especially liked the rotating fruit he picked up, the colour gradient from deep red though yellow into this electric lime green was very pleasing. I'll freely admit I'm deranged, mind you. 

 

I like his design visually it's just his wacky ways that are probably best left to the 90's. 

 

[cohen205]

I picked up the remaster on Friday and i'm loving playing through all 3 games again. People are on here saying that the games are rubbish, but if people are enjoying them, then they must be doing something right.

 

I agree that nostalgia does play a big part in this, but a lot of us grew up with Crash. I was lucky enough to get Crash Bandicoot, Tekken 2, and Rage racer for Christmas, and Crash was the game i played the most. I then remember getting Crash 2 another christmas, and it was the perfect sequel. I seem to remember getting a pirate copy of Crash 3 and really liked it, but my favourite is number 2.

 

One thing that i didnt expect is that my 2 children are really into the game aswell, and i think this has made me appreciate it even more. I am reliving my youth by seeing the game through their eyes for the first time, and im loving it.

 

 

 

 

[Sabreman]

59 minutes ago, ScouserInExile said:

This thread just highlights that we are not the average gaming public. We are gaming snobs, games elitists, "game-os" if you will. We're the gaming equivalent of the beardy bloke who claims any music that isn't a vinyl recording of live Albanian nose flute folk music is mainstream shite. We don't appreciate that most gamers are teh casual and don't like the more serious gaming stuff we do. We are throwbacks to a time when gaming was left to smelly teenagers, locked in their bedrooms with a copy of Monty Mole and a slightly flaccid joystick  We even sneer at FIFA players...

 

So yes, this has outsold "better" games, but its what most people actually want to play, for fun...

 

I don't think this is true at all. Yes, we're not the average gaming public - we spend time on a forum largely dedicated to gaming - but we gobble up good mainstream games like anyone else. I'm sure Breath of the Wild will hammer the end of year lists, and we're pretty much all excited for Mario Odyssey. The detractors in this thread just genuinely think the Crash games are pretty crappy and always have been. It being a mainstream success doesn't give it a free pass from criticism.

[Clipper]

2 minutes ago, DC07 said:

 

So was every game ever made. In 2017 it is compared favourably to Yooka-Laylee.

a remastered AAA game is comparing favourably to an average indie game from now?

 

You are right it is a cold stone classic

 

EDIT - The game was noit universally praised in 1996 it was given some pretty average to good reviews. Nostalgia is carrying it, that is fine but let's not get all revisionist about how good it is overall

[BitterToad]

Crash isn't as good as Mario 64. But Mario 64 didn't come out on Playstation, so for a lot of people it was all they had. And with that, yes, comes nostalgia, and there's no doubt that's why this collection has sold as much as it has is down to that. But they're perfectly playable, if totally rock hard, platformers. I like that stuff like this is getting another airing. Nobody would mind if it was Mario or Sonic, just let us Playstation kids have our fun.

[DC Lemon]

44 minutes ago, Clipper said:

a remastered AAA game is comparing favourably to an average indie game from now?

 

You are right it is a cold stone classic

 

EDIT - The game was noit universally praised in 1996 it was given some pretty average to good reviews. Nostalgia is carrying it, that is fine but let's not get all revisionist about how good it is overall

 

All the developers who tried to replicate Mario 64's genius failed. Those pretenders were bad then, they're irrelevant now.

 

A few years later, generally speaking, the most popular levels in Super Mario Sunshine were the void levels. Imagine if Nintendo made an entire game of them. Naughty Dog did. Perfect for speed runs and rage, Crash is the epitome of platforming in 2017.

[gizmo1990]

This is down to nostalgia, pure and simple. I'm positive we're going to see a LOT more of it over the next few years too. The demographic is hungry for it and it's a hell of a lot easier than developing original content. 

[MikeBeaver]

16 hours ago, gossi the dog said:

Talking about Crash Bandicoot. Whatever happened to @MikeBeaver. He purchased 240 copies of the Playstation original as a job lot in a car boot sale and then seemingly disappeared.

 

I'm still here, buried under Crash Bandicoots

 

16 hours ago, Sabreman said:

Sitting on a beach somewhere, clearly.

 

16 hours ago when you posted this, I actually was, back in the bloody office now

[Down by Law]

Aren't Crash Bandicoot 2 and 3 considered much better games that the original? When we discuss the Nathan Drake collection we don't keep harping on about Uncharted 1 do we.

 

When you play through a level of Crash without stopping, timing perfectly every jump, spin and environment dodge, it's a pretty good feeling. As far as platform games go, it's very good.

 

 

 

[Yobo Ahoy]

1 hour ago, Clipper said:

a remastered AAA game is comparing favourably to an average indie game from now?

 

You are right it is a cold stone classic

 

EDIT - The game was noit universally praised in 1996 it was given some pretty average to good reviews. Nostalgia is carrying it, that is fine but let's not get all revisionist about how good it is overall

 

Pretty average reviews (from Wikipedia):

 

EGM 8.3/10

Game Informer 9/10

GamePro 4.5/5

Game Revolution B

IGN 7.5/10

Gaming Target 9.3/10

 

There is some rather revisionist history going on here, it was released in the UK and US before Mario 64 so there was no comparison. Obviously that was a game changer but at the time - and still now, to be honest - Crash was a perfectly playable old-school platformer.