Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back

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"Crash Bandicoot 2" redirects here. For the Game Boy Advance game, see Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Composer(s)
Josh Mancell
SeriesCrash Bandicoot
Platform(s)PlayStation
Release
  • NA: November 6, 1997
  • EU: December 5, 1997
Genre(s)Platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back is a 1997

Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. It is a sequel to Crash Bandicoot (1996), and is part of the Crash Bandicoot
series.

Taking place on a fictional group of islands near

Doctor Nitrus Brio
try to warn him about Cortex, with the latter urging Crash to gather gems instead of crystals.

Cortex Strikes Back received positive reviews from critics and is widely considered to be superior to its predecessor. Much of the praise went to the game's graphics, controls and music, while criticisms focused on the trial-and-error gameplay, lack of level variety, easy boss levels and lack of innovation as a platform game. The game went on to become one of the best-selling PlayStation video games of all time and replaced its predecessor as the highest-selling Western title in Japan at the time, selling more than 800,000 copies in the country by April 1998. A remastered version was included in the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy collection, released on the PlayStation 4 in June 2017, and ported to other platforms in June 2018.

Gameplay

In Cortex Strikes Back, a mask named Aku Aku (pictured) serves to protect Crash from damage at least once and floats in his general vicinity.

Cortex Strikes Back is a

boss character before gaining access to the next Warp Room. The player is given a certain amount of lives, which are lost when Crash is attacked by an enemy, or falls into water or a pit. If the player runs out of lives, the game is over. However, it can be continued by selecting "Yes" at the "Continue?" screen.[2]

Crash has the ability to jump into the air and land on an enemy character, spin in a tornado-like fashion to knock enemies off-screen, slide across the ground, and perform a

frill-necked lizards or long-legged robots with heated circumferences on their upper) can only be defeated if Crash slides into them.[4]

Boxes play a prominent role in Cortex Strikes Back and can be broken with all of Crash's techniques. Most boxes in the game contain "Wumpa Fruit", which give the player an extra life if 100 of them are collected. Some boxes contain a

gem
if they manage to destroy all the boxes, including Nitro Boxes and boxes on alternate routes, in a level. Certain gems can be acquired by other means, like reaching the end of a level within a certain time parameter, or completing a level without breaking any boxes.

"Bonus Paths", signified by platforms with a question mark on them, lead Crash to a secret region of the level. In these areas, numerous Wumpa Fruit and extra lives can be collected if the player successfully navigates to the end of the path. If Crash falls off-screen or is otherwise killed off, the player loses whatever was collected in the Bonus Path and is returned to the level from which the Bonus Path was accessed, keeping all lives the player had previously collected.[6]

Plot

Crash Bandicoot sends Doctor Neo Cortex falling from his airship into a cavern filled with glowing crystals. Convinced that they hold tremendous power, he takes one and gets back onto his laboratory.[7] One year later, Cortex and his new assistant Dr. N. Gin rebuild an upgraded, crystal-powered Cortex Vortex in outer space; N. Gin says that they need 25 more crystals to reach the Vortex's maximum capacity and they do not have any of their operatives left on Earth. Cortex then devises a plot to manipulate Crash into retrieving the crystals for him.[7]

Meanwhile, Crash's younger sister, Coco, has him retrieve a new battery for her laptop, but Crash is abducted.

Tiny Tiger
.

Meanwhile, Coco uses her technology expertise to hack into Cortex's hologram communication to advise Crash to be careful trusting Cortex. Cortex eventually tells Crash to return the crystals he collected to his current assistant, N. Gin, but when Crash destroys N. Gin's mecha suit and defeats him, Cortex gets furious. After gathering all 25 crystals, Coco manages to hold a steady connection to reveal Cortex's ultimate plan; with the energy harnessed from the planetary alignment, Cortex will power the gigantic Cortex Vortex built onto his space station and brainwash everyone on Earth into serving his army. Crash reaches Cortex in outer space and incapacitates him once again before the crystals can be used, leaving him drifting through outer space, but leaves the Cortex Vortex intact. However, after collecting all 42 gems, Crash and Dr. Brio use all the gathered gems to power a laser beam machine that Brio created. With Crash's help, the laser beam breaks the Cortex Vortex apart, with one of the pieces falling back to Earth.

Development

Production of Cortex Strikes Back began in October 1996. Development took place over the course of 13 months on a budget of $2,000,000.[10][11] The concept art for the game's environments was mainly created by Naughty Dog employees Bob Rafei, Eric Iwasaki, Erick Pangilinan, Charlotte Francis and Jason Rubin. The jungle levels were originally to have featured ground fog, but this was abandoned when magazines and the public began to criticize other developers for using fog to hide polygon count. Sunlight and depth accentuation was experimented with for these levels. Naughty Dog created the sewer levels as a way to work some "dirty" locations in the game. Color contrast was added to the levels to show depth and break up the monotony of sewer pipes.[12] The character of Coco Bandicoot was created by Naughty Dog as a counterbalance to Tawna (Crash's girlfriend in the first game) that would appease Sony Computer Entertainment Japan, who were uncomfortable with a "super sexy" character being alongside Crash. Character designer Charles Zembillas drew the first sketches of Coco on March 18, 1997.[13]

For the game, Crash Bandicoot co-creator Andy Gavin programmed a new engine named "Game-Oriented Object LISP 2" (GOOL 2); being three times faster than the previous game's engine, it could handle ten times the animation frames and twice the polygon count.[14][15] A flat plane z-buffer was created for the game; because the water surfaces and mud in the jungle had to be a flat plane and be exactly flat on the Y-axis, there could be no waves and the subdividing plane could not be at an odd angle. The effect only worked on objects in the foreground and was only used on Crash, some enemies and a few boxes at the same time.[15]

The soundtrack of Cortex Strikes Back was written by

Electronic Entertainment Expo in Atlanta, Georgia in June 1997[17]
to a positive response from the game industry.

The game went into the alpha stage in August 1997. Around that time, Dan Arey, the lead designer of

User Research "came of age".[19] The game was released in North America on November 6, 1997.[20][21]

A death animation in which Crash is squashed into a stunned head and feet was altered for the Japanese version of the game due to its resemblance to the severed head and shoes left by a serial killer loose in Japan at the time.[22]

Reception

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back was released to critical acclaim.

Game Revolution described the game as "undeniably fun".[25] Next Generation stated that "Crash 2 is a tempting gameplay treat, one that frustrates at times, but it always rewards a job well done – and that is an addictive combination for any serious platform gamer. Recommended."[28]

The game's graphics were positively received. Major Mike considered the graphics to be "a quantum leap" over its predecessor, and cited Crash's detailed animations and level effects such as reflective ice surfaces as highlights.

the B-52s".[29]

Minor criticisms varied amongst critics. Broady noted that the semi-3D setup is "sometimes hard to navigate" and elaborated that "you'll find yourself missing jumps because you're unable to judge distances properly." Additionally, he criticized the trial-and-error aspect of the gameplay as "just plain cheap" and stated that "in some areas you must sacrifice many lives until you memorize a level's layout."[26] Smith and Rickards both said that while the control works well with the analog pad, it is somewhat loose with the digital gamepad, which was still the standard for the PlayStation.[24] Contrarily, Major Mike contended that the digital pad "works just as well, if not better."[29] The IGN staff said that the level design "isn't as varied as it could be" and added that the "jungle, snow and water" environments are recycled from the previous game and reused multiple times in Cortex Strikes Back. They also described the boss levels as "insultingly easy".[27] Major Mike similarly commented "Although [the bosses] look awesome, they have easy-to-recognize patterns and present no challenge."[29] Cooke observed that, like its predecessor, the game did not add anything to the genre and summarized that "the first Crash was dauntingly similar to the 16-bit platform games of yester-yore, only with better graphics, and Crash 2 doesn't deviate much from this formula". He also described the "bizarre" lenticular 3D cover art of the game as "unnecessary and evil" and "a device of unprecedented agony", claiming to have contracted a massive headache after "looking at it in [his] car for about 15 seconds".[25]

Crash Bandicoot 2 was nominated for "Console Game of the Year" and "Console Action Game of the Year" at the inaugural Interactive Achievement Awards.[30]

Crash Bandicoot 2 was a commercial hit. By late February 1998, its sales has reached 1 million units in the United States, 800,000 units in Japan, and 340,000 units in Europe.

MediEvil, as a precautionary measure when the latter two games experienced technical problems.[36] The game was released on the North American PlayStation Network on January 10, 2008, and re-released on the European PlayStation Network on February 2, 2011.[37]

References

  1. ^ "Crash Bandicoot 2: Crash into the Cortex Vortex". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 98. Ziff Davis. September 1997. p. 112.
  2. ^ a b Universal, p. 4
  3. ^ Universal, p. 3
  4. ^ Universal, p. 13
  5. ^ Universal, p. 7
  6. ^ a b Universal, p. 8
  7. ^ a b Universal, p. 5
  8. ^ a b Universal, p. 6
  9. ^ Universal, pp. 9–12
  10. ^ Jason Rubin (2004). "Fear: An Appropriate Response To The Future Of Video Game Development". Morgan Rose. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  11. ^ Superannuation (January 15, 2014). "How Much Does It Cost To Make A Big Video Game?". Kotaku. Archived from the original on December 16, 2017. Retrieved November 23, 2015. Crash Bandicoot 2 - $2 million - Jason Rubin claimed the first Crash sequel cost $2 million.
  12. ^ "[ Crash Gallery - Background Studies - Crash 2 ]". Naughty Dog. Archived from the original on July 28, 2008. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
  13. ^ Charles Zembillas (January 6, 2013). "Charles Zembillas: Crash Bandicoot - Origin of Coco - Part 1". Zembillas. Archived from the original on December 25, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2013. Coco was created as a counter balance to Tawna who was Bandicoot's girlfriend. She came along because ND was sensitive to Sony Japan and wanted to please them. Sony Japan didn't feel comfortable with a super sexy character with Crash so ND went with a sister character instead to appease them. So here she is on the day of her birth. These are the first few sketches. This is where she started from. There's more and I'll be posting those in a later entry. I wrote down the date on these pages when I drew them. March 18, 1997. I was developing Crash 2 at the time.
  14. ^ a b c "[ Crash Bandicoot - Time Line ]". Naughty Dog. Archived from the original on July 29, 2008. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
  15. ^ a b "From Rags to Riches: Way of the Warrior to Crash 3". Game Informer. Vol. 66, no. October 1998. 1998. pp. 18–21.
  16. ^ Universal, pp. 14-15
  17. ^ "E3 Showstoppers!". GamePro. No. 108. IDG. September 1997. p. 40.
  18. ^ "Games You Didn't Know Featured Dynamic Difficulty". November 19, 2018.
  19. ^ "What is GUR/UX? | IGDA Games Research and User Experience SIG".
  20. Imagine Games Network. November 6, 1997. Archived from the original
    on January 18, 1998. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  21. Newspapers.com
    .
  22. ^ Andy Gavin (February 6, 2011). "Making Crash Bandicoot - part 5". All Things Andy Gavin. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved February 7, 2011. Naughty Dog would do a huge amount of work after this on the game for Japan, and even then we would always release a Japanese specific build. Whether it was giving Aku Aku pop up text instructions, or replace a Crash smashing "death" that reminded them of the severed head and shoes left by a serial killer that was loose in Japan during Crash 2's release, we focused on Japan and fought hard for acceptance and success.
  23. ^ a b "Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back for PlayStation". GameRankings. Archived from the original on May 1, 2019. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
  24. ^ a b c d "Review Crew: Crash Bandicoot 2" (PDF). Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 101. Ziff Davis. December 1997. p. 202.
  25. ^ a b c d e Mark Cooke (June 4, 2004). "Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back review for the PS". Game Revolution. Archived from the original on January 24, 2013. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
  26. ^ a b c d e Broady, John (November 25, 1997). "Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back Review for PlayStation". GameSpot. Archived from the original on February 3, 2009. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
  27. ^ a b c d "Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back - PlayStation Review at IGN". IGN. November 4, 1997. Archived from the original on June 20, 2010. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
  28. ^ a b "Finals". Next Generation. No. 37. Imagine Media. January 1998. p. 147.
  29. ^ a b c d e Major Mike (January 1998). "Pro Review: Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back" (PDF). GamePro. pp. 86–87. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 21, 2019. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  30. ^ "The Award - Updates". Interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Archived from the original on June 15, 1998. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  31. ^ Johnston, Chris (March 3, 1998). "Five Million Bandicoots". GameSpot. Archived from the original on March 6, 2000.
  32. ^ Staff (February 25, 1999). "Sony Recaps Crash Sales". GameDaily. Archived from the original on May 20, 2001. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  33. ^ "US Platinum Videogame Chart". The Magic Box. December 27, 2007. Archived from the original on April 21, 2007. Retrieved August 3, 2008.
  34. ^ "Japan Platinum Game Chart". The Magic Box. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved May 22, 2008.
  35. ^ "Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back for PlayStation". GameSpot. Archived from the original on November 18, 2010. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
  36. ^ Mike Jackson (August 7, 2007). "PS3 News: Sony pulls more PSN games". Computer and Video Games. Archived from the original on September 17, 2007. Retrieved September 1, 2008.
  37. ^ "Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back - PlayStation 3". GameSpy. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved July 7, 2010.

Bibliography

External links

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