What the hell is a bandicoot? A musical collaboration between white-headed birds, a censored next-gen i-phone or possibly a lovable orange character who loves to smash barrels? We’re guessing the latter. Ever since Naughty Dog deserted Crash like an injured puppy at the side of the road, he’s been on hard times. There were pretty much no good Bandicoot games on last-gen consoles and it was feared that he may never return. Now the main franchise has been given to Radical, who made the fantastic Crash Team Racing. The gameplay does feel a little old hat – it’s linear, box-smashing, enemy-bashing stuff – but it’s a fantastically presented and well-caredfor hat; a flourishing musketeer’s one with a large feather or two.

As usual, we’re let into Crash’s world of jungles, temples and evil scientists who want his Mojo. The bright colourful style from the old games is back and the platforming sections are testing, even from the beginning. Many times we fell to our deaths standing on wobbly platforms avoiding chatty junior chemists. It’s good to stay back in a new section just to hear them rant about their jobs, superiors and how they’re going to take over the world, Pinky and the Brain style.

The new gaming gimmick is that Crash can now use one of his masked friends to take over an enemy’s minds. Once you’ve hit them around five times you can push another button and then ride on top. Of course, each enemy has his own special powers; some fire purple projectiles, the red mammoths ram stuff with their huge tusks and others are just plain brawlers. A lot of the time you’ll be battling enemies of the same species and then trying to ‘move up the food chain’ as one boss battle instructs. It’s not a perfect system, as the slow motion of each takeover can get a little aggravating during an intense battle. They also seem to change pace of their own accord. As noted earlier, this is very linear, with a few not very hidden secrets. There’s replay to be had, time attacks and secret collection, but nothing that requires hours of input. Crash is definitely a kids’ game, but it’s not as unplayable as cash-in titles, such as Ratatouille or Shrek The Third. This wasn’t made just for money, there’s a bit of love here, too.

Henrie Rowlatt