Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage [GBA] Review

Developer	Vicarious Visions
Publisher	Vivendi Universal
Genre	Platformer

Nintendo has Mario the Plumber. Sega has Sonic the Hedgehog. And Sony had Crash Bandicoot. Sony, Nintendo and Sega nurtured their console talismans every step of the way, ensuring quality and quantity until they could stand on their own. They eventually ran rampant as names any gamer could trust and rest assured something good was in store. Times have changed; gone are the days of compassion and caretaking, now is the moment of money-making at any cost – even if that cost is sabotaging a beloved character.

Mind you, Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto’s Rampage isn’t a poor game; it just has a few weak links. While former Crash developer Naughty Dog moves on to pursue more refined ambitions such as the Jak & Daxter series, the torch is passed on to the capable but apparently lethargic developer, Vicarious Visions.

Gameplay - According to the box, Crash Purple “guest stars” Spyro. This is true, more or less, as you’ll team up with the purple dragon to conquer evil with the sum of your abilities. However, Crash invades Spyro’s Dragon Realms to steal the show, while Spyro takes on Dr. Cortex in Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy in the other version of what is technically the same game.

The story between Crash Purple and Spyro Orange are interwoven, and they both have decent narratives in their own right, as opposed to what could have been a half-assed chronicle had Vivendi Universal chosen to cram it into a single GBA cartridge. A grand scheme to cease the services of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro has begun, with Dr. Cortex and Ripto as the masterminds. Naturally, the protagonists are forced to work together. With his good ol’ mask Aku Aku and Spyro to aid him, Crash sets off to battle the sinister plan.

The whole game’s advancement revolves around collectibles; white gems can be earned in mini-games and mini-challenges (such as levels which you destroy as many crates as possible in a given time limit), and collecting all these white gems open up the final level. There are five worlds total (the final being the boss level), with five mini-games in each. The kicker is, a lot of these games have the same groundwork, with a transparent aesthetic mask concealing the difference. They’re fairly easy at first, but increase in difficulty as the game progresses. When you beat a mini-game, you receive a purple crystal – collect all five in a given world, and unlock the subsequent world.

The game mechanics are fairly simple yet repetitive. Your experience will consist of a cyclical pattern: enter platform segment, unlock mini-game portal, play mini-game, repeat. In the platforming areas you must defeat the simple enemies and collect the abundant Wumpa fruit which is the currency that unlocks the mini-game thresholds.

It’s a shame the player will only have fun half of the time waging Crash’s battle. The previously mentioned 2D platforming areas serve as a stepping stone to the real amusement, the mini-games. Frankly, these are undesirable and you’ll find yourself sighing in exasperation every time you’re dropped into one of these segments – but they lead into the enjoyable mini-games.

Controlling Crash has never been easier – press A on the GBA to jump, press A twice to double jump, and press B to do the Tasmanian Devil-esque spin. The controls are tight and responsive. Crash Purple’s simple control scheme will appeal to a broader range of players, but it might also lower the game’s challenge.

When it comes down to it, the primitive control format is one of many things that hinder Crash Purple from being a challenging video game. To multiply this notion, the platforming elements that act as a link are absurdly easy – I wouldn’t be surprised if they were created in a mere few days, for they lack severely in complexity. To top it all off, it’s hard to say you get your money’s worth for the game’s short length, seeing as I finished it in seven hours. There are lots of mini-games, but my beef is their quality, not quantity – there is nothing original or innovative in them or the platforming overworlds.

The only real incentives to keep playing after the story mode has been beaten (besides replaying the mini-games) are the multiplayer aspects. During the single-player adventure, you collect special cards which can be traded with a Game Boy Advance link cable. If you connect two GBA’s with a separate copy of Crash Purple, or Spyro Orange, you and your buddy can face off in some simple but fairly addictive mini-games.

Graphics - Crash Purple exceeds Spyro Orange in terms of visuals. Not only does it take place mostly in Spyro’s vibrant realms, it also features a colourful palette with every single background, which is virtually the platforming bits’ only saving grace.

The characters’ movements and animating sprites are very smooth and interesting enough to hold the player’s attention. Contradictory to this, the enemies’ animations are downright horrible, looking like something out of an Atari 2600 game. It’s true that Crash Purple is bright and impressive, but only a select few of the more complex mini-games come close to appeasing the potential of the Game Boy Advance’s technical capabilities. The intermittent cutscenes to develop the story are trite and unexciting, with utterly bland backgrounds only complicating matters. Overall, though, Crash Purple is a handful of eye candy that gets the job done.

Sound - The Crash Bandicoot games have always had vivid sound, and Crash Purple is no exception. The sound is as lucid as ever, being especially impressive considering the GBA’s tiny speakers.

Unfortunately, after hearing the same spunky tune for the trillionth time, it can grate on your nerves worse than the repetitive Mario melody. Despite the raspy music, the sound effects hit the spot, never missing their cue; it’s very pleasing to hear crash spin a whirlwind and break a wooden box, then magically inhale the Wumpa fruit it contains.

Bottom Line - If you feel that 25 mini-games ranging from a bland tank blaster game to sheep shooting and a few multiplayer games are worth full price, I recommend this video game. Otherwise, stay away, as Vicarious Visions’ entire platforming perception is very misleading, because they as a finished project yield extremely little worth. The whole game is lacking and feels unpolished. Perhaps this is due to the fact it strays from the classic, tried-and-true formula of the original Crash Bandicoot games, and this is why I don’t want to see another Crash video game without it sticking to the roots. It’s always good to try something fresh and break new ground, but there are just some things you don’t mess with, and Crash is one of them.

Review by Cyrus Baetz