Crash: Mind Over Mutant

System: Wii
Developer: Radical Entertainment
Publisher: Vivendi Games
Genre: Adventure Platformer
Players: 1-2

Crash Bandicoot was once a respected and much-loved character, who's games provided much fun and joy. However, after the Playstation 2 was released, he slipped from the public eye, like his friend Spyro, and was just "there" for the past few years. Not having played a Crash game in years, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Crash: Mind Over Mutant revolves around the devious telephonic headset released by Doctor Neo Cortex, and his partner Doctor Nitrus Brio. The headset is given out free, to all residents of Wumpa Island, and it of course makes all the wearers of the device evil. Except Crash, whom is zapped whenever he tries to touch it, which I don't recall beng explained. Also, giant beasts called Titans have now become Mutants, and need to be beaten to a pulp to become good again.

The game is an adventure platformer, but there are nice little additions to keep you entertained. As you defeat enemies or break boxes, you earn experience. Not only can you make contact with the experience to collect it, you can use the pointer of the Wiimote, ala Super Mario Galaxy, to retrieve it. When you earn a certain level of experience, you level up, and you get stronger or your spin attack lasts longer or something else that assists you on your adventure. You earn experience multipliers by fighting enemies without getting hit, which is basically the only incentive to stay alive, as there are no real punishments within the game for running out of health.


The combat system is actually a lot better than I expected. You can do normal melee attacks with the B trigger, the spin attack with a waggle of the Wiimote, a heavy attack with the Z button and an aerial attack by either using the spin or normal attack mid-air. You can also counter certain attacks by timing the Z button, which is a nice addition that isn't too easy too pull-off, but not impossible. I only encountered one real problem with the controls of the game, and that was the spin attack. It isn't sensetive enough, and you have to whip your wrist a fair bit to do a move that is required frequently during the game. Along the way, you'll also encounter various power-ups. Some increase your melee strength, some make you run fast, and some increase the amount of experience you earn. These power-ups, although limited, were substantial enough that gaining them from a usually hazardous area was well worth the risk.

Mutants play a large role within the game. As you spin, punch, and crawl through Wumpa Island, you'll come across some gnarly beasts called Titans, which have been turned into evil Mutants. After you give them some good ol' fashion discipline, you can choose to control the Titan, and make use of it's special abilites. You can also store one Titan, which is aggravating, as if you control another Titan while you have one stored, you can't store both. If you could store two Titans at once, the game would've been more fun, as you could've used the ice Titan to freeze a body of water, then used the telekinetic Penguin Titan to hurl some TNT at some foes. At times, you'll find a Titan slows you down, and you'll choose to ditch it in favour of being Crash. However, playing as a Titan, you earn experience for that Titan only, and something inside of you wants to power-up every Titan, not just Crash. Although this is a great incentive, sometimes you'll want to play as the inferior Titan just to get stronger, which isn't very fun. A bit more equality thoughout the Titans, so they each have their pro's and con's, would have been nice.

Along with controlling the Titans, there are other features within the game, such as a co-op mode, in which a second player can join in and play as Crash's sister Coco. There are also various pieces of concept art, and various alternate costumes that can be unlocked by collecting hidden items, but at time you'll feel there are too much hidden items to be collected. Collecting 12 hidden crash dolls for some concept art of the first stage just doesn't feel rewarding. There is a problem with the games option screen as well, in that it is sickeningly basic. All you can do is alter the sound levels, which is extremely dissapointing.

Graphically, the game isn't awful. It's also not great. There isn't too much to say, except the art style is fluent throughout, and that the animations are fluid. The landscapes look hot or cold, the characters are easily identifiable, text is easy to read. It's good. One thing of note are the cutscenes, which are superb and mostly of different art styles. Some may look flash animated, some look like comic-strips, some are shadow puppets. They're generally hilarious, and Radical Entertainment did an excellent job with them. During the cutscenes, Crash's "muteness" is blatantly obvious and rather annoying. You want him to speak, because all the other characters feel developed, while Crash is rather boring, and non-heroic.

In the sounds department, Crash is nothing special. Some of the music sounds of low quality, as if they've been heavily compressed, and the tunes are forgettable. What the music isn't, is intrusive. The music still adds to the atmosphere of the game, and doesn't loop every five seconds, which makes playing the game a lot easier on the ears. The sound effects are decent, and there really isn't anything that stood out. Crash: Mind Over Mutant is unfortunately really medi-ocre in most departments.


Score: 7/10 - "Good Buy"
While Crash was an enjoyable romp with Wumpa Island, staying motivated to continue the adventure was a challenge. The mutants were on the whole unique and fun to play as, and there weren't any glaring flaws within the title. The problem was that the game felt too medi-ocre. However, my younger brother who is in the seventh grade, enjoyed the game a lot more than me, so I'd defenitely reccomend it for the younger audience.

Review by Jack Niehsner (BoonMcNougat)