Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
Encyclopedia
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex is a platform game
video game published by Universal Interactive Studios (Konami
for Japan) and developed by Traveller's Tales
for the PlayStation 2
, Xbox
, and Nintendo GameCube
video game console
s. The PlayStation 2 version was released in North America
on October 29, 2001, in Europe
on November 23, 2001 and in Japan on December 20, 2001. The Xbox version was released in North America on April 15, 2002, in Europe on April 26, 2002 and in Japan on October 24, 2002. The Nintendo GameCube version was released in North America on September 17, 2002, in Europe on November 1, 2002 and in Japan on December 4, 2003. It was also one of the launch title
s for the Xbox Originals service on December 4, 2007.
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex is the seventh installment in the Crash video game series. It is the fourth platform game in the series not to be developed
by Eurocom
name's story centers on the appearance of a new superweapon by the main antagonist of the series, Doctor Neo Cortex
, along with a group of destructive masks known as the Elementals. The main protagonist of the series, Crash Bandicoot
, must travel the world and gather special Crystals that will return the Elementals to a hibernational state and defeat Cortex's new superweapon, a genetically-advanced bandicoot named Crunch Bandicoot.
in which the player controls Crash and Coco Bandicoot, who must gather 25 Crystals and defeat the main antagonists of the story: Doctor Neo Cortex, his new superweapon Crunch and Crunch's power sources, the renegade Elementals. Much of the game takes place in a "Virtual Reality (VR) Hub System" created by Coco to help Crash gather the Crystals. The VR Hub System is split up into five "VR Hubs"; initially, only the first VR Hub is available. Each VR Hub has five teleportation portals to different levels. The goal in each level is to find and obtain the Crystal hidden in the area. In some levels, the Crystal will be located at the end of a level or must be earned by completing a specific challenge. Each level contains a "Bonus Platform" that leads to a special bonus area, where the player must navigate through a maze and collect everything in sight. Once a bonus area is completed, it cannot be played again unless the level is replayed. After completing all five levels in a VR Hub, a sixth teleportation portal to a boss fight
with Crunch will appear. By defeating the boss, the next VR Hub will become available for play. When all 25 Crystals are collected and Doctor Cortex and Crunch are defeated, the game is won.
Besides Crystals, Gems and Colored Gems can be collected for extra accomplishment. Gems are rewarded to the player if all of the crates in a level are broken open or if a secret area is completed. Colored Gems are found in special levels and lead to hidden areas. "Relics" can be won by re-entering a level where the Crystal has already been retrieved. To obtain a Relic, the player must initiate the "Time Trial" mode and race through a level in the pre-designated time displayed before entering a level. To begin a Time Trial run, the player must enter a level and activate the floating stopwatch near the beginning of the level to activate the timer; if the stopwatch is not touched, the level can be played regularly. The player must then race through the level as quickly as possible. Scattered throughout the level are yellow crates with the numbers 1, 2 or 3 on them. When these crates are broken, the timer is frozen for the number of seconds designated by the box. As no lives are lost in the Time Trial mode, the level can be played through as often as the player desires. Sapphire, Gold and Platinum Relics can be won depending on how low the player's final time is. The first five Relics the player receives unlocks access to a secret level. Every five Relics thereafter open up another level in the Secret Warp Room. The levels in the Secret Warp Room must be won before the game can be fully completed.
Crash and Coco start the game with four lives. Crash and Coco lose a life when they are struck by an enemy attack or suffer any other type of damage. More lives can be earned by instructing Crash or Coco to collect 100 "Wumpa Fruits" or break open a special crate to collect a life. Crash and Coco can be shielded from enemy attack by collecting an Aku Aku mask. Collecting three of these masks allows temporary invulnerability from all minor dangers. If Crash or Coco run out of lives, the game is over. However, the game can be continued by selecting "Yes" at the "Continue?" screen.
who must defeat the antagonist Doctor Neo Cortex and his new superweapon. Coco Bandicoot, Crash's younger sister, is a highly intelligent computer expert with an interest in Hong Kong martial arts films. Aku Aku is a kindly omnipotent witch doctor who guides and aids Crash and Coco in stopping the plans of Doctor Neo Cortex.
The main antagonist of the series, Doctor Neo Cortex, is a mad scientist
who created Crash Bandicoot among other characters and now seeks Crash's elimination along with world domination. The controlling force behind Cortex's plots for conquering the world is Uka Uka, the evil twin brother of Aku Aku. A number of recurring villains from the series serve minor roles in the game. These include Doctor N. Gin, Cortex's right hand man, Doctor Nefarious Tropy, a scientist who specializes in time travel, Tiny Tiger, a hulking and ferocious Thylacine
, and Dingodile, a dingo
-crocodile
hybrid armed with a flamethrower
.
Five new characters in the series make their appearance in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, particularly Doctor Cortex's genetically-enhanced superweapon Crunch Bandicoot, a bionic bandicoot created for the purpose of destroying Crash Bandicoot. Acting as Crunch's power source are the Elementals, a group of destructive masks who control the elements of Earth, Water, Fire and Air. The Elementals consist of Rok-Ko, a bad-tempered and rock-headed earthbending mask who controls earthquakes and landslides, Wa-Wa, a stick-in-the-mud waterbending mask who controls thunderstorms and floods, Py-Ro, an easily-perturbed firebending mask who controls volcano eruptions, and Lo-Lo, a joke-cracking airbending mask who controls tornadoes.
of recurring villains in the series, berates the attendees for their recently unimpressive evil productivity, and forces them to come up with a plan to eliminate Crash Bandicoot, their main opponent. Doctor Cortex comes forward with the announcement of a previously secret genetically-enhanced superweapon of unbelievable strength, but reveals that it is missing a power source. Uka Uka then tells the group a tale of a battle between the Ancient Ancestors and the Elementals, a group of renegade masks who had the elemental power over earth, water, fire and air and used these elements to ravage the globe. The Ancients were able to imprison the Elementals with the aid of special Crystals that put the masks in a state of hibernation. Cortex deduces that if they awaken the Elementals and harness their destructive power, they can bring his secret weapon to life and do away with Crash Bandicoot forever.
Back on Earth, the world is suddenly terrorized by severe natural disasters, leading Aku Aku to conclude that Uka Uka, his evil twin brother, is up to something. A confrontation with Uka Uka confirms his suspicions and nearly results in his destruction at the hands of the Elementals. Aku Aku returns to Crash and Coco Bandicoot and alerts them of the current situation, disclosing that the only way to stop the Elementals is to imprison them once more with the Crystals, which have been scattered across the Earth. Using Coco's new Virtual Reality Hub System, Crash and Coco are able to travel the world and gather the Crystals, fending off attacks from Cortex's superweapon, Crunch Bandicoot, and the Elementals along the way. However, by the time the Crystals have been gathered and the Elementals have been put in their hibernation state, Crunch's elemental powers have reached maximum capacity, forcing Crash to battle Crunch at full power in Cortex's space station. Nevertheless, Crash is able to defeat Crunch, snapping him out of Doctor Cortex's control. Infuriated by this failure, Uka Uka attacks Doctor Cortex with a fireball, only to have it hit a vital part of the space station, causing a chain reaction that results in the space station's self-destruction. Crash, Aku Aku and Crunch are able to escape and return to the Bandicoot home on Coco's space fighter ship, while Cortex and Uka Uka deploy an escape pod
and end up landing somewhere in Antarctica, where Uka Uka furiously chases Cortex around a small ice floe.
(who designed all the games in the series thus far) and published by Sony Computer Entertainment
. After a falling-out between Vivendi Universal
and the two entities, Traveller's Tales was forced to alter the game from a free-roaming title to a standard Crash title. Traveller's Tales had to begin development of the game from scratch and were given only twelve months to complete the game. The game's music is composed by Andy Blythe and Marten Joustra of Swallow Studios. The original Crash Bandicoot theme by Mutato Muzika
also appears in the game. Only two of the series' original voice actors reprised their roles for the game: Clancy Brown
voices the dual role of Doctor Neo Cortex and Uka Uka, while Mel Winkler
provides the voice of Aku Aku. Debi Derryberry
inherited the role of Coco Bandicoot from Hynden Walch
, while Corey Burton
voices the returning villains Doctor N. Gin and Doctor Nefarious Tropy, taking over for Brendan O'Brien
and Michael Ensign
respectively. Kevin Michael Richardson
provides the voice of new character Crunch Bandicoot, while the Elementals, consisting of Rok-Ko, Wa-Wa, Py-Ro and Lo-Lo, are voiced by Thomas F. Wilson
, R. Lee Ermey
, Mark Hamill
and Jess Harnell
respectively.
wrote a positive review, saying that "any Crash Bandicoot fan would be a fool not to go out and buy this game. I started playing at 2am one night and did not stop until three in the afternoon!" Doug Perry of IGN
described the game as "a decent playing and pretty looking Crash Bandicoot game. It's nothing terribly special, but it's not bad, not bad at all." Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine felt that "when the strongest feeling I get from a game is the desire to play its predecessors, something's not quite right." Game Informer
criticized the "outrageously bad load times", saying that they "keep the game from being average." Shane Satterfield of GameSpot
concluded that the game "maintains the status quo and fails to deliver a fresh, compelling experience." Star Dingo of GamePro
cautioned that "if you were hoping the new management would give Crash a big kick in the pants, however, this is one pair of pants you will find quite unkicked." Electronic Gaming Monthly
criticized the trial-and-error gameplay, saying that "when forced to blindly jump, die, then discover what you missed, where I come from, that’s just cheating."
Though the Xbox version of the game rated generally higher among critics than the PlayStation 2 version, reviews remained mixed. Play Magazine
noted that "they've caressed the music to great effect, made the bosses a bit more challenging, [and] adhered to a massive replayability standard that would drive any developer to drink." Game Informer felt that "every little morsel of platforming goodness in The Wrath of Cortex has already been done to death on the Playstation." Carlos McElfish of GameZone warned that "if you are looking for an innovative and original experience that does justice to the series you’ll have to look elsewhere." Official Xbox Magazine
concluded that "this is a game for those who want what Crash has always had to offer – good graphics, jump-and-spin gameplay, and tons of collectible items. Nothing more, nothing less." Hilary Goldstein felt that while Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex was "a fun game for the most part," "it fails in some areas, like proper game balance and correct use of surround sound." Shane Satterfield of GameSpot passed off the game as "a slightly updated version of the orange marsupial's 1998 debut on the PlayStation." Star Dingo of GamePro concluded that "love it or hate it, Wrath of Cortex Xbox is more of more of the same." Electronic Gaming Monthly felt that "save for a few additions to WOC, like some cool hamster-ball
levels, it's almost identical to its predecessors."
The GameCube version rated the lowest among critics out of the three versions. Ben Kosmina of Nintendo World Report
promised that "gamers experiencing the wacky mascot for the first time may enjoy it." Michael Lafferty of GameZone described the game as "safe, sterile and redundant." Matt Casamassina
on IGN concluded that "at the end of the day this is the same Crash game I played so many years ago without any real innovations or evolutions." Nintendo Power
praised the "sheer variety" of the gameplay. Kilo Watt of GamePro said that "graphically, this version is slightly below the recent Xbox release but in line with the competent PlayStation 2 iteration." Electronic Gaming Monthly agreed that "Wrath on the GC is much more polished here than on the PS2," while Play Magazine denounced the GameCube version as "a shell of the other two console versions, so I beg you to pass."
The Wrath of Cortexs lackluster reception would be lampooned in a cutscene of its successor, Crash Twinsanity
, where Cortex alleges that the main cause of a character's check being bounced
was the game's poor sales.
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
video game published by Universal Interactive Studios (Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
for Japan) and developed by Traveller's Tales
Traveller's Tales
Traveller's Tales is an English software house founded in 1989 and fully established in 1990 and based in Knutsford, Cheshire.It is part of the TT Games group—after the merger of publisher Giant Interactive and the developer Traveller's Tales—along with TT Games Publishing...
for the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
, Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
, and Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
s. The PlayStation 2 version was released in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
on October 29, 2001, in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
on November 23, 2001 and in Japan on December 20, 2001. The Xbox version was released in North America on April 15, 2002, in Europe on April 26, 2002 and in Japan on October 24, 2002. The Nintendo GameCube version was released in North America on September 17, 2002, in Europe on November 1, 2002 and in Japan on December 4, 2003. It was also one of the launch title
Launch title
A launch game, or launch title, is a video game released to consumers synchronously with the release of its respective video game console, meaning they are the only available games at the time of the console's launch. Several of these games are also packaged with the console...
s for the Xbox Originals service on December 4, 2007.
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex is the seventh installment in the Crash video game series. It is the fourth platform game in the series not to be developed
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
by Eurocom
Eurocom
Eurocom is a British video game developer founded specifically to develop games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Since then Eurocom has expanded to several other platforms including handheld game systems and most major video game consoles.The company was once famous for its arcade to console...
name's story centers on the appearance of a new superweapon by the main antagonist of the series, Doctor Neo Cortex
Doctor Neo Cortex
Doctor Neo Periwinkle Cortex, often referred to as "Doctor Cortex" or simply "Cortex", is a video game character and the main antagonist of the Crash Bandicoot series of video games. His name is a play on the term neocortex, an area of the brain...
, along with a group of destructive masks known as the Elementals. The main protagonist of the series, Crash Bandicoot
Crash Bandicoot (character)
Crash Bandicoot, or simply Crash, is a video game character and the primary protagonist of the Crash Bandicoot series of video games. Introduced in the 1996 video game Crash Bandicoot, Crash is an Eastern Barred Bandicoot that was genetically enhanced by the series antagonist Doctor Neo Cortex and...
, must travel the world and gather special Crystals that will return the Elementals to a hibernational state and defeat Cortex's new superweapon, a genetically-advanced bandicoot named Crunch Bandicoot.
Gameplay
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex is a platform gamePlatform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
in which the player controls Crash and Coco Bandicoot, who must gather 25 Crystals and defeat the main antagonists of the story: Doctor Neo Cortex, his new superweapon Crunch and Crunch's power sources, the renegade Elementals. Much of the game takes place in a "Virtual Reality (VR) Hub System" created by Coco to help Crash gather the Crystals. The VR Hub System is split up into five "VR Hubs"; initially, only the first VR Hub is available. Each VR Hub has five teleportation portals to different levels. The goal in each level is to find and obtain the Crystal hidden in the area. In some levels, the Crystal will be located at the end of a level or must be earned by completing a specific challenge. Each level contains a "Bonus Platform" that leads to a special bonus area, where the player must navigate through a maze and collect everything in sight. Once a bonus area is completed, it cannot be played again unless the level is replayed. After completing all five levels in a VR Hub, a sixth teleportation portal to a boss fight
Boss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
with Crunch will appear. By defeating the boss, the next VR Hub will become available for play. When all 25 Crystals are collected and Doctor Cortex and Crunch are defeated, the game is won.
Besides Crystals, Gems and Colored Gems can be collected for extra accomplishment. Gems are rewarded to the player if all of the crates in a level are broken open or if a secret area is completed. Colored Gems are found in special levels and lead to hidden areas. "Relics" can be won by re-entering a level where the Crystal has already been retrieved. To obtain a Relic, the player must initiate the "Time Trial" mode and race through a level in the pre-designated time displayed before entering a level. To begin a Time Trial run, the player must enter a level and activate the floating stopwatch near the beginning of the level to activate the timer; if the stopwatch is not touched, the level can be played regularly. The player must then race through the level as quickly as possible. Scattered throughout the level are yellow crates with the numbers 1, 2 or 3 on them. When these crates are broken, the timer is frozen for the number of seconds designated by the box. As no lives are lost in the Time Trial mode, the level can be played through as often as the player desires. Sapphire, Gold and Platinum Relics can be won depending on how low the player's final time is. The first five Relics the player receives unlocks access to a secret level. Every five Relics thereafter open up another level in the Secret Warp Room. The levels in the Secret Warp Room must be won before the game can be fully completed.
Crash and Coco start the game with four lives. Crash and Coco lose a life when they are struck by an enemy attack or suffer any other type of damage. More lives can be earned by instructing Crash or Coco to collect 100 "Wumpa Fruits" or break open a special crate to collect a life. Crash and Coco can be shielded from enemy attack by collecting an Aku Aku mask. Collecting three of these masks allows temporary invulnerability from all minor dangers. If Crash or Coco run out of lives, the game is over. However, the game can be continued by selecting "Yes" at the "Continue?" screen.
Characters
Nine returning characters from previous Crash titles star in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex along with five new characters. The protagonist of the game, Crash Bandicoot, is a genetically-enhanced Eastern Barred BandicootEastern Barred Bandicoot
The Eastern Barred Bandicoot was once distributed across the Basalt Plains of south west Victoria, and in Tasmania. It is a small, rabbit sized marsupial weighing less than 1 kg with a short tail and three to four whitish bars across the rump. It lives for just two to three years and is not...
who must defeat the antagonist Doctor Neo Cortex and his new superweapon. Coco Bandicoot, Crash's younger sister, is a highly intelligent computer expert with an interest in Hong Kong martial arts films. Aku Aku is a kindly omnipotent witch doctor who guides and aids Crash and Coco in stopping the plans of Doctor Neo Cortex.
The main antagonist of the series, Doctor Neo Cortex, is a mad scientist
Mad scientist
A mad scientist is a stock character of popular fiction, specifically science fiction. The mad scientist may be villainous or antagonistic, benign or neutral, and whether insane, eccentric, or simply bumbling, mad scientists often work with fictional technology in order to forward their schemes, if...
who created Crash Bandicoot among other characters and now seeks Crash's elimination along with world domination. The controlling force behind Cortex's plots for conquering the world is Uka Uka, the evil twin brother of Aku Aku. A number of recurring villains from the series serve minor roles in the game. These include Doctor N. Gin, Cortex's right hand man, Doctor Nefarious Tropy, a scientist who specializes in time travel, Tiny Tiger, a hulking and ferocious Thylacine
Thylacine
The thylacine or ,also ;binomial name: Thylacinus cynocephalus, Greek for "dog-headed pouched one") was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times. It is commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or the Tasmanian wolf...
, and Dingodile, a dingo
Dingo
The Australian Dingo or Warrigal is a free-roaming wild dog unique to the continent of Australia, mainly found in the outback. Its original ancestors are thought to have arrived with humans from southeast Asia thousands of years ago, when dogs were still relatively undomesticated and closer to...
-crocodile
Crocodile
A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: i.e...
hybrid armed with a flamethrower
Flamethrower
A flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to project a long controllable stream of fire.Some flamethrowers project a stream of ignited flammable liquid; some project a long gas flame. Most military flamethrowers use liquids, but commercial flamethrowers tend to use high-pressure propane and...
.
Five new characters in the series make their appearance in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, particularly Doctor Cortex's genetically-enhanced superweapon Crunch Bandicoot, a bionic bandicoot created for the purpose of destroying Crash Bandicoot. Acting as Crunch's power source are the Elementals, a group of destructive masks who control the elements of Earth, Water, Fire and Air. The Elementals consist of Rok-Ko, a bad-tempered and rock-headed earthbending mask who controls earthquakes and landslides, Wa-Wa, a stick-in-the-mud waterbending mask who controls thunderstorms and floods, Py-Ro, an easily-perturbed firebending mask who controls volcano eruptions, and Lo-Lo, a joke-cracking airbending mask who controls tornadoes.
Story
In a newly-built space station orbiting the Earth, Uka Uka, having called a conventionConvention (meeting)
A convention, in the sense of a meeting, is a gathering of individuals who meet at an arranged place and time in order to discuss or engage in some common interest. The most common conventions are based upon industry, profession, and fandom...
of recurring villains in the series, berates the attendees for their recently unimpressive evil productivity, and forces them to come up with a plan to eliminate Crash Bandicoot, their main opponent. Doctor Cortex comes forward with the announcement of a previously secret genetically-enhanced superweapon of unbelievable strength, but reveals that it is missing a power source. Uka Uka then tells the group a tale of a battle between the Ancient Ancestors and the Elementals, a group of renegade masks who had the elemental power over earth, water, fire and air and used these elements to ravage the globe. The Ancients were able to imprison the Elementals with the aid of special Crystals that put the masks in a state of hibernation. Cortex deduces that if they awaken the Elementals and harness their destructive power, they can bring his secret weapon to life and do away with Crash Bandicoot forever.
Back on Earth, the world is suddenly terrorized by severe natural disasters, leading Aku Aku to conclude that Uka Uka, his evil twin brother, is up to something. A confrontation with Uka Uka confirms his suspicions and nearly results in his destruction at the hands of the Elementals. Aku Aku returns to Crash and Coco Bandicoot and alerts them of the current situation, disclosing that the only way to stop the Elementals is to imprison them once more with the Crystals, which have been scattered across the Earth. Using Coco's new Virtual Reality Hub System, Crash and Coco are able to travel the world and gather the Crystals, fending off attacks from Cortex's superweapon, Crunch Bandicoot, and the Elementals along the way. However, by the time the Crystals have been gathered and the Elementals have been put in their hibernation state, Crunch's elemental powers have reached maximum capacity, forcing Crash to battle Crunch at full power in Cortex's space station. Nevertheless, Crash is able to defeat Crunch, snapping him out of Doctor Cortex's control. Infuriated by this failure, Uka Uka attacks Doctor Cortex with a fireball, only to have it hit a vital part of the space station, causing a chain reaction that results in the space station's self-destruction. Crash, Aku Aku and Crunch are able to escape and return to the Bandicoot home on Coco's space fighter ship, while Cortex and Uka Uka deploy an escape pod
Escape pod
An escape pod is a capsule or craft used to escape a vessel in an emergency, usually only big enough for one person. An escape ship is a larger, more complete craft also used for the same purpose...
and end up landing somewhere in Antarctica, where Uka Uka furiously chases Cortex around a small ice floe.
Development
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex was originally intended to be designed by Mark CernyMark Cerny
Mark Cerny is a video game industry figure who has worked as a game designer, programmer, producer and business executive. As president of Cerny Games, which he founded in 1998, he now acts as a consultant in the video game industry. In 2004, he was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award...
(who designed all the games in the series thus far) and published by Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. is a major video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony...
. After a falling-out between Vivendi Universal
Vivendi Games
Vivendi Games, formerly known as Vivendi Universal Games, was the holdings company for Sierra Entertainment and Blizzard Entertainment. Vivendi Games was founded as Vivendi Universal Games after Vivendi bought Universal Studios in the early 2000s...
and the two entities, Traveller's Tales was forced to alter the game from a free-roaming title to a standard Crash title. Traveller's Tales had to begin development of the game from scratch and were given only twelve months to complete the game. The game's music is composed by Andy Blythe and Marten Joustra of Swallow Studios. The original Crash Bandicoot theme by Mutato Muzika
Mutato Muzika
Mutato Muzika is a music production company established in 1989 by Devo co-founder Mark Mothersbaugh. While Devo members Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald V...
also appears in the game. Only two of the series' original voice actors reprised their roles for the game: Clancy Brown
Clancy Brown
Clarence J. "Clancy" Brown III is an American actor and voice actor. He is known for his roles in live action as The Kurgan in the cult classic film Highlander, Byron Hadley in the award-winning The Shawshank Redemption, Brother Justin Crowe in HBO's critically acclaimed Carnivàle, and Career...
voices the dual role of Doctor Neo Cortex and Uka Uka, while Mel Winkler
Mel Winkler
Mel Winkler is an American film and TV actor. Though he mostly takes on minor live-action roles, he is probably best known as the voice of the guardian mask Aku Aku in the Crash Bandicoot series, and Johnny Snowman in the TV series Oswald....
provides the voice of Aku Aku. Debi Derryberry
Debi Derryberry
Debi Derryberry is an American voice actress, singer, composer and kids' entertainer who won an American Anime Award.-History:...
inherited the role of Coco Bandicoot from Hynden Walch
Hynden Walch
Heidi Hynden Walch , known professionally as Hynden Walch, is an American actress.One of her most known roles is Starfire in Teen Titans. She also voiced Penny Sanchez on the Nickelodeon show ChalkZone and Elsie on the Disney Channel show Stanley...
, while Corey Burton
Corey Burton
Corey Burton is an American voice actor, perhaps best known as Count Dooku, Ziro the Hutt and Cad Bane in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Brainiac in the DC animated universe and Spike Witwicky and Shockwave in the Transformers universe...
voices the returning villains Doctor N. Gin and Doctor Nefarious Tropy, taking over for Brendan O'Brien
Brendan O'Brien (voice actor)
Brendan O'Brien is an American voice actor who is best known for providing voices for the Crash Bandicoot video games during the Naughty Dog years...
and Michael Ensign
Michael Ensign
- Early life :Ensign was born in Safford, Arizona and was raised in both the United States and England. He trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and spent the first ten years of his professional career working in the theatre in Britain.- Career :...
respectively. Kevin Michael Richardson
Kevin Michael Richardson
Kevin Michael Richardson is an American actor and voice actor who currently stars as Cleveland Brown, Jr. in The Cleveland Show...
provides the voice of new character Crunch Bandicoot, while the Elementals, consisting of Rok-Ko, Wa-Wa, Py-Ro and Lo-Lo, are voiced by Thomas F. Wilson
Thomas F. Wilson
Thomas F. Wilson is an American actor, writer, musician, painter, voice-over artist and stand-up comedian. He is best known for playing Biff Tannen in the Back to the Future trilogy and Coach Ben Fredricks on NBC's Freaks and Geeks.-Early life:Thomas Francis Wilson, Jr. was...
, R. Lee Ermey
R. Lee Ermey
Ronald Lee Ermey is a retired United States Marine Corps drill instructor and actor.Ermey has often played the roles of authority figures, such as his breakout performance as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket, Mayor Tilman in the Alan Parker film Mississippi Burning, Bill Bowerman in...
, Mark Hamill
Mark Hamill
Mark Richard Hamill is an American actor, voice artist, producer, director, and writer, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy of Star Wars. More recently, he has received acclaim for his voice work, in such roles as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, Firelord...
and Jess Harnell
Jess Harnell
Jess Q. Harnell is an American voice actor and singer, best known for voicing Wakko Warner on Animaniacs. Harnell has been the announcer for America's Funniest Home Videos since 1998.-Life and acting career:...
respectively.
Reception
The PlayStation 2 version of Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex was met with mixed to fair reviews. Louis Bedigian of GameZoneGameZone
GameZone is an American multiplatform video game website. GameZone's daily coverage includes reviews, previews, news, hints & cheats, and editorials. Additionally, GameZone offers downloads, a child-targeted website and in association with GameStop, hosts GZGameShop, an online retailer...
wrote a positive review, saying that "any Crash Bandicoot fan would be a fool not to go out and buy this game. I started playing at 2am one night and did not stop until three in the afternoon!" Doug Perry of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
described the game as "a decent playing and pretty looking Crash Bandicoot game. It's nothing terribly special, but it's not bad, not bad at all." Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine felt that "when the strongest feeling I get from a game is the desire to play its predecessors, something's not quite right." Game Informer
Game Informer
Game Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. It was formed in August 1991, when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, free in all its retail locations...
criticized the "outrageously bad load times", saying that they "keep the game from being average." Shane Satterfield of GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
concluded that the game "maintains the status quo and fails to deliver a fresh, compelling experience." Star Dingo of GamePro
GamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
cautioned that "if you were hoping the new management would give Crash a big kick in the pants, however, this is one pair of pants you will find quite unkicked." Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly is a bimonthly American video game magazine. It has been published by EGM Media, LLC. since relaunching in April of 2010. Its previous run, which ended in January 2009, was published by Ziff Davis...
criticized the trial-and-error gameplay, saying that "when forced to blindly jump, die, then discover what you missed, where I come from, that’s just cheating."
Though the Xbox version of the game rated generally higher among critics than the PlayStation 2 version, reviews remained mixed. Play Magazine
Play (US magazine)
Play was a U.S.-based magazine focused on video games, anime, manga, film, DVD, television, comics, music and media. Published by Fusion Publishing, Inc. since 2001, Play magazine also had a separate Internet presence on its website, Play Online...
noted that "they've caressed the music to great effect, made the bosses a bit more challenging, [and] adhered to a massive replayability standard that would drive any developer to drink." Game Informer felt that "every little morsel of platforming goodness in The Wrath of Cortex has already been done to death on the Playstation." Carlos McElfish of GameZone warned that "if you are looking for an innovative and original experience that does justice to the series you’ll have to look elsewhere." Official Xbox Magazine
Official Xbox Magazine
Official Xbox Magazine is a monthly video game magazine which started in November 2001 around the launch of the original Xbox. A preview issue was released for E3 2001, with another preview issue for November 2001. The magazine is bundled with a disc that includes game demos, preview videos and...
concluded that "this is a game for those who want what Crash has always had to offer – good graphics, jump-and-spin gameplay, and tons of collectible items. Nothing more, nothing less." Hilary Goldstein felt that while Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex was "a fun game for the most part," "it fails in some areas, like proper game balance and correct use of surround sound." Shane Satterfield of GameSpot passed off the game as "a slightly updated version of the orange marsupial's 1998 debut on the PlayStation." Star Dingo of GamePro concluded that "love it or hate it, Wrath of Cortex Xbox is more of more of the same." Electronic Gaming Monthly felt that "save for a few additions to WOC, like some cool hamster-ball
Hamster ball
Hamster balls are hollow spheres made of clear plastic into which hamsters, gerbils, degus and other small rodent pets are placed, allowing them to run around outside their cages without the risk of running away, getting lost under furniture or in walls...
levels, it's almost identical to its predecessors."
The GameCube version rated the lowest among critics out of the three versions. Ben Kosmina of Nintendo World Report
Nintendo World Report
Nintendo World Report is a Nintendo-specific video game website that covers Nintendo's current consoles, the Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi, and Wii.-History:...
promised that "gamers experiencing the wacky mascot for the first time may enjoy it." Michael Lafferty of GameZone described the game as "safe, sterile and redundant." Matt Casamassina
Matt Casamassina
Matt Casamassina is a video game journalist who worked for IGN until April 23, 2010. In his time at the site, he was the author of many reviews and previews of Nintendo games. He resides in Los Angeles, California, is married and has two daughters, Zoe and Fiona Jade, and a son named Rocco Archer...
on IGN concluded that "at the end of the day this is the same Crash game I played so many years ago without any real innovations or evolutions." Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
praised the "sheer variety" of the gameplay. Kilo Watt of GamePro said that "graphically, this version is slightly below the recent Xbox release but in line with the competent PlayStation 2 iteration." Electronic Gaming Monthly agreed that "Wrath on the GC is much more polished here than on the PS2," while Play Magazine denounced the GameCube version as "a shell of the other two console versions, so I beg you to pass."
The Wrath of Cortexs lackluster reception would be lampooned in a cutscene of its successor, Crash Twinsanity
Crash Twinsanity
Crash Twinsanity is an platform video game published by Vivendi Universal Games and developed by Traveller's Tales, for the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox. It was released in North America on October 1, 2004, in Europe on October 8, 2004 and in Japan on November 9, 2004...
, where Cortex alleges that the main cause of a character's check being bounced
Non-sufficient funds
Non-sufficient funds is a term used in the banking industry to indicate that a demand for payment cannot be honored because insufficient funds are available in the account on which the instrument was drawn. In simplified terms, a cheque has been presented for clearance, but the amount written on...
was the game's poor sales.
External links
- Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex (PS2) | (Xbox) | (NGC) at GameSpotGameSpotGameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
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