4/5 ★ – Endless_backlog's review of Crash Bandicoot: Warped.

Warped was the crash game I played the most as a kid and going back to it I can see why as there is such a variety in level design compared to the previous games. There are more vehicle levels such as motorbike races, flying planes and riding jet skis. It also introduces underwater levels, where Crash swims in scuba gear. This adds a different element of platforming as the currents of the water will drift you in directions, rather than being able to just freeze still on land. There’s also new characters introduced such as Dingo Dile and Dr N. Tropy, as well as the first real interaction with Uga Uga bar the Game Over screens we’ve had before. This time he’s critical in the plot and gets plenty of screen time and dialogue. After each boss fight you’ll unlock new moves to help you progress such as spin glide, but most importantly it introduces an iconic PS1 era weapon in the Fruit Bazooka. The objectives of the game are pretty similar to Cortex strikes back, your hub consists of warp rooms and each level you’ll need to collect crystals to progress to the next boss battle and area, as well as gems for clearing a level and breaking every crate. What it does add are Relics which are rewarded after completing a level within a given time limit. The original Warped also introduced the first time the player can control Coco, albeit only to ride a polar bear. Although she was added as a playable character across all of the remastered trilogy, just as the relics were added as well. Warped is a lot of fun and while some didn’t love the addition of the vehicle levels I thought they added a lot of variety whilst still remaining true to Crash’s routes with plenty of platforming levels. Despite the new additions I didn’t feel that the franchise massively evolved from Cortex strikes back and if anything became a game more targeted towards a younger audience.