Crash Bandicoot: Mind Over Mutant

How's Crash getting on in his first Activision release?

	Version 360 (Wii, PS2, PSP, DS)	Developer Radical Entertainment	Publisher Activision	Genre Action

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By Stuart McAndrew

Crash Bandicoot's back for some traditional platformer adventuring, and this time he's got some serious B-movie monstrosities to take care of! Once again the evil genius, Dr Cortex, has unleashed a devious plan to bring the world under control. And as you might expect, it's up to Crash and Co. to stop him.

Crash Bandicoot has never had the following the likes of Sonic or Mario have enjoyed, however his platforming antics have been a mainstay of console gaming since he originally went spinning on the PS1. He's now unleashing his trademark whirl across all platforms, but does this now teenage upstart still have what it takes to excite a new generation of gamer?

Opening impressions are very good. Crash has a smart house in the middle of town, and the graphics are bright and appealing, with great animations for our lovable mutant Bandicoot. Sadly it isn't long however before players can expect to encounter the main problem in Mind Over Mutant. The camera is fixed and frequently requires you to run into the screen. While it usually frames a lovely image (and also turns some areas from a full 3-D into faux 2-D, which is a refreshing change) this can pose a few problems. Enemies can often remain off screen, making it nearly impossible to dodge shots they fire. The game also involves (in traditional platform manner) collecting prizes and tokens in hard to reach areas. Crash frequently falls down (literally in some cases) as the fixed camera can force you to make leaps of faith off screen, for which you are sometimes rewarded and others punished by falling to your death.

Not a great start then, especially as it isn't long before you come across the first of the game's highlights - the mutants. Crash will meet his usual foes, however his time around there are numerous giant mutants who can be hi-jacked and used for your own devices. Whilst difficult to take down (perfectly timed counter-attacking is the key here) a mutant knocked unconscious can be jumped on, at which point Crash takes control. There are a generous variety of mutants in the game, each with their own powers.

Some are ideally used to demolish the opposition, some provide an original means of transport, and others will use their powers to allow Crash to progress through the game. Crash's new found accomplishes can be great fun to storm through a stage on, destroying everything with a single claw swipe, or in other cases telekinetically pulling and pushing objects around a stage to provide you with the platforms you need to pass through. Kudos to the creator of the wheezing half octopus/half bagpipe nasty who whips enemies around with a giant tentacles whilst terrifying the neighbours with his awful din!

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