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Since his
introduction in 1996 to the PlayStation console, the marsupial with the twisted mind known
as Crash Bandicoot has helped the platformer genre reach a wide audience, and may have
been the first platformer you have ever touched. Which is ok, trust me. I would beat the first
instance of the series over and over again as a teenager with what I like to call selective
attention. The fuzzy, shirtless protagonist was the reason that Naughty Dog is on the
map today, and would allow the company to produce more successful titles like the Uncharted
series, but it's safe to say that Crash is the face of the franchise, and has even taken
his act from the Playstation to the Game Boy Advance with Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure,
developed by Vicarious Visions and published by Universal Interactive Studios. The evil
Neo Cortex is up to no good again, and may have been watching too many Rick Moranis movies
before hatching his new plan: to shrink the Earth to the size of a grapefruit. In order
to remedy this unfortunate situation, Crash must do what he does best: collect several
power crystals that will energize a machine belonging to Aku Aku, the guardian spirit
of Crash's homeland the Wumpa Islands, and distant cousin to another advice-giving floating
head, Frylock. Prevalent in previous versions of the Crash series are side-scrolling levels.
Huge Adventure's levels are almost exclusively this type, filled with crates of Wumpa fruit,
extra lives, Aku masks, TNT, and Nitro. There are all kinds of enemies that are as cute
as they are dangerous, and the overall color and cartoony 3D flair that is typical of Crash's
style is presented as well in GBA fashion as it is on
the Playstation. Along with his jump and spin abilities, he can attempt a high jump, a slide
tackle, and can collect more abilities as he clears each warp stage. Obtaining the crystals
scattered around each stage can prove to be a challenge. Along with the oblong, purple
artifacts, your level of achievement will increase if you collect gems, which will often
lead you to secret areas. If you think collecting the gems is hard, just wait till you attempt
to collect a Relic. In order to obtain one of the ankh-shaped collectibles, you must
complete a Time Trial and beat the posted time on the level. It was failure after failure
for myself when I attempted to clear the first unforgiving time trial. The responsiveness
of the jump command was something I needed to get used to in order to jump from an icy
platform. One of my favorite parts of the first Crash was the chase levels, where you
would usually try to outrun a runaway boulder Indiana Jones style. This is recreated in
Huge Adventure through a level where a bloodthirsty Yeti tries to track Crash down as he is perched
upon a rather small but quick polar bear. Crash must avoid the explosives, crawling
penguins, and electric gates along the way in order to keep from slowing down. Crash
Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure retains the same pulse-pounding fun factor that is trademark
of the series, and continues to serve as a fun challenge as a GBA spinoff with cartoony
friends and foes, a plethora of collectible items, and a platforming challenge that may
provide for some sore hands but a satisfied customer.