Same here even as a kid I notice some of it’s issues (Coco was horrible to play as for example) but it was never as bad as nostalgia blinded people say
You have the same feelings to woc as mine with MoM, both hated but we love them cuz it's what introduced us to crash (and the entirety of console gaming for me)
“Game killed Crash bandicoot” Ah yes The wrath of cortex,when the game came out it was the best selling Crash game of 2002. Broke records for the series in terms of sales when it released on GameCube and Xbox. Got rereleased in 2005 in a bundle with Crasg nitro kart on Xbox’s family platinum hits..one of the few Xbox games you could buy on 360 store. Plus this game was noimated at Kids choice awards in 2001. This game didn’t kill Crash at all lmao. Game was very successful and people loved it..critics and purists hated on it but they’re clearly the minority. Casuals still remember and love this game.
Yeah to be honest, there was no specific game that “killed” crash to speak (or more accurately, put it on the back burner.) it was mostly thanks to publisher decisions, be it over saturation with yearly releases, or phasing out mascot series in favor of broadening accessibility to more mature genres like fps games to the broader public, since that’s where the money ways. (& let’s be honest: Sonic has put out far, far worse games than even the more controversial Crash titles (or the rare bad title like Crash Boom Bang on the DS), yet that franchise still endears and is still going relatively strong, so some games just have a special resilience I guess.
I think the main problem people have with the Wrath of Cortex was that it was basically a lesser Crash 3, and the first three games were such a tough act to follow. That, and the long loading times on the initial release. I'm in the middle on this. It's definitely not as bad as some people say, but at the same time, playing this just kind of makes me want to play Crash 3 instead.
Loading times come from Universal not being able to use the PS1 trilogy's load technique created by Andy Gavin at Naughty Dog. He patented this technique and it got used for Jak and Daxter. Wrath loads entire stages into memory at once before they start.
I speedrun this game, and I’ve been defending it from blind haters for years at this point on my livestreams. A lot of the points you made are things I typically bring up as well when discussing TWoC, such as the vehicle/underwater level ratio and the fact that nothing in the game is fundamentally bad, just different. Thanks for that, it’s very reassuring. This was my first ever Crash game (got it back in 2002 when I was only 5), and after a few years I eventually got my hands on all the classic PS1/2 games, and I never look down on any of them. Every single Crash game has something about them to love, and TWoC being the way it is, is almost like a test to find out what you value in a Crash game. Me personally, I’ve always vibed with the general atmosphere of the levels, quality voice acting, the soundtrack, and yes, even those infamous black label PS2 loading screens. Over the years, I’ve grown attached to the game in ways I’ve never even thought possible through speedruns, analyzing beta ROMs, and other general trivia that have enlightened me to how much this game has to give. It’s without a doubt the most interesting Crash game outside of Crash 1.
I somehow vividly remember Crash 2 and 3, but had no memory of Wrath of Cortex despite having also owned it...at least until I saw the ball levels. I do remember those, and not in a good way, but I don't remember hating the game as a whole. Unrelated, I'm glad to see where your channel is now, I remember binging your early videos about 3 years ago and thinking "these are so well edited and funny, why doesn't he have more subscribers?" So it's really cool to see your subscriber count in the thousands. That's awesome, congrats!
I began replaying Wrath of Cortex recently and I honestly love the ball levels more than I remember when I was a kid. They’re really fun to try and get the platinum relic on too, and I never go for those.
I think it’s because to me for some reason. Wrath of cortex just feels like a ps2 iteration of crash 3. Very similar feel, honestly the first time I played it as a kid I could hardly tell the difference.
As someone who grew up playing the original trilogy, there are times when I wish that Naughty Dog still had the rights to the series. Even so, I love Wrath of Cortex. Yes, some of the writing wasn't perfect, the visuals weren't exactly the 6th Gen's finest, and it was very repetitive of Warped. However, Warped was a great game, so why mess with perfection?
I liked WOC as well!! I grew up with this game!! Thank you for making this video to give the game credit where credit is due while also pointing out both positives and negatives!! People give this game more hate than it deserves, I feel like at least...
I'm not sure I entirely agree with the idea that Wrath of Cortex killed the franchise, but it definitely stagnated the series as we then got Crash Nitro Kart which was a lesser CTR, along with the GBA titles. Crash Twinsanity imo was a step in the right direction in terms of innovation, borrowing the more open approach of Jak and Daxter, but Crash of the Titans is where the franchise truly died if you ask me. I remember seeing the previews for it as a teenager and being like "look how they massacred my boy" Regardless, this was a great video dude! Wrath of Cortex still has some charm to it and you raised a good point about it's commitment to level variety! 🙂
I also remember seeing the Titans redesign for the first time as a child, and having that exact same reaction lol. I didn't even see any ads, I just saw it on the shelf at a game store one day and instantly knew the bandicoot was cooked.
Titans games were my favorite Crash games as a kid. Like y'all glorify the first trilogy a bit TOO MUCH. Like let's be real, those games were equally mid.
@@kawaiimika7974 the titans games do not belong in the same franchise as the originals. The main reason anyone who grew up with a PS1 found them insulting is that the developers thought these were a good way to follow up the series. It's honestly the same argument i make about Paper Mario. Sticker star and Color splash may or may not be fun on their own, i don't wanna have that debate, but they do not belong in the same franchise as 64 and ttyd, and are not an acceptable substitute
My childhood friend was introduced to crash through me and my PS1 but he had to move far away and he didn't have a PS1 or knew that it was backwards compatible. I learned about the wrath of Cortex from him because at the time he told me about it and showed me the case on Skype, years later I got to try the game for myself and I think it's okay, but gasp, sometimes I prefer to play it over Warped 😆 anyways, that's my comment.
I just wish the game felt better to play. I think the thing that held the game back was how weirdly stiff the mechanics felt to engage with. Banging soundtrack honestly
I have fond memories of Wrath of Cortex though I never was able to beat it. I always thought the second Crunch fight was too hard, I think I only ever barely got to the third warp room. Lots of level themes that I’m seeing for the first time in this video. I want to revisit it now. It’s funny, all these years later I’m about to 106% Crash 4, the game people say is the hardest, and yet I found WoC most difficult lolll. I’ve got all the N Sanely Perfect runs in 4, got all the flashback tapes, and I’vr got over half the platinum time trial relics, the other half I got gold in.
The hate for WOC is one of the most ridiculous crap I've ever seen online, and it makes it seem like the haters are not really fans of OG Crash when they praise games like Twinsanity for just been different despite it being a lot worse than WOC in quality, being unfinished, plus a huge deviation from what Crash is about. The hate never makes sense and always feels unwarranted. I wanna blame the big youtubers who started the hate bandwagon for it.
It's not really hate, but indifference. WOC lives non the shadow of It's older and better brother Crash 3 Warped. Most of WOC content It's a copycat of Crash 3 but worse and that's why most prefer Twinsanity over that.
@@TornaderX It is hate when there are several big youtubers being overly negative towards it when it's not even bad, which causes more negativity in the forms of people obsessively telling others that it's bad, sucks, or the weakest in the series cause you know the haters are always the loudest online. If it was indifference then people wouldn't be so dramatic about how bad they think it is and just acknowledge that it was average & rushed due to publisher meddling, and acknowledge that the game has good as well as bad in it, but no people prefer to trash it as much as possible when it's objectively better made than Twinsanity which they don't want to share the same energy with. I still see people being confuse on the game's negativity when they thought the game was simply a fine continuation of the OG gameplay that even the haters claim they love in the originals. People are overly nitpicky and harsh towards WOC.
@@TornaderX It's crazy that people claim Warped is the best or they love it so much, yet treat WOC worse than Twinsanity which is not only majorly unfinished, buggy, badly designed but very untraditional to what people claim to love the originals for plus started the trend of more unnatural changes to happen to the series. WOC may be subpar but to say it's worse than the unfinished and worse made Crash game(Twinsanity) that took lots of liberties that the series got mocked for makes me think they're not really fans of OG Crash. The irony is that they complain that WOC copies Warped, but don't share that same energy to Warped literally copying Crash 2 but just making it bigger. Another irony was people liking Twinsanity only cause it's different, but hate the titans games for that exact same reason just to say it's too different from the originals, yet give WOC a hard time for being too similar to the originals. Yea this fanbase is crazy and hypocritical.
Its not my go to Crash game but I still enjoy it I often use Wrath of Cortex's ost as background music in my own videos They're always handy and always a great listen
I agree, this game is overhated for no reason. I'm not saying that it doesn't have it's flaws but, I can guarantee that if you liked 3, you'll like this one. If I have to criticize one thing is that, at least in the PS2 version, the loading times were pretty awful.
This video is prolly the most r/crashbandicoot take of all time: -No, Wrath of Cortex is not good. Your revisionism will not be accepted -Crash 4 is hard but it’s not unfair. Hate using the term ‘skill issue’ but here it’s definitely appropriate. It’s easily the best Crash game in the series, warts and all
1-collecting wumpas and lives was fun and important in the original. Crash 4 made that optional which kinda make collecting them pointless (i know there is a gem for 3 death max but still lame). 2-breaking all the boxes were fun and needed for the gems. Crash 4 made that worse by literally hiding at least 1 box in every level. Boxes are no longer fun like they used to be. You will most likely miss 1 in every level. 3-levels are waaay too long for the relic. It make no sense. 4-people complained that the 4 and wrath has too many vehicles when crash 4 force you to play 4 different characters! Oh and lets not talk about playing with cortex… 😤😤😤. 5-lame power up for time trial. When time trials introduced in crash3, they gave you a shoes power up to boost your spd. Even WOC still have the same power up! But in crash 4 they decided thats spinning 3 times to get sod boost is better 🙂. Its crash bandicoot not love live ffs! Also, the spinning power up im 100% sure it was inspired by players from crash 3 remake where players were using coco with spinning to get more spd. They thought it would be cool to add that as power up 😒. 6-they had the nerve to call it a sequel when all they did is introduce time travel and multiple + make a game that doesn’t resemble the original and is more of spin off like twinsanity. Dont get me, i know things change and people might enjoy it. But it doesn’t resemble the original at all. Calling it 4 is bad. Should have been cradh bandicoot its about time 1. And then make its about time 2.
As a kid I played Wrath of Cortex so damn much!! I understand it’s many flaws but it definitely doesn’t deserve to go in the same category as the later crash games
Great video! I definitely agree! This game is definitely solid. I've 100% completed it like three times and I enjoy it just as much as the original trilogy. Yes, it has its flaws, but I think it gets way too much flak for no reason. It is also in my top 10 video game soundtracks of all time. The music is incredibly good! Honestly, I'd rather replay this game for the umpteenth time than Crash 4 since the pacing just feels better. My only real gripe is that I'm not a huge fan of some of the vehicles (like the car or submarine), but they're not dealbreakers of my enjoyment. Honestly, I wish Toys For Bob would remake this game on modern hardware. Add some graphical polish, maybe a new level or two, smooth out the controls...just as long as they keep the soundtrack intact!
Wrath of Cortex was my first PS2 Game. I love playing Wrath of Cortex even though it’s not my favourite. I think Wrath of Cortex has too many vehicle levels but I like the game nonetheless. My Favourite will always be Crash Twinsanity. Crash Twinsanity is an Unfinished Masterpiece that doesn’t get enough love ❤️ The game has it’s flaws but that is what makes me love the game even more. Crash Twinsanity had so much potential considering how rushed the game was with a lot of cut content and the OST is Beautiful ❤️
This game will always be one of my favourites and i kept that opinion before and after the criticisms, also the music is so FUCKIN GOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDD, great review btw, absolutely agree with all your points.
I was very young during the Crash Boom, but all I can remember from the original trilogy was all of the cool animal-riding stages from Warped. Especially with the success of Crash Team Racing, I'm not surprised they leaned into more vehicles.
I really like Twinsanity despite it being a very different Crash game - still a very fun one to play imo. And I also like Crash 4 and I think the developers did a wonderful job in many aspects. But I think you summarised my feelings of WOC really well when you said that Wrath of Cortex understands what made completing the past games over and over so fun. I love Crash 4 but many times I'd prefer to replay WOC and get all the gems. Great video!
I would definitely say this is the game that "killed" Crash Bandicoot. But it was still a good game. It was the first game that wasn't great (with the exception of Crash Bash), but it was probably the last game that was good or average (Twinsanity can be argued but I've never played it).
Wrath of Cortex was my second Crash game after the original and i loved it. It came with my ps2 and i played it alot. I feel like it is overhated and many of the issues people had (besides load times and overly open levels) weren't an issue to me. Even the gimmick levels were enjoyable to me. I do see some people thinking its too easy compared to older games.
Kinda sounds like Wrath of Cortex has the same issue that Sonic Superstars has (for me, at least): it's fine, but playing it just makes me want to play its predecessor (Crash 3 / Sonic 3&K) instead.
I personally hated Wrath of Cortex, even considering all the good points you brought up, but I’m glad you find a lot to appreciate about it. I also don’t like Crash Bandicoot that much anymore admittedly, and I grew up with the PS1 trilogy. I just don’t find them very interesting compared to a majority of 3D platformers, so a game that followed the same formula as closely as possible like Wrath of Cortex really doesn’t do much for me.
First of all, I find it fascinating that you have Wrath on GameCube. I never noticed that it came out on that console. Anyway, I just bought an original Xbox earlier this week and I've been playing some Driver and Gauntlet. I have a few more games coming in the mail and YES, WoC is one of them. Should be here this weekend. It definitely isn't my favorite of the first few (Cortex Strikes Back is my PIPING cup o' tea). I was obsessed with the trilogy when I was a kid and I remember being super stoked when Wrath came out. So my parents eventually bought it, I tried it and I had a lot of really memorable fun with actually. I can't wait to play it dude, just a couple more days. I will say this, they could make an entire entry that was JUST the Bamboozled rolly ball mechanic and I would totally buy it. Me and my little sister thought that was the coolest thing ever. I loved the rolly ball levels. So yeah, I've always lumped all of those games together. Like, "The first four" is how I regard them. I will admit that the graphical PS2 style just felt really off. Not in a bad way but just in the sense of like... feeling unfamiliar. So I have the N. Sane trilogy and Wrath is near so I'm happy to own them. It's really refreshing that you didn't just piss all over this game like everyone else does. I agree with you, it's super underrated and even more misunderstood. Good video. 👍🏼 P.S. I'm getting Twinsanity too. I don't even care what people say, I liked it. lol
Happy I'm not the only one who this was their first Crash game xD it's not perfect of course but I really enjoyed it as a kid and it was my first introduction to Crash so I'm happy I played it ❤ I still feel really nostalgic about it and even if the game kinda struggles in some places I always find myself going back to the OST at the very least! There's so many good tracks!
Ball stages were the only good vehicle levels in this. In Crash 3 PS1 at least all vehicles control well. It comes down to whether or not you get excited for the bike levels. I do, a lot don't. The boat levels don't excite me and are the only ones that kinda feel like a drag since they take a few minutes. Plane levels are 1-2 minutes which is fine. I like to skip getting the relic on the warp 4 boat level and instead do the secret dinosaur 2D platforming section which isn't considered a separate level, but still gives a gem and relic that can easily be done together even platinum. Then you get an extra relic that can replace the need to do a normal level relic to unlock secret warp room levels.
It is honestly my main issue with the game. If they put a "press button to do x" on screen with every new vehicle, perhaps in an unused corner, it would help this game a lot
Yes the hate is deserved. As a huge fan of the series back then it just felt… off. Graphics were weird and it felt weird. And then loading times were horrible. I still have nightmares of him falling down an endless well.
Crash 4 about time is much better than wrath of cortex. The 100% requirement is egregious, some of the side characters are not for me (especially the half crash half side character redo levels), and not every mask power is equally fun, but the core level design is so good with a tight moveset, excellent difficulty level (if you play with the infinite lives your first time) and a generally higher volume of high quality content. That said i enjoyed wrath of cortex when it came out, the bosses are some of the best in the franchise, the orb levels are great, and it looks like a crash game. Its just too easy, clunky, and littered with junk to be as good as even the most recent crash 4. In my opinion most of the vehicles in the game really do suck, but i didnt like planes in 3 either. Orb levels and the car chase levels are exceptions to this.
Hopefully Crash Team Rumble didn't cause too much damage.. From the moment that game was announced, it made me fear that another Crash winter would come.
Well we know Crash 5 was cancelled now, and there's been the whole Microsoft merger... so I'm not too hopeful for the future of the series lol. Would love to be proven wrong though!
@@TailsGamer290What are you smoking? IAT has the best controls, level design and bosses in the series. WoC is imprecise and sloppy and is bogged down by way too many vehicles.
I remember getting the wrath of cortex alongside twinsanity and tag team racing, I thought the game storywise was okay but the graphics were very ps1'sh but regardless I think it's still a little bit of an improvement compared to the previous titles that came before it, I remember having a good time with it, however I never finished it I was stuck on the crunch boss fight water elemental wawa, that level was so broken because the platform always sunk pretty quick which gave me little to no time at all to react, wawa's water projectiles were ridiculously hard to avoid, I love it's soundtrack
No Spyro EtD is literally an unfinished product lol. Say what you want about WoC, but it matches the original trilogy in content and is basically finished, if not just a bit rushed. Spyro EtD ran horribly, had frequent game-breaking glitches and crashes, and is only one world long.
I completely agree eith your critcisms of the old trilogy the only great game in the trilogy is crash 1 due to its variety i think crash 2 has the best gameplay and good level design but the repeating themes hold it back a bit. Crash 3 imo is the most boring out of the trilogy barely any on foot levels wrath of cortex might even be better than crash 3. I think crash 2 is my favorite but i think objectively crash 1 is the best
Here's the actual problem of TWOC: 1. The year was 2001, 3D platformers were coming out all the time since the mid 90s and Crash games or any other higher quality 3D platformer always found a way to make itself stand out. TWOC not only didn't stand out but in some ways, it played worse (very floaty controls) and looked worse than Crash 3 despite having more polygons. I mean just look at that intro cutscene at the beach, the background looks like it was made in MS Paint. 2. 1 month later, Jak & Daxter The Precursor Legacy comes out and it stomps TWoC with no mercy, arguably one of the best 3D platformers ever made and people naturally stopped caring about Crash. Everyone wanted to see Jak 2 and beyond. This is why after TWoC the Crash sales went to the gutter, especially when Ratchet and Sly showed up as well to further bury Crash and Spyro. This is like saying GTA 3 would have been good if it stayed 2D and played the same. People expected a natural evolution from a beloved AAA IP on it's start up on the new console. It was a generational leap and all we got was the same but more janky. Twinsanity was supposed to be the generational leap but TT messed around too much sadly. Of course if you remove the context entirely, TWOC is a decent game, there is nothing particularly wrong about it. It all comes down to the timing
All people talk about the virgin psx trilogy, while the giga chads sits in the corner: crash 2 n tranced, crash wrath of cortex and crash of the titans (ds version only).
As someone that ignores the masses and makes up my own mind. Wrath of Cortex was to my mind a continuation of the gameplay formula that I enjoyed on the PS1 with Crash Twinsanity being the last good Crash game before the remake and 4 came out. The Original Xbox version of Wrath of Cortex especially is significantly better visually than the ps2 or Gamecube versions of the game. Gamecube port was considered the worse port of the game I think and even then it's still a good title on the platform. (I would check out the Xbox port if you have the time, it's worth a look they added extra details to Crash Bandicoots Fur that is not in the other versions of the game))
The graphics are kind of bad for ps2 and its floatier and you go slower on the monkey bars. I dont even think the floatyness is a bad thing this game is easily a 7.5 out of 10 its pretty great.
This is the only Crash Bandicoot game I've ever played, YEARS after it came out, and apart from the water boss, I don't recall finding anything particularly weird or bad about this game (Oh nevermind I just remembered some levels have bad perspective/depths, making you die for stupid reasons.). It confirmed what I thought deep down: I just am NOT interested in Crash Bandicoot, as a character, game, or franchise. But it wasn't bad by any means IMHO, and I still replay it from time to time when I'm bored out of my mind...
I actually like WoC more than Warped. Warped may have a less number of vehicles, but we play the jet ski and damn racing ones 4 times and they take the whole level. Woc we have platforming, vehicle, and then a hybrid of both. So if we don't like said vehicle we can breath a sigh of relief as we won't have to control it again. We control the car twice, A full race and the other in a mostly platforming level. The other two races are in the minecart and Heli-Pack which are much better than the car. With the submarine we play in it 3 times but only for a part of the levels. Two are the underwater levels, where we spend half the time in the sub and the other half as Crash, and the other is the opening to level 10, where we spend most of the time on foot.
i currently play the first game of the n.sane trilogy for the first time and honestly, if the original version was completely the same, except for graphics of course, i, as a video game hero myself, don't understand the appeal or how this franchise ever made it this far at all, there's barely any story and not much personality to it, it is just super difficult platform gaming 🤷♂️🤷♂️
Even though it doesnt reeeeeally matter, its n. Sane that crash 2 and 3, despite being from a previous generation, look nicer, cleaner, and smoother in terms of graphics and animation
More peeps are gradually sharing this sentiment, myself included. I wanted to like it more, but I can’t help shake this feeling of shallowness or superficiality around it. Lacks staying power.
Definitely agree with you. I personally think they shouldn’t have the right to call it crash 4. At most it should be counted as a side game kinda like ctr or crash bash or twinsanity.
I've always enjoyed this game and I'm really glad that I'm not the only one who thinks so. It's not a perfect game by any means, but I enjoyed the majority of it and it's a game I've replayed many times.
Also ps2 version has the most complete soundtrack. Due to recording issue xbox and gamecube are missing the unique Medieval madness track. It's replaced with Gauntlet music in said versions.
Wrath of Cortex is definitely not a bad game, but I am gonna have to disagree on it being better than what comes after it. the thing is, yes, all other Crash games have flaws, but at least a lot of them have more bearable flaws to me, or at least make up for it one way or another. for example, Twinsanity is broken and doesn't have tight platforming or gems or relics, but it makes up for it by fun graphics, whether environment or character design, great writing and peak comedy, variety in levels and boses and a massive collection of cameos that feel like a love letter to the entire franchise, not to mention Cortex and Nina being playable. Crash 4 is ridiculously difficult to complete, but everything else about the game is great, level variety and level design are awesome, the game looks fantastic, the game has enough variety with different playable characters and Flashback levels, and it doesn't overstay its welcome with vehicles like Crash 3 did. the GBA games are definitely not as fun as Wrath of Cortex but that's just my general dislike for GBA, and I admit it does its best given the limitations of GBA. even Nitro Kart, which is basically CTR but worse, at least gave us great character designs and just a generally lively story mode and new world and characters to explore. CTTR is definitely worse than Wrath of Cortex though, and I won't argue about Titans, I love them, but I can see why people hate them so fair enough. anyway, yes, Wrath of Cortex is mechanically not bad, but the more subtle things make the difference for me. the game just feels a bit boring and lifeless to play. the super boring monkey bars and underwater sections, every single boss being just Crunch and the other villains are just atlasphere levels obstacles, the cutscenes being so unmemorable, the vortex mini-cutscenes (where characters appear before you enter the level) that are supposed to give us characterization just involves the Elementals saying one short line of dialogue that's either a bad jok or a generic threat (compare them to Crash 3 and see the difference), the incredibly long loading times, the lighting being darker and gloomier for a franchise you'd expect to be colorful and lively, the useless sneaky shoes powerup, the vehicles being very uninteresting. so with all these flaws, at least there should be something to make the game worth playing. but no, it's just Crash 3, it doesn't try to do anything significantly new. the story is nothing special, the characters are barely characterized, the character models are basically a downgrade, the collectibles and number of levels are the exact same, the formula is the same, the powerups are the same (except sneaky shoes), they even went as far to use only Crash 3 characters, like they didn't even throw in like Brio or Pinstripe in the "league of villains who are really only atlasphere obstacles). like it doesn't feel there is any reason to want to play this game other than the music and the environment of some of the levels, and I guess if you are burnt out on Crash 3 and want something else similar. so overall, yes, it sticks to the formula to the T, but maybe that's not too good of a thing, I'd rather a game try to do something new but execute it somewhat well rather than just copycatting what comes before it and executing it poorly, giving it no reason to exist. I am not saying it's a terrible game, I'd give it 5/10, but it just isn't exciting to play, out of all the Crash console games, this is the one I feel like coming back to the least (other than Rumble which I don't plan to ever get). it is not the worst, it just gives me the least reason to play it.
It didn’t, they just didn’t release another Crash game because they just didn’t feel like it. That’s like saying Rayman Legends killed Rayman because that was the last game they made even though it sold well
Technically Crash never died since it's still an active franchise today, but Wrath of Cortex marked the moment the series fell from grace financially and critically. Its failure directly lead to games like Mind Over Mutant and the eventual hiatus, so in a way it's the moment Crash in his original form died.
I would go on to argue crash is even bigger now then he was in the 90s. The n sane trilogy sold over 20 million copies , crash 4 sold over 5 million , crash team racing nitro fueled sold an estimated 7-10 million copies by 2019 number must be way higher now . And crash on the run was the most popular mobile game downloading over 60 million times in a span of a week.
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Wrath of Cortex was my introduction to Crash Bandicoot. I thought it was awesome.
Crash 3 was my first exposure, but Wrath of Cortex was the first one I beat and enjoyed despite its flaws.
Same here even as a kid I notice some of it’s issues (Coco was horrible to play as for example) but it was never as bad as nostalgia blinded people say
I adored this game and it was my first foray into Crash Bandicoot games - what a great introduction to be honest ❤
You have the same feelings to woc as mine with MoM, both hated but we love them cuz it's what introduced us to crash (and the entirety of console gaming for me)
I see it as a good starting point in the series
“Game killed Crash bandicoot”
Ah yes The wrath of cortex,when the game came out it was the best selling Crash game of 2002. Broke records for the series in terms of sales when it released on GameCube and Xbox.
Got rereleased in 2005 in a bundle with Crasg nitro kart on Xbox’s family platinum hits..one of the few Xbox games you could buy on 360 store.
Plus this game was noimated at Kids choice awards in 2001.
This game didn’t kill Crash at all lmao.
Game was very successful and people loved it..critics and purists hated on it but they’re clearly the minority. Casuals still remember and love this game.
Hoorah
Yeah to be honest, there was no specific game that “killed” crash to speak (or more accurately, put it on the back burner.) it was mostly thanks to publisher decisions, be it over saturation with yearly releases, or phasing out mascot series in favor of broadening accessibility to more mature genres like fps games to the broader public, since that’s where the money ways.
(& let’s be honest: Sonic has put out far, far worse games than even the more controversial Crash titles (or the rare bad title like Crash Boom Bang on the DS), yet that franchise still endears and is still going relatively strong, so some games just have a special resilience I guess.
They didn't make a joke in Twinsanity about running out of money because Wrath of Cortex not selling well
@@gyga100 not AS well as they’d hoped, but still just enough to greenlight a sequel.
If there was a game that really marked the decline it wouldve been either TagTeam Racing or Crash of the Titans, but definetly not Wrath of Cortex
Wrath of Cortex is heavily flawed, but I still love it.
I think the main problem people have with the Wrath of Cortex was that it was basically a lesser Crash 3, and the first three games were such a tough act to follow. That, and the long loading times on the initial release. I'm in the middle on this. It's definitely not as bad as some people say, but at the same time, playing this just kind of makes me want to play Crash 3 instead.
Loading times come from Universal not being able to use the PS1 trilogy's load technique created by Andy Gavin at Naughty Dog. He patented this technique and it got used for Jak and Daxter. Wrath loads entire stages into memory at once before they start.
"Game that killed Crash Bandicoot"
Yep, Crash died after this game , we never got any Crash games after Wrath of Cortex
Finally! A Wrath of cortex enjoyer like myself! They are rare to find nowadays!
I speedrun this game, and I’ve been defending it from blind haters for years at this point on my livestreams. A lot of the points you made are things I typically bring up as well when discussing TWoC, such as the vehicle/underwater level ratio and the fact that nothing in the game is fundamentally bad, just different. Thanks for that, it’s very reassuring.
This was my first ever Crash game (got it back in 2002 when I was only 5), and after a few years I eventually got my hands on all the classic PS1/2 games, and I never look down on any of them. Every single Crash game has something about them to love, and TWoC being the way it is, is almost like a test to find out what you value in a Crash game. Me personally, I’ve always vibed with the general atmosphere of the levels, quality voice acting, the soundtrack, and yes, even those infamous black label PS2 loading screens.
Over the years, I’ve grown attached to the game in ways I’ve never even thought possible through speedruns, analyzing beta ROMs, and other general trivia that have enlightened me to how much this game has to give. It’s without a doubt the most interesting Crash game outside of Crash 1.
I somehow vividly remember Crash 2 and 3, but had no memory of Wrath of Cortex despite having also owned it...at least until I saw the ball levels. I do remember those, and not in a good way, but I don't remember hating the game as a whole. Unrelated, I'm glad to see where your channel is now, I remember binging your early videos about 3 years ago and thinking "these are so well edited and funny, why doesn't he have more subscribers?" So it's really cool to see your subscriber count in the thousands. That's awesome, congrats!
I began replaying Wrath of Cortex recently and I honestly love the ball levels more than I remember when I was a kid. They’re really fun to try and get the platinum relic on too, and I never go for those.
I think it’s because to me for some reason. Wrath of cortex just feels like a ps2 iteration of crash 3. Very similar feel, honestly the first time I played it as a kid I could hardly tell the difference.
As someone who grew up playing the original trilogy, there are times when I wish that Naughty Dog still had the rights to the series. Even so, I love Wrath of Cortex. Yes, some of the writing wasn't perfect, the visuals weren't exactly the 6th Gen's finest, and it was very repetitive of Warped. However, Warped was a great game, so why mess with perfection?
I've played Wrath of Cortex after the original trilogy AND TwinSanity and I still liked it. Like a hd re release of Crash 3.
I liked WOC as well!! I grew up with this game!! Thank you for making this video to give the game credit where credit is due while also pointing out both positives and negatives!! People give this game more hate than it deserves, I feel like at least...
Finally some love for this gem, thank you 😭
Wrath of Cortex was the first ever game i was hyped for as a kid that distinctly let me down when i finally got to play it. 💀
I'm not sure I entirely agree with the idea that Wrath of Cortex killed the franchise, but it definitely stagnated the series as we then got Crash Nitro Kart which was a lesser CTR, along with the GBA titles. Crash Twinsanity imo was a step in the right direction in terms of innovation, borrowing the more open approach of Jak and Daxter, but Crash of the Titans is where the franchise truly died if you ask me. I remember seeing the previews for it as a teenager and being like "look how they massacred my boy"
Regardless, this was a great video dude! Wrath of Cortex still has some charm to it and you raised a good point about it's commitment to level variety! 🙂
I also remember seeing the Titans redesign for the first time as a child, and having that exact same reaction lol. I didn't even see any ads, I just saw it on the shelf at a game store one day and instantly knew the bandicoot was cooked.
Titans games were my favorite Crash games as a kid. Like y'all glorify the first trilogy a bit TOO MUCH. Like let's be real, those games were equally mid.
@@kawaiimika7974Those are fighting words, kid.
@@kawaiimika7974 the titans games do not belong in the same franchise as the originals. The main reason anyone who grew up with a PS1 found them insulting is that the developers thought these were a good way to follow up the series. It's honestly the same argument i make about Paper Mario. Sticker star and Color splash may or may not be fun on their own, i don't wanna have that debate, but they do not belong in the same franchise as 64 and ttyd, and are not an acceptable substitute
@@shadeblackwolf1508but the titans is very good, you are drunk?
My childhood friend was introduced to crash through me and my PS1 but he had to move far away and he didn't have a PS1 or knew that it was backwards compatible. I learned about the wrath of Cortex from him because at the time he told me about it and showed me the case on Skype, years later I got to try the game for myself and I think it's okay, but gasp, sometimes I prefer to play it over Warped 😆 anyways, that's my comment.
reactor compactor had a bop for the level ost, young me started screaming whenever it came on.
I just wish the game felt better to play. I think the thing that held the game back was how weirdly stiff the mechanics felt to engage with. Banging soundtrack honestly
I still find that you can get into a good flow, but the originals of course are much more fluid lol
The “fuck me 😔” at the end had me dead. I felt that man
Wow, someone saying this game's actually good? Well now I feel a little bit better about myself for loving it.
I have fond memories of Wrath of Cortex though I never was able to beat it. I always thought the second Crunch fight was too hard, I think I only ever barely got to the third warp room. Lots of level themes that I’m seeing for the first time in this video. I want to revisit it now. It’s funny, all these years later I’m about to 106% Crash 4, the game people say is the hardest, and yet I found WoC most difficult lolll. I’ve got all the N Sanely Perfect runs in 4, got all the flashback tapes, and I’vr got over half the platinum time trial relics, the other half I got gold in.
I agree, been so long ion even remember much but I had a lot of fun despite the flaws. Good video. Liked and subscribed🤘🏾
The hate for WOC is one of the most ridiculous crap I've ever seen online, and it makes it seem like the haters are not really fans of OG Crash when they praise games like Twinsanity for just been different despite it being a lot worse than WOC in quality, being unfinished, plus a huge deviation from what Crash is about. The hate never makes sense and always feels unwarranted. I wanna blame the big youtubers who started the hate bandwagon for it.
It's not really hate, but indifference.
WOC lives non the shadow of It's older and better brother Crash 3 Warped.
Most of WOC content It's a copycat of Crash 3 but worse and that's why most prefer Twinsanity over that.
@@TornaderX It is hate when there are several big youtubers being overly negative towards it when it's not even bad, which causes more negativity in the forms of people obsessively telling others that it's bad, sucks, or the weakest in the series cause you know the haters are always the loudest online. If it was indifference then people wouldn't be so dramatic about how bad they think it is and just acknowledge that it was average & rushed due to publisher meddling, and acknowledge that the game has good as well as bad in it, but no people prefer to trash it as much as possible when it's objectively better made than Twinsanity which they don't want to share the same energy with. I still see people being confuse on the game's negativity when they thought the game was simply a fine continuation of the OG gameplay that even the haters claim they love in the originals. People are overly nitpicky and harsh towards WOC.
@@TornaderX It's crazy that people claim Warped is the best or they love it so much, yet treat WOC worse than Twinsanity which is not only majorly unfinished, buggy, badly designed but very untraditional to what people claim to love the originals for plus started the trend of more unnatural changes to happen to the series. WOC may be subpar but to say it's worse than the unfinished and worse made Crash game(Twinsanity) that took lots of liberties that the series got mocked for makes me think they're not really fans of OG Crash.
The irony is that they complain that WOC copies Warped, but don't share that same energy to Warped literally copying Crash 2 but just making it bigger. Another irony was people liking Twinsanity only cause it's different, but hate the titans games for that exact same reason just to say it's too different from the originals, yet give WOC a hard time for being too similar to the originals. Yea this fanbase is crazy and hypocritical.
@@MSCLeap75 i think this the best Crash game on the classic xbox/ps2. Alongside CNK, althrough that's debatable.
Its not my go to Crash game but I still enjoy it
I often use Wrath of Cortex's ost as background music in my own videos
They're always handy and always a great listen
This was the first game i originally finished, though not 100%. I still have a special place for it, even with all of its flaws and problems.
I agree, this game is overhated for no reason.
I'm not saying that it doesn't have it's flaws but, I can guarantee that if you liked 3, you'll like this one.
If I have to criticize one thing is that, at least in the PS2 version, the loading times were pretty awful.
This video is prolly the most r/crashbandicoot take of all time:
-No, Wrath of Cortex is not good. Your revisionism will not be accepted
-Crash 4 is hard but it’s not unfair. Hate using the term ‘skill issue’ but here it’s definitely appropriate. It’s easily the best Crash game in the series, warts and all
1-collecting wumpas and lives was fun and important in the original. Crash 4 made that optional which kinda make collecting them pointless (i know there is a gem for 3 death max but still lame).
2-breaking all the boxes were fun and needed for the gems. Crash 4 made that worse by literally hiding at least 1 box in every level. Boxes are no longer fun like they used to be. You will most likely miss 1 in every level.
3-levels are waaay too long for the relic. It make no sense.
4-people complained that the 4 and wrath has too many vehicles when crash 4 force you to play 4 different characters! Oh and lets not talk about playing with cortex… 😤😤😤.
5-lame power up for time trial. When time trials introduced in crash3, they gave you a shoes power up to boost your spd. Even WOC still have the same power up! But in crash 4 they decided thats spinning 3 times to get sod boost is better 🙂. Its crash bandicoot not love live ffs! Also, the spinning power up im 100% sure it was inspired by players from crash 3 remake where players were using coco with spinning to get more spd. They thought it would be cool to add that as power up 😒.
6-they had the nerve to call it a sequel when all they did is introduce time travel and multiple + make a game that doesn’t resemble the original and is more of spin off like twinsanity.
Dont get me, i know things change and people might enjoy it. But it doesn’t resemble the original at all. Calling it 4 is bad. Should have been cradh bandicoot its about time 1. And then make its about time 2.
As a kid I played Wrath of Cortex so damn much!! I understand it’s many flaws but it definitely doesn’t deserve to go in the same category as the later crash games
Great video! I definitely agree! This game is definitely solid. I've 100% completed it like three times and I enjoy it just as much as the original trilogy. Yes, it has its flaws, but I think it gets way too much flak for no reason. It is also in my top 10 video game soundtracks of all time. The music is incredibly good! Honestly, I'd rather replay this game for the umpteenth time than Crash 4 since the pacing just feels better. My only real gripe is that I'm not a huge fan of some of the vehicles (like the car or submarine), but they're not dealbreakers of my enjoyment.
Honestly, I wish Toys For Bob would remake this game on modern hardware. Add some graphical polish, maybe a new level or two, smooth out the controls...just as long as they keep the soundtrack intact!
Wrath of Cortex was my first PS2 Game. I love playing Wrath of Cortex even though it’s not my favourite. I think Wrath of Cortex has too many vehicle levels but I like the game nonetheless. My Favourite will always be Crash Twinsanity. Crash Twinsanity is an Unfinished Masterpiece that doesn’t get enough love ❤️ The game has it’s flaws but that is what makes me love the game even more. Crash Twinsanity had so much potential considering how rushed the game was with a lot of cut content and the OST is Beautiful ❤️
This game will always be one of my favourites and i kept that opinion before and after the criticisms, also the music is so FUCKIN GOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDD, great review btw, absolutely agree with all your points.
I was very young during the Crash Boom, but all I can remember from the original trilogy was all of the cool animal-riding stages from Warped. Especially with the success of Crash Team Racing, I'm not surprised they leaned into more vehicles.
I really like Twinsanity despite it being a very different Crash game - still a very fun one to play imo. And I also like Crash 4 and I think the developers did a wonderful job in many aspects. But I think you summarised my feelings of WOC really well when you said that Wrath of Cortex understands what made completing the past games over and over so fun. I love Crash 4 but many times I'd prefer to replay WOC and get all the gems. Great video!
If I remember correctly, WoC was my first crash game followed up by Twinsanity so a nostalgic game can be based on what you play first
I would definitely say this is the game that "killed" Crash Bandicoot. But it was still a good game. It was the first game that wasn't great (with the exception of Crash Bash), but it was probably the last game that was good or average (Twinsanity can be argued but I've never played it).
Wrath of Cortex was my second Crash game after the original and i loved it. It came with my ps2 and i played it alot. I feel like it is overhated and many of the issues people had (besides load times and overly open levels) weren't an issue to me. Even the gimmick levels were enjoyable to me. I do see some people thinking its too easy compared to older games.
Kinda sounds like Wrath of Cortex has the same issue that Sonic Superstars has (for me, at least): it's fine, but playing it just makes me want to play its predecessor (Crash 3 / Sonic 3&K) instead.
Actually the game that started Crash's fall wasn't this, it was Crash Bash.
I loved that game but yeah it was definitely the first entry that wasn't on the same level as the previous ones.
But Crash Bash gave the world the gift of Rilla Roo! How can you possibly not like it?
@@gabrielgiangreco998 if you were to ask me, this franchise should've retired after CTR.
@@Teh69thSpartanhalo should have stopped after halo 3 would u say that too?
@@kelechinwoke8423 after Halo Reach, for that one.
Wrath of Cortex has the best OST from any Crash game.
Crash 2, 3 and Twinsanity have far better OSTs imo. Especially Crash 2.
@@afriking256 id give it to wrath or cortex still tbh
lol
@@afriking256 Imo Twinsanity, Crash 3 and WOC are the three best soundtracks in the series. But Crash 2 has really good tracks as well.
@afriking256 Don't forget about Crash Bash. Its OST is chef's kiss 👌
I personally hated Wrath of Cortex, even considering all the good points you brought up, but I’m glad you find a lot to appreciate about it. I also don’t like Crash Bandicoot that much anymore admittedly, and I grew up with the PS1 trilogy. I just don’t find them very interesting compared to a majority of 3D platformers, so a game that followed the same formula as closely as possible like Wrath of Cortex really doesn’t do much for me.
I played it when I was lot younger and enjoyed the music. It did it's job. Awesome video, like and subscribed
First of all, I find it fascinating that you have Wrath on GameCube. I never noticed that it came out on that console. Anyway, I just bought an original Xbox earlier this week and I've been playing some Driver and Gauntlet. I have a few more games coming in the mail and YES, WoC is one of them. Should be here this weekend. It definitely isn't my favorite of the first few (Cortex Strikes Back is my PIPING cup o' tea). I was obsessed with the trilogy when I was a kid and I remember being super stoked when Wrath came out. So my parents eventually bought it, I tried it and I had a lot of really memorable fun with actually. I can't wait to play it dude, just a couple more days. I will say this, they could make an entire entry that was JUST the Bamboozled rolly ball mechanic and I would totally buy it. Me and my little sister thought that was the coolest thing ever. I loved the rolly ball levels. So yeah, I've always lumped all of those games together. Like, "The first four" is how I regard them. I will admit that the graphical PS2 style just felt really off. Not in a bad way but just in the sense of like... feeling unfamiliar. So I have the N. Sane trilogy and Wrath is near so I'm happy to own them. It's really refreshing that you didn't just piss all over this game like everyone else does. I agree with you, it's super underrated and even more misunderstood. Good video. 👍🏼
P.S.
I'm getting Twinsanity too. I don't even care what people say, I liked it. lol
Happy I'm not the only one who this was their first Crash game xD it's not perfect of course but I really enjoyed it as a kid and it was my first introduction to Crash so I'm happy I played it ❤ I still feel really nostalgic about it and even if the game kinda struggles in some places I always find myself going back to the OST at the very least! There's so many good tracks!
Ball stages were the only good vehicle levels in this. In Crash 3 PS1 at least all vehicles control well. It comes down to whether or not you get excited for the bike levels. I do, a lot don't. The boat levels don't excite me and are the only ones that kinda feel like a drag since they take a few minutes. Plane levels are 1-2 minutes which is fine. I like to skip getting the relic on the warp 4 boat level and instead do the secret dinosaur 2D platforming section which isn't considered a separate level, but still gives a gem and relic that can easily be done together even platinum. Then you get an extra relic that can replace the need to do a normal level relic to unlock secret warp room levels.
WOC will always be one of my FAV crash games, nostalgia bias aside.
This game has some 30 different modes of control without even putting a button explainer on screen or in the pause menu
It is honestly my main issue with the game. If they put a "press button to do x" on screen with every new vehicle, perhaps in an unused corner, it would help this game a lot
Replayed it recently
It does not hold up and it's mainly due to physics and level design gimmicks not being fleshed out
I yelled "BRO THINKS HE SAUL GOODMAN" after reading the title and my mom told me to stfu 💀
After Crash 1 and 2 when I got PS2 I played Wrath all the time. I thoughed its as good as previous ones. Well it wasnt, but still good game
Loving the new setup! It is great to see some commentary on the game that inspired boneless pizza!
Yes the hate is deserved. As a huge fan of the series back then it just felt… off. Graphics were weird and it felt weird. And then loading times were horrible. I still have nightmares of him falling down an endless well.
I do think this is a fine game. Is it flawed? Sure. Is it bad? Not really. At least it's a more playable game than Spyro Enter the Dragonfly...
First crash game I played when I was little couldn't beat the water boss lmao will never forget the unlock all code WOMBAT
What I really like in this game is the level with an gimmick veichle intro and a plateformer level
Was WoC really the one that "killed" Crash? I know its a catchy title, but the decline didnt really begin until TagTeam Racing or Crash of the Titans
I opened this video saying "okay greg ill trust you" this video was great
Crash 4 about time is much better than wrath of cortex. The 100% requirement is egregious, some of the side characters are not for me (especially the half crash half side character redo levels), and not every mask power is equally fun, but the core level design is so good with a tight moveset, excellent difficulty level (if you play with the infinite lives your first time) and a generally higher volume of high quality content.
That said i enjoyed wrath of cortex when it came out, the bosses are some of the best in the franchise, the orb levels are great, and it looks like a crash game. Its just too easy, clunky, and littered with junk to be as good as even the most recent crash 4. In my opinion most of the vehicles in the game really do suck, but i didnt like planes in 3 either. Orb levels and the car chase levels are exceptions to this.
2:07 what song is this? it sounds familiar
Corridors of Time from Chrono Trigger
Hopefully Crash Team Rumble didn't cause too much damage.. From the moment that game was announced, it made me fear that another Crash winter would come.
Well we know Crash 5 was cancelled now, and there's been the whole Microsoft merger... so I'm not too hopeful for the future of the series lol. Would love to be proven wrong though!
@@GregCubed what? Cancelled? Dude no, the idea for what crash 5 would be about is cancelled, not the game itself
@@RealVviperX The whole game was cancelled before the Microsoft-Activision merge.
@@HarmonyBunny yeah just heard that crash 5's crossover with spyro have been cancelled. I hate activision bro
Wrath of Cortex is good.
Crash 4: Its About Time is way better tho
better in graphics, the rest wrath of cortex is better.
@@TailsGamer290What are you smoking? IAT has the best controls, level design and bosses in the series. WoC is imprecise and sloppy and is bogged down by way too many vehicles.
@@jimmymackinnon8474 I thought WoC was still better and less frustrating when it comes to 100%'ing it compared to Crash 4.
@@EpsilonChurchRVB I agree with you there
Wasn't Crash Bash on PS1 developed without Naughty Dog? I swear that was Eurocom Software.
It was, but Wrath of Cortex was the first mainline entry without their involvement
@@GregCubed Ahh ok makes sense
I remember getting the wrath of cortex alongside twinsanity and tag team racing, I thought the game storywise was okay but the graphics were very ps1'sh but regardless I think it's still a little bit of an improvement compared to the previous titles that came before it, I remember having a good time with it, however I never finished it I was stuck on the crunch boss fight water elemental wawa, that level was so broken because the platform always sunk pretty quick which gave me little to no time at all to react, wawa's water projectiles were ridiculously hard to avoid, I love it's soundtrack
This was my first PS2 game, I found it enjoyable and played it tons.
But... can you defend Spyro Enter the Dragonfly...? The game that killed Spyro
No Spyro EtD is literally an unfinished product lol. Say what you want about WoC, but it matches the original trilogy in content and is basically finished, if not just a bit rushed. Spyro EtD ran horribly, had frequent game-breaking glitches and crashes, and is only one world long.
Can you do a video on the band there days grace? Would be interesting
Wrath of cortex was the first game i ever played in my whole life.
I completely agree eith your critcisms of the old trilogy the only great game in the trilogy is crash 1 due to its variety i think crash 2 has the best gameplay and good level design but the repeating themes hold it back a bit. Crash 3 imo is the most boring out of the trilogy barely any on foot levels wrath of cortex might even be better than crash 3. I think crash 2 is my favorite but i think objectively crash 1 is the best
Here's the actual problem of TWOC:
1. The year was 2001, 3D platformers were coming out all the time since the mid 90s and Crash games or any other higher quality 3D platformer always found a way to make itself stand out. TWOC not only didn't stand out but in some ways, it played worse (very floaty controls) and looked worse than Crash 3 despite having more polygons. I mean just look at that intro cutscene at the beach, the background looks like it was made in MS Paint.
2. 1 month later, Jak & Daxter The Precursor Legacy comes out and it stomps TWoC with no mercy, arguably one of the best 3D platformers ever made and people naturally stopped caring about Crash. Everyone wanted to see Jak 2 and beyond. This is why after TWoC the Crash sales went to the gutter, especially when Ratchet and Sly showed up as well to further bury Crash and Spyro.
This is like saying GTA 3 would have been good if it stayed 2D and played the same. People expected a natural evolution from a beloved AAA IP on it's start up on the new console. It was a generational leap and all we got was the same but more janky. Twinsanity was supposed to be the generational leap but TT messed around too much sadly. Of course if you remove the context entirely, TWOC is a decent game, there is nothing particularly wrong about it. It all comes down to the timing
Crash 4 retconned Crunch and its unforgivable
Wrath of Cortex was my first and only Crash game. Coincidentally, Enter the Dragonfly was my first and only Spyro game.
I love this game i liked how different it was but i did dislike the floaty controlls but you get used to it quickly
A TWoC truther, I have found my people
All people talk about the virgin psx trilogy, while the giga chads sits in the corner: crash 2 n tranced, crash wrath of cortex and crash of the titans (ds version only).
This game was my first exposure to it when i was 5-7. Also crash nitro kart
Bash was the 1st non Naughty Dog Crash game actually.
this game is my second fav crash game, and second fav in general
As someone that ignores the masses and makes up my own mind. Wrath of Cortex was to my mind a continuation of the gameplay formula that I enjoyed on the PS1 with Crash Twinsanity being the last good Crash game before the remake and 4 came out.
The Original Xbox version of Wrath of Cortex especially is significantly better visually than the ps2 or Gamecube versions of the game. Gamecube port was considered the worse port of the game I think and even then it's still a good title on the platform. (I would check out the Xbox port if you have the time, it's worth a look they added extra details to Crash Bandicoots Fur that is not in the other versions of the game))
The graphics are kind of bad for ps2 and its floatier and you go slower on the monkey bars. I dont even think the floatyness is a bad thing this game is easily a 7.5 out of 10 its pretty great.
This is the only Crash Bandicoot game I've ever played, YEARS after it came out, and apart from the water boss, I don't recall finding anything particularly weird or bad about this game (Oh nevermind I just remembered some levels have bad perspective/depths, making you die for stupid reasons.).
It confirmed what I thought deep down: I just am NOT interested in Crash Bandicoot, as a character, game, or franchise.
But it wasn't bad by any means IMHO, and I still replay it from time to time when I'm bored out of my mind...
I grew up with this game. I still think it's ok at best. Not good, not horrible, just okay. Has a nice soundtrack though.
I grew up with wrath. It's amazing
Ive genuinely known anyone to HATE Wrath of Cortex. Its so much better than the Titans games and painful mobile games
I actually like WoC more than Warped. Warped may have a less number of vehicles, but we play the jet ski and damn racing ones 4 times and they take the whole level. Woc we have platforming, vehicle, and then a hybrid of both. So if we don't like said vehicle we can breath a sigh of relief as we won't have to control it again. We control the car twice, A full race and the other in a mostly platforming level. The other two races are in the minecart and Heli-Pack which are much better than the car.
With the submarine we play in it 3 times but only for a part of the levels. Two are the underwater levels, where we spend half the time in the sub and the other half as Crash, and the other is the opening to level 10, where we spend most of the time on foot.
Hey, just a heads-up! I saw that someone is creating negative videos about you. They’re using the name "@The-First-Responders" on UA-cam.
Interesting not to mention the boss fights
If im revisiting a crash game from that console generation its gonna be twinsanity every time
i currently play the first game of the n.sane trilogy for the first time and honestly, if the original version was completely the same, except for graphics of course, i, as a video game hero myself, don't understand the appeal or how this franchise ever made it this far at all, there's barely any story and not much personality to it, it is just super difficult platform gaming 🤷♂️🤷♂️
The Gameplay is the Appeal
By no means is TWoC is the best PS2 Crash game. I think Twinsanity is a worse game and killed the series. (Tag Team Racing is the best PS2 Crash game)
Even though it doesnt reeeeeally matter, its n. Sane that crash 2 and 3, despite being from a previous generation, look nicer, cleaner, and smoother in terms of graphics and animation
Hot take: This game is more deserving of the title of Crash 4 than the actual Crash 4.
More peeps are gradually sharing this sentiment, myself included. I wanted to like it more, but I can’t help shake this feeling of shallowness or superficiality around it. Lacks staying power.
Definitely agree with you. I personally think they shouldn’t have the right to call it crash 4. At most it should be counted as a side game kinda like ctr or crash bash or twinsanity.
Lol no, we're not doing this
I've always enjoyed this game and I'm really glad that I'm not the only one who thinks so. It's not a perfect game by any means, but I enjoyed the majority of it and it's a game I've replayed many times.
Crash Bash was the first non-Naughty Dog Crash game. As for Wrath of Cortex I say it's the best Crash game of ps2/xbox/Gamecube era.
Also ps2 version has the most complete soundtrack. Due to recording issue xbox and gamecube are missing the unique Medieval madness track. It's replaced with Gauntlet music in said versions.
Wrath of Cortex is definitely not a bad game, but I am gonna have to disagree on it being better than what comes after it. the thing is, yes, all other Crash games have flaws, but at least a lot of them have more bearable flaws to me, or at least make up for it one way or another. for example, Twinsanity is broken and doesn't have tight platforming or gems or relics, but it makes up for it by fun graphics, whether environment or character design, great writing and peak comedy, variety in levels and boses and a massive collection of cameos that feel like a love letter to the entire franchise, not to mention Cortex and Nina being playable. Crash 4 is ridiculously difficult to complete, but everything else about the game is great, level variety and level design are awesome, the game looks fantastic, the game has enough variety with different playable characters and Flashback levels, and it doesn't overstay its welcome with vehicles like Crash 3 did. the GBA games are definitely not as fun as Wrath of Cortex but that's just my general dislike for GBA, and I admit it does its best given the limitations of GBA. even Nitro Kart, which is basically CTR but worse, at least gave us great character designs and just a generally lively story mode and new world and characters to explore. CTTR is definitely worse than Wrath of Cortex though, and I won't argue about Titans, I love them, but I can see why people hate them so fair enough.
anyway, yes, Wrath of Cortex is mechanically not bad, but the more subtle things make the difference for me. the game just feels a bit boring and lifeless to play. the super boring monkey bars and underwater sections, every single boss being just Crunch and the other villains are just atlasphere levels obstacles, the cutscenes being so unmemorable, the vortex mini-cutscenes (where characters appear before you enter the level) that are supposed to give us characterization just involves the Elementals saying one short line of dialogue that's either a bad jok or a generic threat (compare them to Crash 3 and see the difference), the incredibly long loading times, the lighting being darker and gloomier for a franchise you'd expect to be colorful and lively, the useless sneaky shoes powerup, the vehicles being very uninteresting.
so with all these flaws, at least there should be something to make the game worth playing. but no, it's just Crash 3, it doesn't try to do anything significantly new. the story is nothing special, the characters are barely characterized, the character models are basically a downgrade, the collectibles and number of levels are the exact same, the formula is the same, the powerups are the same (except sneaky shoes), they even went as far to use only Crash 3 characters, like they didn't even throw in like Brio or Pinstripe in the "league of villains who are really only atlasphere obstacles). like it doesn't feel there is any reason to want to play this game other than the music and the environment of some of the levels, and I guess if you are burnt out on Crash 3 and want something else similar.
so overall, yes, it sticks to the formula to the T, but maybe that's not too good of a thing, I'd rather a game try to do something new but execute it somewhat well rather than just copycatting what comes before it and executing it poorly, giving it no reason to exist. I am not saying it's a terrible game, I'd give it 5/10, but it just isn't exciting to play, out of all the Crash console games, this is the one I feel like coming back to the least (other than Rumble which I don't plan to ever get). it is not the worst, it just gives me the least reason to play it.
Funny, I thought it was Mind Over Mutant that literally killed Crash since the series didn't release an original game for 12 years after that?
It didn’t, they just didn’t release another Crash game because they just didn’t feel like it. That’s like saying Rayman Legends killed Rayman because that was the last game they made even though it sold well
Technically Crash never died since it's still an active franchise today, but Wrath of Cortex marked the moment the series fell from grace financially and critically. Its failure directly lead to games like Mind Over Mutant and the eventual hiatus, so in a way it's the moment Crash in his original form died.
GET READY TO FACE MY WRATH CRASH BANDICOOT!
Is it me or the crash's model in his gameplay looks just like the ps1 crash
I checked the other gameplays of twoc and i see the difference somehow
Gortex Strikes Back GOAT
let’s be honest the reason me & most people put the game down & never picked it back up in early 2000s was those loading screens…
For the initial PS2 release yeah I don't blame you lol, however the Xbox/GC/PS2 Greatest Hits versions all load just fine tbh
You move your eyebrows alot and i can’t unsee that 💀😂
I would go on to argue crash is even bigger now then he was in the 90s. The n sane trilogy sold over 20 million copies , crash 4 sold over 5 million , crash team racing nitro fueled sold an estimated 7-10 million copies by 2019 number must be way higher now . And crash on the run was the most popular mobile game downloading over 60 million times in a span of a week.
... Yeah, Crash on the run was so popular that they canceled it 😭
@@kawaiimika7974they canceled it because they had no idea what to do with it anymore . Not because it wasint popular
Agree totally. Good game!
This game killed the series? This is one of if not my favorite one lol