Originally released on the Playstation 1 in 1997, came Crash Bandicoot 2, the second title remade within in the 2018 N'Sane Trilogy.
There are alot of parallels to draw from based on previously reviewing Crash Bandicoot here, both in terms of game design and the trophy lists, so there may be some echoes along the way, and the aspects present within this list that are different don't really do much to influence a massively dissimilar experience to the first game on the route towards the Platinum trophy.
As always, I like to pad these out for the benefit of doing the review justice, but don't want the danger of feeling like I'm treading alot of old ground because of the fact the previous list in the series was so similar. I might have to officially coin such circumstances. I'll call it something like "Uncharted-Syndrome", perhaps.
Just like Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2 is a moderately sized list, clocking in with the same total of 25 trophies, along with exactly the same process map towards full completion.
The "Cortex N' Adequate" trophy, awarded for Defeating Neo Cortex, will cap off the end-game as you progress through the very loose story which involves Crash being manipulated into collecting crystals on behalf of Dr Neo Cortex for his plan with ulterior motives, which was stifled in the first game.
The story actually specifies that 25 crystals are required in order to garnish enough power for Dr Neo Cortex and his assistant, Dr N Gin, to reach maximum capacity with the Vortex they're creating for their grand plan, which, incidentally, is also the number of levels within the game, and one short of the amount of levels contained with the original Crash Bandicoot.
As you go through each warp zone within the game, you'll earn a host of progression related trophies for defeating each boss within that particular warp zone in the build up to the final boss fight, located in warp zone 5, where you defeat Dr Neo Cortex and unlock the final story-based Gold trophy. Each of these individual warp zones contains 5 levels, and there are 5 warp zones in total, which is where our nicely rounded figure of 25 crystals comes from. Each zone also culminates with a respective boss fight, which gives us 30 levels when you add them all together. The way you progress through the game is a carbon copy of Crash Bandicoot, both in terms of game design and how the trophies are awarded as you move through the story.
Earning a crystal merely requires completion of the level, which is the easiest part of the game because speed and death are irrelevant (for now, at least), so giving the story the once over achieving what you can is a good starting point, and will naturally progress you along towards the other aspects of this list. If you're conscious of attempting to collect Gems too, you will minimise the required amount of rework when you go back through the game, so this approach is also advised.
It is important to note one big difference from Crash Bandicoot. There are actually an additional 5 hidden alternate levels, and discovering each of these will unlock a further 5 secret trophies. They are very well hidden as secret exits within the main 25 story levels and are placed within a sixth zone. They do also have crystals attached to them, though they do not influence progression within the main story, but you will be required to grab the gems and relics from them if you want the Platinum trophy, so they are still very relevant in the bigger picture.
Once you manage to get through the story for the first time, which is a very leisurely task, the end-game process is also exactly the same, where the attention then shifts focus onto collecting Gems and Relics in a bid to finish off the rest of the trophy list.
The "Laser Powered Vengence" trophy, awarded for Earning 42 gems, holds the exact same concept from Crash Bandicoot, though this is a noticeable step up in quantity from 26 Gems in the first game. This is due to another big difference within Crash Bandicoot 2 where certain levels have seen the introduction of a "Death Route", which is effectively a checkpoint you must reach at some point within the level without dying, to then access the Death Route and reach an alternative conclusion to the level that awards another gem. This duplicates the amount of gems you can earn from certain levels, hence the uplift in quantity, and is therefore not the same as the 1 gem, 1 level approach from the first game.
The requirements for the other Gems are still the same. Break all boxes within a level and complete it in order to obtain the Gem. Coloured gems are also back, and these still require you to beat 5 specific levels without dying whilst obtaining all boxes within a single attempt, just to slightly elevate the challenge in the same way the original game did. Obtaining coloured Gems also still unlocks previously sealed off areas within other levels that can only be accessed after having obtained the corresponding coloured Gem, so you'll be going back and forth to work these puzzles out again too.
Multiple Gems exist within 12 levels (not including levels with coloured Gems), so the Death Routes are used to a greater extent here. A few of them are responsible for some of the more challenging parts within the game too, whereby you have to advance past the Death Route checkpoint in some instances, to clear more of the level ahead, and then eventually backtrack to activate the Death Route and finish the level. This is a new concept that does elevate the challenge a touch compared to the original Crash Bandicoot, but still not the main challenge within this trophy list at the same time.
The "Wumpa-Burner Engaged!" trophy, awarded for Earning 27 Relics (gold or better), is still the toughest aspect of this game, providing further evidence of the continuity shown between both Crash Bandicoot lists thus far.
Unlike the Gems though, there haven't been any changes to the way Relics work. You are still awarded a Sapphire, Gold and Platinum relic depending on times posted for each level, and the requirements for earning one are exactly the same. You must beat the level as fast as possible in a single attempt without incurring death, and you can pick up boxes along the way to stop the clock and improve your time. Times are set and performance is rewarded a Relic depending on speed.
I mentioned in the Crash Bandicoot review that there didn't seem to be much consistency in the target times between the levels, and where some of these levels were much more lenient in terms of timescales chosen to qualify for at least a Gold relic, some are much less forgiving and don't allow any sort of margin for error. Crash Bandicoot 2 is exactly the same in this regard.
It's not so much of a problem, but you can find yourself in a good flow and then suddenly hit a brick wall out of nowhere, and the tough speedruns will have you spending a reasonable amount of time perfecting your run in order to find a route that works best and eventually get you that Gold relic. The good news is, there wasn't anything massively over the top that had me stuck for hours on end, but the challenge has translated over from the original game in the exact same way where the majority of this is fairly straight forward, with a small smattering of genuine challenge, which again makes it the hardest trophy within the list.
I also mentioned in the Crash Bandicoot review that, despite the odd difficulty spike, the trophy requirements do still significantly assist the player, due to the fact you aren't required to earn a Platinum relic for every level, and if this was the case here as well, and this trophy was somehow different to the original game, then this would also make this list a significantly more challenging one. I only ended up with 3 Platinum Relics, which was a worse performance than the 5 Platinum Relics I scored on Crash Bandicoot, so the perspective is still an important thing to point out.
The remainder of the list should pose no greater problems, and most of it will come naturally along the way as you focus on the main tasks outlined above. It's another good list to pad out the Gold trophy count too.
In terms of overall difficulty, I feel as though there are so many similarities between both Crash Bandicoot and Crash Bandicoot 2, it's hard to justify rating them any differently from one another. There isn't anything within this list that blatantly makes it stand out in comparison to the first game.
Despite the fact the "Death Routes" do add an extra dimension of challenge, and also subsequently way more Gems to unlock, this doesn't necessarily equate to a more challenging experience because, regardless of the difference in quantity of Gems, both lists still boil down to a small selection of stand-out levels, so they're effectively equal in that respect anyway.
The same sort of logic applies to the Relics. Though the quantity is of a much similar amount between both lists, it does just come down to the odd few levels that provide that "practice makes perfect" approach compared to the rest of the game, and a small dose of trial and error will eventually see you through anyway. The fact there was also no change in the lenient requirements of Relic collection is also a big deciding factor on the overall difficulty rating again.
Completion time for Crash Bandicoot 2 is slightly higher, clocking in at around 20-25 hours, and this is something that the additional amount of Gems to collect does influence, but regardless of the challenges that lie in wait, it's hard to vouch for a higher rating for a list that can still be completed with such a modest timeframe. If I rated games in increments of .5, there may just be enough of a case to sway a slightly higher rating here, but not quite enough to be adding whole points on.
Notable Trophies -
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| Cortex N. Adequate - Defeat N. Cortex. Laser Powered Vengence - Earn 42 Gems. Wumpa-Burner Engaged! - Earn 27 Relics (gold or better). |
Wumpa-Burner Engaged!
Earn 27 Relics (gold or better).
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