Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
Developer(s) Vicarious Visions[lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s) Activision
Director(s) Dan Tanguay
Producer(s) Kara Massie
Designer(s) Dan Tanguay
Programmer(s) Dave Calvin
Artist(s) Dustin King
Composer(s) Josh Mancell[lower-alpha 2]
Series Crash Bandicoot
Platform(s)
Release
  • PlayStation 4
  • June 30, 2017
  • Switch, PC, Xbox One
  • June 29, 2018
Genre(s) Platform
Mode(s) Single-player

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is a platform video game compilation developed by Vicarious Visions and published by Activision. It is a collection of remasters of the first three titles in the Crash Bandicoot series: Crash Bandicoot, Cortex Strikes Back, and Warped; all which were originally developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation and released from 1996 to 1998. The game was first released for PlayStation 4 in June 2017, receiving generally favorable reception from critics, who praised the game's faithfulness to the original trilogy, and selling over 2.5 million copies worldwide by the end of September 2017. Versions for the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows were released in June 2018.

Gameplay

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is a collection of remasters of the first 3 games in the Crash Bandicoot series, the first game, Cortex Strikes Back and Warped. Each game features Crash Bandicoot traversing various levels in order to stop Doctor Neo Cortex from taking over the world. Like in the original games, Crash uses spinning and jumping techniques to defeat enemies, smash crates, and collect items such as Wumpa Fruits, extra lives, and protective Aku Aku masks. The trilogy adds new features across all three games, including unified checkpoints, pause menus and save systems, including both manual and automatic saving, time trials, which were first introduced in Warped, and the ability to play most levels in each game as Crash's sister Coco.[1] It also features remastered audio and cutscenes, including new recordings of the games' dialogue given by the franchise's more recent voice actors.[2]

Development

A comparison between the first level of the original game (above) and the N. Sane Trilogy version (below)

After a representative for Activision stated in 2013 that they still owned the rights to the Crash Bandicoot series and were exploring ways to bring it back,[3][4] the game was announced at E3 2016.[5][6] It was developed by Vicarious Visions,[7] who coined the term "Remaster Plus" to describe the collection, as they did not fully remake the original games, but rather used Naughty Dog's original level geometry to rebuild the gameplay from scratch. As the levels were coming together, they also added their own art, animation, and audio.[2] Almost none of the source codes for the original games were available to the developers, as the game engines were specially written for the original PlayStation and Vicarious Visions could not find a way to use it on more powerful systems.[8] Sony and Naughty Dog were able to provide various polygon meshes from the original, although many important elements from these were missing and the team found that "they were compressed in some wacky format that we had to decode". Vicarious Visions looked at various internet communities to make sure they had essences of the games captured.[8] The team also had some fans test the game and give notes about it compared to the originals.[8] In April 2017, there was a contest for fans to submit ideas for idle animations for the character, with the winners announced the following month.[9][10]

Ports for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One were announced in March 2018 and were released on June 29, 2018.[11][12] The Switch port in particular was not originally intended until a lone engineer at Vicarious Visions successfully ported the game's first level to the platform, proving it was feasible to port the entire game.[13] Sega will publish the Switch version in Japan on October 18, 2018.[14]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic(PS4) 80/100[15]
(NS) 78/100[16]
(XONE) 79/100[17]
(PC) 76/100[18]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Destructoid8.5/10[19]
EGM9/10[20]
Game Informer8/10[21]
Game Revolution[22]
GameSpot6/10[23]
GamesRadar+[24]
IGN8.5/10[25]
Polygon6/10[26]

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[15]

Sales

In the United Kingdom, the N. Sane Trilogy was the best-selling game in the week of release, a first for the Crash Bandicoot series, and became the best-selling exclusive launch of the year, beating the record previously held by Horizon Zero Dawn. Its release also saw the biggest launch of a game in the first half of 2017, behind Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands.[27] It was also the second-best-selling game in its first month in the US.[28] The game had sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide by September 2017.[29]

Accolades

The game won the award for "Best Remake/Remaster" at IGN's 2017 awards,[30] while the readers and staff of Game Informer voted it as the "Best Remastered Action" and "Best Remastered/Remade" game in theirs.[31][32] It was also nominated for the Tappan Zee Bridge Award for "Best Remake" at the New York Game Awards 2018,[33] and won the award for "Game, Classic Revival" at the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards, whereas its other nomination was for the "Original Light Mix Score, Franchise" category.[34][35]

Notes

  1. ↑ The original games were developed by Naughty Dog. Toys for Bob provided development support for the original PlayStation 4 release, and ported the game to the Nintendo Switch. The Microsoft Windows port was handled by Iron Galaxy.
  2. ↑ Mancell was the composer of the original games; the music was arranged by uncredited members of Vicarious Visions' audio team. Mothersbaugh is listed as a composer in the credits, but was only a music producer for the original games.

References

  1. ↑ Oh, Ashley (June 13, 2017). "Coco Bandicoot playable in Crash N. Sane trilogy". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on June 13, 2017. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  2. 1 2 Tanguay, Dan (December 3, 2016). "Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy: First Screens, In-Depth Details". PlayStation.Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. Archived from the original on December 14, 2016. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Did Sony Buy Crash Bandicoot From Activision?". IGN. November 21, 2013. Retrieved February 15, 2014.
  4. ↑ Zeidler, Brett (25 November 2013). "Activision states it still owns the Crash Bandicoot IP". Destructoid. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  5. ↑ "Crash Bandicoot is Back in Skylanders Imaginators and in Remastered Classics!". Business Wire. Archived from the original on June 17, 2016. Retrieved June 14, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Shawn Layden Trolled Us All with Crash Bandicoot Shirt". Push Square. Archived from the original on April 14, 2016. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
  7. ↑ "SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT AMERICA UNVEILS EXTRAORDINARY GAMING EXPERIENCES FOR PLAYSTATION 4 AND PLAYSTATION VR AT E3 2016". Sony Interactive Entertainment. Archived from the original on June 16, 2016. Retrieved June 14, 2016.
  8. 1 2 3 MACHKOVECH -, Sam. "A remaster with no old code: Crash Bandicoot was rebuilt nearly from scratch". Archived from the original on August 25, 2017. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
  9. ↑ Romano, Sal. "Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy idle move contest announced". Gemastu. Archived from the original on April 4, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
  10. ↑ Sal Romano (4 May 2017). "Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy idle move contest winner announced". Gematsu. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  11. ↑ Dornbush, Jonathon. "Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy Coming to Nintendo Switch, PC, and Xbox One". IGN. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  12. ↑ Workman, Robert (March 11, 2018). "Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy Nintendo Switch Developer Revealed". Comicbook.com. Comicbook.com. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  13. ↑ Doolan, Liam (June 17, 2018). "One Guy Got Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy Up And Running On Switch". Nintendo Life. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
  14. ↑ Craddock, Ryan (July 25, 2018). "Sega To Publish The Former Sony Exclusive Crash Bandicoot On Nintendo Switch In Japan". Nintendo Life. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  15. 1 2 "Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on July 15, 2017. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  16. ↑ "Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy for Nintendo Switch Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  17. ↑ "Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  18. ↑ "Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  19. ↑ Carter, Chris (June 29, 2017). "Review: Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy". Destructoid. Archived from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  20. ↑ Slead, Evan (July 3, 2017). "Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy review". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Archived from the original on September 4, 2017. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  21. ↑ Reiner, Andrew (June 29, 2017). "Aged Like A Fine, Orange Wine - Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy - PlayStation 4". Game Informer. Archived from the original on June 29, 2017. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  22. ↑ Kozanitis, James (July 1, 2017). "Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy Review – Warping to the Present". Game Revolution. Archived from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  23. ↑ Brown, Peter (June 29, 2017). "Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy Review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  24. ↑ Blain, Louise (June 29, 2017). "Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy review: 'Makes the Binding of Isaac feel like a summer getaway". GamesRadar. Archived from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  25. ↑ Dornbush, Jonathon (June 29, 2017). "Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy Review". IGN. Archived from the original on June 29, 2017. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  26. ↑ Oh, Ashley (June 30, 2017). "Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy". Polygon. Archived from the original on June 30, 2017. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  27. ↑ Dring, Christopher (July 3, 2017). "UK Charts: Crash Bandicoot is the biggest single-format release of the year". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on July 3, 2017. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  28. ↑ http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2017/08/17/july-2017-npd/
  29. ↑ Kain, Erik (September 24, 2017). "'Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy' Has Sold Over 2.5 Million Copies On PS4". Forbes. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  30. ↑ "Best of 2017 Awards: Best Remake/Remaster". IGN. December 20, 2017. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
  31. ↑ Miller, Matt (January 5, 2018). "2017 Action Game Of The Year Awards (Page 3)". Game Informer. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
  32. ↑ Cork, Jeff (January 4, 2018). "Reader's Choice Best Of 2017 Awards (Page 4)". Game Informer. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
  33. ↑ Whitney, Kayla (January 25, 2018). "Complete list of winners of the New York Game Awards 2018". AXS. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  34. ↑ "Nominee List for 2017". National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. February 9, 2018. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  35. ↑ "Horizon wins 7; Mario GOTY". National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. March 13, 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
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