Crash Bash

Crash Bash
North American box art
Developer(s)	Eurocom Entertainment Software Cerny Games
Publisher(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment
Producer(s)	Grady Hunt Jon Williams
Designer(s)	Mark Cerny Michael John
Programmer(s)	Dave Pridmore Stuart Johnson Julian Walshaw-Vaughn Steve Bak Kris Adcock
Artist(s)	Matt Dixon Steve Bamford Clive Stevenson Jon Parr
Composer(s)	Steve Duckworth
Series	Crash Bandicoot
Platform(s)	PlayStation
Release	NA: November 6, 2000 EU: December 1, 2000
Genre(s)	Party
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Crash Bash is a 2000 party video game developed by Eurocom in association with Cerny Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. It is the fifth installment in the Crash Bandicoot series and the first Crash Bandicoot game not to be developed by Naughty Dog (whose partnership with Universal Interactive ended). The game is the last one released for the PlayStation console and to be published by Sony, and the first in the party genre.

Gameplay[]

"Polar Push", an example of a mini-game in Crash Bash, featuring (from left to right) Cortex, Coco, Tiny and Dingodile

Crash Bash is a party video game featuring eight playable characters with differing powers and skills.^[1][2] The game's storyline involves a contest of good vs. evil held between the twin witch doctor spirits Aku Aku and Uka Uka.^[3] The gameplay consists of 28 different mini-games and three distinct modes of play: "Adventure", "Battle" and "Tournament".^[4] Crash Bash includes multiplayer compatibility for up to four human players with the use of the PlayStation Multitap.^[5]

In the Adventure mode, one or two human players must win all 28 mini-games and retrieve trophies, gems and crystals by accomplishing certain challenges presented for each mini-game. The mini-games are accessed from a series of "Warp Room" hub areas,^[6] with the first Warp Room consisting of four mini-games.^[4] A trophy is won by achieving victory in three rounds of any given mini-game, after which the player(s) can return to the mini-game and receive a gem or crystal by winning one round under special conditions. When a minimum number of trophies, gems and crystals have been won, the Warp Room's "Boss Arena" becomes accessible, in which the player(s) must defeat a boss character by depleting his health. Winning a Warp Room's Boss Arena will grant entry to the next Warp Room. When three of the game's four Boss Arenas have been won, mini-game challenges become available in which the player(s) can win gold or platinum Relics by defeating advanced computer-controlled opponents. The Adventure mode is completed when all trophies, gems, crystals and relics have been won.^[6]

The Battle mode is a quick match within any mini-game that has previously been won in the Adventure mode. The mini-games within this mode can be played as a free-for-all or in teams. In the Tournament mode, players compete in four consecutive mini-games and accumulate points; the player with the most points wins the tournament. In both the Battle and Tournament modes, the number of rounds needed to win a mini-game can be adjusted between two and seven, and the skill level of computer-controlled opponents can be adjusted between "easy", "medium" and "hard".^[7]

Synopsis[]

In some temple floating in Hyperspace, the mystic mask of good, Aku Aku and his evil brother, Uka Uka are arguing about which alignment is superior. Having grown tired of this conflict, Aku Aku suggests to his brother that they should settle it once and for all. Uka Uka agrees to this and attempts to battle Aku Aku, but Aku Aku reminds him that the law of the ancients forbid them from fighting each other personally. So Uka Uka suggests that they choose their own champions to fight in their stead, and Aku Aku consents to this. Elsewhere on Earth, Crash Bandicoot was sleeping peacefully in the countryside while Doctor Neo Cortex was working in his evil lab when they are both suddenly teleported away. They then appear in the same temple as the masks are, where Uka Uka explains the circumstances of their presence. During which, Aku Aku summons Coco Bandicoot for his team while Uka Uka summons Tiny Tiger, Dr. Nitrus Brio, Rilla Roo, Dingodile and Koala Kong to fight his own. However, Aku Aku remarks that Uka Uka has too many players on his team and goads him into surrendering two of them. Uka Uka allows this and Aku Aku takes Tiny and Dingodile. With that done, Aku Aku declares the games to begin.

During the game, the two teams must engage each other in various contests to obtain Power Crystals, and after completing one area, they must proceed to the next area by defeating a boss character, consisting of Papu Papu, the Bearminator, the Komodo Brothers and Nitros Oxide. If there are two players from each team playing in cooperation mode by the game's ending, then they must compete with each other to seize victory for their own team.

Endings[]

• If a player from Aku Aku's team wins, Uka Uka becomes enraged and questions what trick his brother used to win. Aku Aku denies to have cheated, but reveals that he learned that Uka Uka had been cheating himself so that he can take the crystals for himself. Outraged by this, Uka Uka planned to punish his Cortex and Brio for failing him, but then stops to witness Aku Aku sealing away the crystals so that he could never get to them. Uka Uka demands to have what he believes is his, and Aku Aku responds with giving him his punishment for disturbing the crystals by ejecting him into space.
• If a player from Uka Uka's team wins, he reveals that he had been manipulating the games all along so that he can take the crystals and rule the world. Aku Aku questions how this could happen and if it was foolish of him to believe that good could always defeat evil. As Uka Uka absorbs the crystals power, Aku Aku pleads with Crash and Coco to run and save themselves, but Uka Uka proclaims that there is nowhere to hide now that he is all-powerful.

Development[]

Crash Bash is the first Crash Bandicoot title not to be designed or developed by Naughty Dog, which donated its entire Crash Bandicoot-related art database for the game.^[8] The audio was created by Steve Duckworth.^[9]

Reception[]

Crash Bash received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.^[10] Human Tornado of GamePro noted that the collection of minigames was built for four simultaneous players and added that the game was more fun with more people.^[12] Shawn Sparks of GameRevolution praised the "solid" graphics, number of minigames and "great" multiplayer.^[13] Doug Perry of IGN concluded that the game was unoriginal and shallow but worked as a "social magnet amongst the geek elite".^[15] Matt Helgeson of Game Informer commended the challenge and innovative concepts provided by the minigames, but felt that the Adventure mode lacked purpose, and lamented the game's lack of depth beyond the multiplayer modes.^[11] Ryan Davis of GameSpot dismissed Crash Bash as "utterly run of the mill, completely middle of the road", and criticized the unbalanced AI.^[14] Daniel Erickson reviewed the PlayStation version of the game for Next Generation, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "If you're planning on playing with two or fewer people, go ahead and mentally remove a star from the rating. Otherwise, get a big group together and enjoy."^[16]

The graphics were appreciated for replicating the look and feel of the Naughty Dog titles,^{[11][12][14][15]} but Helgeson and Human Tornado were troubled by the distant camera, with the latter observing that the characters often bunched together in several games.^[11][12] While Davis admired the game's explosion, particle and lighting effects, he was annoyed by their abundance distracting from the gameplay and sporadically causing slowdown.^[14]

Perry summarized the music as "kooky and light and it's fun to listen to" and remarked on its resemblance to the Naughty Dog games, elaborating that "the thumping vibes and bubblegum Congo drumbeats are right on target".^[15] Davis determined the audio to be "standard, with Hanna-Barbera-style background music that is appropriate to the various environments and a somewhat limited set of taunts and yelps for each character", and warned that the audio may quickly wear thin.^[14]

Crash Bash received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),^[17] indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom.^[18]

References[]

External links[]

• Crash Bash at MobyGames