PRODUCED BY: Vivendi Universal Games (NOTE: It´s a renaming of Ye Olde Universal Interactive Studios; some years later, the "Universal" was going to be omitted and the company was only going to be known as "Vivendi Games")
DEVELOPED BY: Traveller´s Tales
GENRE: Free-roaming action game
PLATFORMS: PlayStation 2 / XBox
YEAR OF RELEASE: 2004
Ah, yes... Three years after TT´s first game, they made another one after Vicarious Visions took off. (Actually, "Twinsanity" was made by a subsidiary of Traveller´s Tales, named Traveller´s Tales Oxford; TT Oxford recently closed.) Being the Crash game with most deleted content, it´s also one of the best. Why? Read to see.
STORY - 9
The story is
the classic case of "A menace even bigger than the main villain plans to
destroy all of existence before the villain can do so, so the regular villain
must team-up with the hero to destroy this force". Three years after the
events of The Wrath of Cortex, Dr. Cortex manages to escape from the ice
block that he was frozen in (unlock the secret ending of WoC to see that)
and arrives at N. Sanity Island. Crash´s younger sister Coco (now
a teenager) is happily playing on the frontyard of the Bandicoots´
house, but then Cortex freezes her with his ray gun. Then, Cortex disguises
himself as Coco and encounters Crash, who is digging holes in the sand.
Cortex says that "there is something weird going on in the bay". Believing
Cortex, Crash follows him, and then Cortex reveals himself. Then, Crash
fights with Cortex and a robot controlled by N. Gin, the Mecha-Bandicoot.
When defeated, the robot collapses and sends Crash and Cortex to a cave.
When they escape from the cave, they find a pair of mutated parrots (who
are later revealed to be from Dr. Cortex) named Victor and Moritz and known
collectively as the Evil Twins, who plan to destroy the Wumpa Islands and
get their revenge on Cortex for sending them to the Tenth Dimension, a
parallel universe where everything is opposite how it is here. Then, Crash
and Cortex must team up to destroy the parrots.
GAMEPLAY - 10!
The game doesn´t
have the "Follow the path" scheme from the previous titles, and you can
play as Crash or Cortex (and with Cortex´s niece, Nina, a little
later), which makes it gigantic. Crash has the same abilities from the
previous games, but the Double Jump and the Super Body Slam are no longer
super powers; you can use them normally. Playing with Cortex can be a little
boring, because he has a TERRIBLE jump (1 crate height) and the ammo of
his ray gun is limited (to get more ammo, break the boxes that have the
ray gun drawn), but the ray gun is one of the most powerful weapons in
the game; holding the Square button (I have the PS2 version) will make
him release a plasma blast, and pressing the L or R button will make him
throw bombs. He also trips, a VERY useless thing. Playing with Nina rocks!
Although she jumps terribly like her uncle, she can spin like Crash and
stretch her bionic arms.
As Crash and Cortex together, you can play the following segments of the game:
HUMILISKATE: Crash
can use Cortex as a skateboard.
ROLLERBRAWL:
You can control Crash and Cortex as they are fighting, covered up by a
cartoony dust clowd.
DOC AMOK: Cortex
is being persecuted by some danger and Crash must clear the path for him.
MUSIC - 1000!!!
Ho Ho! There
are no words to describe "Twinsanity" music. It is made by an a-cappella
band named Spiralmouth, what means that all the music in the game was made
using the human voice, nothing more. My favorite one is the battle with
Cortex/Mecha-Bandicoot. If you want to know more about Spiralmouth, access
their official site: www.spiralmouth.net.
GRAPHICS - 10!
The graphics
are marvelous too! They look like very much like the Disney/Pixar movies
and are considered by reviewers as "a collyrium for the eyes". They are
very colorful and detailed, just like the characters.
FUN FACTOR! -
10!
The dialogue
is very funny, mainly when Moritz (one of the Evil Twins) speaks. Also,
if you collect all the gems in the game (there are no relics), you can
unlock a bonus video showing Crash and Cortex in therapy. (If you are European,
it will show Crash making several funny moves.) But, I have pity for all
the Europeans readings this Review: I´ve heard that the "Twinsanity"
European version is even glitchier than the American one. Poor you!
FINAL NOTE - 9.5
The game is a
refreshment, needed a long time ago. The only bad points of it are the
glitches (as I´ve said, they are more abundant in the European version)
and that it´s extremely short. Also, it would be nice if TT used
at least half of the deleted contents, for example, the "Vice-Versa Reverser
Device" mentioned by Victor at some point. They also had tons of provisory
names: "Evolution", "Fully Fluxed", "A Whole New Dimension" and "Unlimited".
But I think that, in the future, "Evolution" is going to get off of the
sketchboard and become of the most popular Crash games ever made.
BE PREPARED FOR MY NEXT REVIEW: Crash Boom Bang!
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