Crash XS, But its Super Mario Maker 13 Years Prior.

Availability : Game Boy Advance.

Original release: March 15th 2002.

Developers:  Vicarious Visions.

Publisher:  Universal Interactive.

Genre:  Platformer.

With the latest instalment of Crash Bandicoot coming to our screens in October, you maybe forgiven for thinking that the only Crash platformer games worth your time and money is the N Sane Trilogy, or of course the original trilogy on the Playstation 1. If you were so inclined you may even cast your eyes back to the Playstation 2 and Xbox era, and play what Crash has to offer from the mid-2000s, most notably from Crash Twinsanity and Wrath of Cortex. Both received mixed reviews and didn’t capture us in the same way the original trilogy did, which explains why we don’t recall them as much.

During the Playstation 2 and Xbox life cycle, Crash had a collection of Gameboy Advance Games, with various success. The first of which is Crash Bandicoot XS, also known as Crash Bandicoot the Huge Adventure. It was developed by Vicarious Visions who went on to develop the N Sane Trilogy 15 years later, as well as Crash Nitro Kart.

The story of Crash XS is your basic bad guy (in this case Cortex) wanting to take over the world and destroy our marsupial hero in the process, as part of Cortex’s plan he shrinks the earth to the size of a grapefruit, and now we need the power of the crystals to stop him and restore earth to its original size. 

Graphically the game looks decent, some slack must be given as it was a Gameboy Advance game from 2002, it was never going to look shiny and breath-taking. However, it does look like a Crash game and not a cheap imitation, it’s just the size of a grapefruit.

In terms of gameplay Crash XS delivers as it provides something new but ultimately familiar, as it takes a lot of mechanics and environments from the original trilogy and makes it bitesize for out enjoyment.

Another gameplay aspect worth mentioning is the bosses, all together there are 20 stages and five bosses, four in the main story and one hidden behind 100% completion. The boss fights vary in quality, the highlight being fighting  N Gin in another one of his flying machines and filling the sky with explosions. At the lowest point you fight Tiny jumping between platforms in a non-threatening non challenging display, lasting around 30 seconds. The bonus boss fight plays kin to a chase sequence, which is also not very challenging as at that point in the game you have the dash ability, so he can be easily outrun. Furthermore as is tradition, Cortex is a ridiculously easy final boss. 

So what mechanics are included? of course there’s fundamentals such as breaking boxes for wumpa fruit, Aku Aku and lives, as well as blowing yourself up on TNT and Nitro crates. Further mechanics include chase sequences, underwater and flying levels, collecting crystals, gems and different colour relics. Although I do enjoy the gameplay, it’s hard to ignore how many assets were reused in Crash XS to the point it can be considered as a  'primitive' version of Crash Bandicoot 2 and 3. 

Personally, I find that analogy a little harsh, as the developers had to work with the limitations of the system and still deliver a Crash game worthy to join its predecessors. Despite limitations in the way of buttons the game controls well, making use of the directional buttons to move and the A and B buttons to jump and spin. Despite this Crash maintains most of his move set from previous titles, as from defeating bosses you can add to Crash’s arsenal by way of the double jump, dash etc. A reason for some of the similarities between Crash XS and the Crash games for the Playstation and Xbox, is that Vicarious Visions wanted a way to show of the technology capabilities on the Game Boy Advance to Universal Interactive, they later developed a prototype which resembled Crash Bandicoot, which led them to developing Crash XS. What we see in the game is likely elements of the prototype shown to Universal Interactive.    

A better comparison for Crash XS as opposed to being ‘primitive’ comes from an unlikely source at Nintendo, in the shape of Super Mario Maker, as the core concept of Super Mario Maker is that you make levels using assets from generations of Mario titles. In the case of Crash XS the developers took established Crash enemies, locations, music etc, and combined them to create their very own levels to share with us.

Verdict 

Crash Bandicoot XS on the whole is worth your time, if nothing but to satisfy your Crash craving for a little while until October rolls around. Despite recycling mechanics from previous games, the gameplay it did reuse was great and translated well on to a handheld system.

Quote of the game ‘You will pay little Bandicoot’   

Written by Matthew Birkinshaw