Crash Bandicoot X/S (GBA)

The gameplay's classic Crash, mainly involving running, jumping and spinning through 2-D platform levels, with the odd bit of scuba-diving and jetpacking thrown in and occasional towards-the-screen bear-avoiding escapades. There are four lots of five levels; in order to face each section's boss and collect a swanky power-up you'll only need to get to the end of each level and collect a pink crystal, but to finish the game completely each level must be completed at least twice, once with all the boxes being collected and once beating a pre-set speed. There are also hidden bits of certain levels that can only be unlocked by collecting coloured gems hidden in other levels.

As ever, there's no shortage of extra lives to pick up, and there are mid-level checkpoints and protective voodoo masks to collect, all of which prevent too much repetition, and you can save onto the cartridge after every level. The graphics and sound are great--Crash fans will be surprised at how smooth the transition from home console to handheld has been--and the gameplay is as polished and addictive as ever. All this adds up to another worthy hit for Crash; the GBA is a perfect new home for him. --Rikki Price

But hek was I wrong the moves are the same as the other sequels the graphics are pretty good but it does seem a bit fake. The levels are a lot harder, it can get very frustrating, but if you overcome that bit of frustration the game will become challenging and fun.

Then only reason why I gave this game a 4 star is due to the fact it only took me a day to complete and the graphics were a bit Tacky.

I suggest you buy this game, its a great laughe.


Addictive   May 6, 2002
Ben Williams (St.Albans England)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful

When you first start playing this game, you notice good smooth graphics with well crafted levels and good gameplay. There are variety of enemies each of which have to be killed in a different way. At first levels seem quite hard but it doesn't take long before you're doing them with perfection. However this leads to its only downside. The game is a little short. I don't play on my gameboy much yet I still managed to complete 30% in one weekend and a bank holiday.
But that weekend was full of fun. The game is just generally fun to play and it has an addiction in which you find yourself reaching for your gameboy at all times during the day. The biggest plus side is that you can't reaaly get annoyed much even if you find yourself falling of a cliff in a rather surprising death. Overall its good fun but could do with more than 20 levels and 4 bosses. If you persevere with braking every crate in the game it would be quite worthwhile but these things do get slightly boring.


Overcome frustration, and this is a great game!   April 23, 2002
CJ (UK)
14 out of 17 found this review helpful

I was quite amazed that Crash Bandicoot was coming to the GBA as one outstanding feature of the Crash series has always been the graphics and sound, which I was not sure the GBA could manage.

On that score, I was wrong. The GameBoy Advance produces some excellent graphics and sound here, complete with the traditional 'Crash running into/out of the screen' moments and all the familiar animations and enemies. The range of moves is also pretty much present.

There are 20 levels, fleshed out with collecting crystals, gems and relics (through time trials), so there is a lot of game going here.

That is, if you can overcome the problems of Crash Bandicoot XS. First up, it can be teeth-clenchingly difficult and just plain unfair. There are leaps of faith galore (where you are forced to jump having no idea what you are going to land on) which frequently involve you dying so you know what to do next time, some overly pixel-perfect jumping and some dodgy collision detection with enemies. OK, all platformers require precision, but the problem here is one hit kills most times so constantly repeating sections leads to the odd close-to-throwing-your-GBA moment.

This is all compunded by some suspect controls. Too often the jump button does not seem to work in time and you fall. Carrying out double-jumps and getting your spins right can be difficult. Sometimes control is far too sluggish and you die largely though no fault of your own. This is extremely frustrating when you are trying to grab every crate or whatever.

Frankly, Naughty Dog's decision to pass on the Crash franchise to other developers is not a good one for gamers. Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of Cortex was disappointing on PS2 and in many respects it's the same here. The polished, fun feel of the original games is just not there.

BUT, it is still one of the best platformers on the GBA (especially if you are not a Mario fan) and you find yourself wanting to play through the difficulties so the game is doing something right. Worth buying, just try to keep calm!