Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex is a solid platformer to buy after you finish Shine Getting.
The Crash Bandicoot series, once Sony's unofficial flagship mascot, has traded hands, and now is developed by Universal Interactive. While this installment doesn't seem as enthralling and creative as former episodes developed by Naughty Dog, it definitely has a shot at making you hooked until you finish it.
Crash's new adventure is a lot like his last 3: in fact, I don't really see any changes to the formula. There's a bland, poorly designed hub world, which connects to 5 subworlds with 6 levels each. Many of these levels are very easy, all of them are "on rails", and few will pose a challenge to any seasoned gamer. Therefore, you can most likely beat this game in one or two sittings. After you finish it up, you can always try to go back and smash all the crates and run through a time trial, though these "extended gameplay" additions seem somewhat contrived at this point.
WOC won't win any awards in graphics or audio, but it won't go down as a mess, either. The graphics hold their own, and actually look slightly improved over their PS2 counterparts, though there sometimes is a good deal of slowdown. The audio in Crash hasn't evolved a bit in the past, and this latest installment does little to change that trend. Still, the entire experience as a whole is enhanced due to the removal of the obscene loading times that plagued the PS2 version.
Crash Bandicoot is, well, Crash Bandicoot. Either you like this kind of gameplay, or you don't. Still, in a time when games are almost demanded to be 3D, Crash is a refreshing, if not completely original, change of pace.
-George
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