I am Mog Anarchy, and I like to play games. Whether they are old, new, retro, modern, online, offline, console, computer, critically acclaimed or notoriously bad. Here on my blog, I rant about, review, trash talk, praise and generally talk about all of my favourite and least-favourite games. I also write my own guides on how to accomplish tricky tasks, show off my creative endeavors and challenge myself with crazy in-game tasks. I also have a bunch of gaming merchandise which I am glad to show off. So drop me a comment, I love hearing your questions, criticisms, comments and general gaming discussions. :)
Showing posts with label Crash Bandicoot 2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crash Bandicoot 2. Show all posts
Allow me to tell you a story from my childhood... Now I'm a big fan of the original Crash Bandicoot trilogy on the PS1. I even enjoyed the spin off titles: Crash Team Racing and Crash Bash. However, I do feel after the series migrated to the PS2 and Naughty Dog handed over development to Traveller’s Tales, the series began to go downhill. Crash 4: The Wrath of Cortex was OK, but the rest of them? Ugh.
Anyway, I was 5 years old when the original was released in 1996 and 7 years old when Crash Bandicoot 2 was released. I was in year 2 of primary school, and quite frankly obsessed with all sorts of video games, not just Crash. My teacher hated this; as nearly every creative project we were given, everything I did had an air of video games about it - I started writing fan fiction from a very young age, as soon as I got my own computer, I was unstoppable! Anyway, one day at school, we had to write a story about what we would do if we were an animal for a day. Naturally, I chose a bandicoot. I was quickly shot down however, when the teacher humiliated me in front of the whole class, berating me for what felt like hours about “how bandicoots didn't exist.” I ended up writing about a bear instead, but I was upset for the rest of the day. When I got home that night, I told my mam what happened. She was furious - and took me upstairs to her room where she dug out an encyclopedia of animals. After flipping through a few pages, she found a double - page spread on bandicoots.
Bandicoots are small creatures that live on a mixture of insects, spiders and fungus. They’re native to Australia and Papua New Guinea - indeed, they are real. but of course, I already knew this. After playing Crash Bandicoot initially, I asked my parents if they were a real animal, and they assured me they were. My parents were always big into zoos, safari parks and animal conservation, and still are to this day - and like any parent, refuse to stand by when they know their child has been wrongfully punished. The encyclopedia was essentially a big ringbinder folder, thus the pages could be removed. Mam sent me to school the next day, armed with the evidence that bandicoots DID actually exist. I got an apology from the teacher - and elevated my status amongst the other mini video game nerds in my class.
It's no secret that sometimes the Crash Bandicoot games can present an unfair level of difficulty. Some of the secret areas in the later levels in particular are full of difficult platforming sections, sudden death drops and tons of enemies and Nitro crates - mix that with having to complete sections with no Aku Aku masks or having to do a ton of backtracking - these five gems are in my opinion the hardest ones in the entire game.
While this box gem is tough, I quite enjoy the challenge because I'm a big fan of the polar bear levels. The main issue with polar bear levels is that you can only move in one direction; miss a box? You'll have to kill yourself and respawn. Totally Bear is easily the hardest of the polar bear levels, complete with tons of obstacles, water hazards and jumps that require expert timing. It's also DARK - making it hard to predict what's coming up next. To add insult to injury, Totally Bear is a SECRET LEVEL, so if you screw up the box gem, too bad - you'll have to complete one of the secret warps in order to get back to the warp room.
Every Crash Bandicoot game has a token level with a secret area that requires all of the coloured gems to access - Crash 2’s is level 25, Spaced Out. This consists of area after area of tricky jumps, awkward enemies and lots of instant death pits to fall into. This area combines every single enemy and hazard from the space factory style levels, such as pistons, electric spiders, scientists with shields and more.
This box gem requires both the use of a skull platform and tons of backtracking - backtracking that is made 10 times harder by electrified fences, tons of pits and BEES. There's beehives everywhere and the bees will relentlessly chase you as you try and dodge the pits and time your jumps so you don't get electrocuted. You can make the skull platform section easier for yourself if you run ahead and hit the Nitro destruction box, but that means even more backtracking! You decide, backtracking, or Nitros.
What's more frustrating than having to complete a tough skull platform section then do a ton of backtracking? Backtracking through a skull platform section that is made up entirely of ICE. Ice, pits, crushing tree stumps and tons of Nitro crates. In order to get the box gem in this level, you need to make it all the way to the end of this section, hit an awkwardly placed exclamation box and then slide all the way back to the main level, avoiding all of the poxy Nitros. This level also features the most easily missed box in the whole game. This box in the bonus stage caused me so much grief as a kid, I can tell you. There's nothing more annoying than being told you missed ONE box.
This is the one gem in the entire game that caused me the most grief. For starters, this box gem involves both a skull platform and backtracking - a theme you may have previously noticed. However - on your first attempt at this gem, you'll likely screw it up. If you take the skull platform FIRST, you'll reach a end of level warp and won't be able to go back to clear the rest of the boxes, including the bonus stage. What you need to do is essentially play the level as normal, right to the end - then TURN AROUND and go back to the skull platform. What makes this so difficult are hard to time slide jumps, pistons that squash you and those god damn laser beams that shrink you. By far the most frustrating box gem in the game.
