Many of you are very familiar with the Crash Bandicoot series and the ups and downs it has had since Naughty Dog went on to the Jak and Daxter series. It has seemed, at least to me that the series has suffered at the hands of some of the developers who took a stab at refreshing the franchise. However, Radical Entertainment has, in my mind done quite well with the last two games in the series.
Crash: Mind Over Mutant continues in line with the gameplay from Crash of the Titans, where Crash can “jack” many different mutants to exploit their particular strengths. For an established character such as Crash, the concept is somewhat odd; Crash riding large mutants and mind controlling them to attack other mutants. It is so easy to lose focus on Crash and it almost doesn’t matter that he is even in the game. Often times it felt like I wasn’t playing a Crash Bandicoot game at all. But don’t get me wrong, the game was fun and I enjoyed playing it.
For those who have played Crash of the Titans don’t expect Mind Over Mutant to offer much in regards of fresh gameplay. However, you will be excited to know that there are a few new moves to get you through some of the puzzle elements. I particularly enjoyed the tunneling scenarios where you must use your spin move to get underground, and then you dig a path looking for secrets and the exit patch.
Crash Mind Over Mutant is filled with a ton of well written humor. The cut-scenes are a blast and poke fun at pop culture art styles like South Park. This was actually one of my favorite parts of the game and it was really rewarding to watch them after completing a portion of the game. Personally, I think the game is worth playing just for how well written and animated the cut-scenes are. The in-game dialogue is also over the top and the one-liners the enemies sound off with add to the fun of the game. The story is really fun and filled with many of the characters from past games who add to all the humor in the game.
Unfortunately, the game suffers in gameplay by forcing the player through a series of missions that require you to return to previous areas that have already been explored. It would have been really neat if the level designers would have plotted different routes that would lead you back to the main hub of an area where the story needed the player to be, rather than forcing the player through the same exact routes through the levels over and over again. At one point I found myself lacking the will to sit and fight so I began running past all enemies just to get to the next save station and checkpoint to lessen the frustration of having to go through it again.
The camera in Mind Over Mutant was the only other problem in the game. Often I felt constrained and wanted to look around - especially around Crash’s house. I would have loved to have been able to go into a free look mode and check out the texture work the environmental artist created. However, I understand that a free look camera could break the game, but there needed to at least have a camera nudge or a camera shift to allow the player the ability to make safe jumps. There were certainly times in the game where I felt I was blind running or making blind jumps that sent me over cliff edges to my doom.
Overall, the game felt good. I had fun and laughed a lot. I think Radical Entertainment has done a good job developing the Crash franchise on next gen consoles. Crash: Mind Over Mutant isn’t perfect, but it certainly isn’t a bad game. I did want to play as Crash more, but controlling mutants was cool. Radical Entertainment made a solid platformer that was quite fun to play, and for that I can certainly recommend this game.
