Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure: Information from Answers.com

Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure

Platform: Game Boy Advance
Release Date: February 28, 2002
Similar Games: Sonic Advance (Game Boy Advance), Spyro: Season of Ice (Game Boy Advance), Kao the Kangaroo (Game Boy Advance), Inspector Gadget: Advance Mission (Game Boy Advance)

Game Description

Crash Bandicoot is back in this Game Boy Advance adventure designed to provide all the fast-paced running, jumping, sliding, and body-slamming his fans demand. Naughty Dog's giant orange mascot goes portable for the first time in this release from developer Vicarious Visions, the studio responsible for bringing other video game superstars to the GBA, as in Spider-Man: Enter Electro and Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2.

Crash cascades through 20 levels in six locations such as the Mayan Jungle, Underwater Ruins, Arctic Caverns, and Underground Sewers. Challenges include side-scrolling platform levels, 3D chase scenes, and even aerial dogfights. The enduringly nasty Dr. Neo Cortex has invented his greatest creation yet -- the Planetary Minimizer. Help Crash stop the wicked genius before he shrinks us all to oblivion. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

Review: Enjoyment

The game isn't enormous, but the variety of levels will keep players from becoming bored. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Production Credits

Company 1: Vicarious Visions

Executive Producer: Karthik Bala, Tobi Saulnier

Project Manager: Karthik Bala, Jesse Booth, Mike Meischeid

Game Design: Luis Barriga, Karthik Bala

Additional Game Design: Theodore Bialek, Christopher Winters, Chris Degnan, Ben Raymond, Jonathan Russell

Programming: Nate Trost, Robert Trevellyan, Alex Rybakov, Jesse Raymond, Chris Pruett, Jesse Booth, Viktor Kuzmin

Graphics: Theodore Bialek, Christopher Winters, Mei He, Jason Harlow, Carl Schell, Jim Powell, Wes Merritt, Jorge Diaz, Florian Freisleder

Audio: Manfred Linzner, Todd Masten

Thanks: Nehme Frangie, Kerry Coffey, Lauren Costello, Dawn Harrington, Matt Conte, Eric Caraszi, Daniel Suarez, Sean Krankel, Phillipe Erwin, Vijay Lakshman, Naughty Dog

Vice President of Production: Vijay Lakshman

Associate Producer: Sean Krankel

Additional Produciton Support: Nick Torchia

Associate Product Manager: Marcus Savino

Marketing Coordinator: Jason Covey

Director of Promotions: Chandra Hill

Booklet Design: Lauren Azeltine

Special Thanks: Virginia Fout, Scott Johnson, Neal Robison, Suzan Rude, Ricci Rukavina, Marcus Sanford, Charles Yam, Jim Wilson, Luc Vanhal, Ken Cron, Agnes Touraine, Sarah Rico-Zager ~ Keith Adams, All Game Guide

Review: Overall

Crash Bandicoot makes his Game Boy Advance debut in a stunning translation that pulls some of the most memorable moments from the marsupial's past efforts on the PlayStation. The presentation is what immediately hooks players in, with sharp, colorful graphics that would make Crash's original developer, Naughty Dog, howl with delight. The format is nothing new, and levels are skewed more toward the side-scrolling stages found in the first three games, but there are a number of 3D stages that put the handheld's power to good use. The bottom line is this looks, plays, and feels like the classic Crash Bandicoot games that have dominated PlayStation sales charts since 1996.

Neo Cortex, Tiny Tiger, Dingodile, and the rest of the gang are back to ruin poor old Crash's fun in the sun. To stop them, the orange wonder from down under must use his trademark whirling attack, along with a slew of precise jumps, to find the missing crystal hidden within each stage. As in past games, players are free to select any level in the four worlds, giving them a little breather for certain stages that may be too difficult to get through on the first attempt. The challenge increases at a perfect rate as the game progresses and the variety of stages is a big plus. Crash will explore the ocean depths with his scuba gear, run forwards toward the player while a polar bear chases him from behind, blast across land using a hover bike, and much more.

Though enemies are easy to defeat with Crash's powerful attack, the true challenge lies in getting past all the traps and hazards between enemies. One hit and Crash is down for the count, and both TNT and Nitro crates are devilishly placed atop delicious Wumpa Fruit, requiring some thought on how to break certain boxes without losing a life. While players can simply clear the level without worrying about hitting these items, colored gems are earned by those who break all of the crates in a level or collect all of the fruit. It's here where the game offers its replay value. Just obtaining crystals takes around 90 minutes, so it's not as "huge" an adventure as the title suggests. Progress is automatically saved after each of the 20 stages, meaning players can move quickly through the game.

Still, it's hard not to be entertained. The stages are vibrant and the lead character is oozing with personality, exhibited through his fluid animation and funny expressions. Each stage also displays the number of relics, gems, and crystals earned, enticing you to come back to improve your scores. This style of play would be boring in a lesser title, but it's just what the doctor ordered for those looking for an excuse to revisit the variety of short but engaging levels with a more challenging objective. Vicarious Visions did an excellent job in bringing Crash to the handheld, and while fans shouldn't expect anything substantially new or different, they will feel a sense of warm nostalgia. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Review: Graphics

From the lush jungles to the icy tundra, Crash Bandicoot on Game Boy Advance looks as good as it did on the PlayStation. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Review: Sound

The sound effects are accurate, but the music isn't as impressive as in the original games on PlayStation. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Review: Replay Value

Replay value is enhanced by allowing players to return to earlier stages to compete in time trial events or to collect different colored gems. Since the levels are short and the game includes a save feature, players are more apt to revisit past levels to improve on their performances. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Review: Documentation

The full-color manual explains the story (which doesn't make much sense) and features a list of moves, power-ups, and items to find. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure/XS

Developer(s)	Vicarious Visions
Publisher(s)	Universal Interactive
Release date(s)	February 25, 2002 March 15, 2002 July 18, 2002
Genre(s)	Platform
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone (E)
Platform(s)	Game Boy Advance
Media	Cartridge

Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure/XS

Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure cover art

Developer(s)

Vicarious Visions

Publisher(s)

Universal Interactive

Release date(s)

February 25, 2002

March 15, 2002

July 18, 2002

Genre(s)

Platform

Mode(s)

Single player

Rating(s)

ESRB: Everyone (E)

Platform(s)

Game Boy Advance

Media

Cartridge

Gameplay

The gameplay is characterized by a limited environment, and by the breaking of crates, most of which contain some bonus. Breaking all of a level's crates earns the player that level's white gem. The player can collect additional white and colored gems by finding and touching them. Colored gems activate secret areas. If one collects all of the gems in the game, the secret ending is activated. Stepping on a question-mark platform takes Crash to a bonus level.

Crash has several moves at the beginning of the game: jumping, spin attacking, body slamming, sliding, ducking, crawling, and an extra-high jump performed by sliding or ducking and then jumping. Crash also collects a special ability after beating each boss. The special abilities earned during the game are super body slamming, double jumping, tornado spin attacking and speed shoes.

After collecting a level's crystal, time trial is activated for that level. The player receives a relic upon performing especially well on a time trial. There are three relics to collect from each level, which are colored, in order of increasing difficulty, sapphire, gold, and platinum.

Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure does well copying most gameplay elements of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. However, relics are indisputably easier to acquire in Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure than in Warped. The game was well-received by critics, due to sticking to the Naughty Dog format, receiving a 9/10 from IGN.

Synopsis

In a mysterious space station orbiting the Earth, Uka Uka is upset with Doctor Neo Cortex for failing him once again, but Cortex promises a plan that will bring the Earth's inhabitants down to size. Cortex then introduces his relatively new Planetary Minimizer, which he immediately uses to shrink the Earth down to the size of a grapefruit. The situation is brought to Aku Aku's attention when Cortex taunts the now-microscopic people of Earth. When Aku Aku informs Crash of the Earth's predicament, Coco assumes that Cortex is using the Crystals to power his shrinking machine, and requests that Crash find the same kind of Crystals around the world, which she will use to build a device that will reverse the effects of Cortex's Minimizer.

After Crash fends off Dingodile, Doctor N. Gin, and Tiny Tiger, Cortex decides to deal with Crash himself by firing the Planetary Minimizer at him. Unfortunately for him, Crash tricks him into shrinking the colored Gems that stabilize the Minimizer, causing it to malfunction. The unrestrained effects of the Minimizer fuses Cortex and the previous bosses together, creating a monster known as Mega-Mix, who chases Crash down the space station's hallway in an attempt to kill him. Fortunately, Crash escapes back to the Earth just in time for Coco to use the Crystals that Crash has gathered to return the Earth back to normal. The Earth is returned to its original size, while Crash returns to earth on his hoverbike and the space station outside earth explodes with Cortex and the others in it.