Much fuss has been made over the Sony PlayStation "mascot": what character can give Sonic and Mario a run for the money? Sofia from Battle Arena Toshinden was an early contender. Much to my chagrin, she was phased out of the ad campaigns; it may have had something to do with her S/M gear. Now we have a whirling, mango-eating marsupial named Crash Bandicoot. And Crash Bandicoot, the game, is a bona fide showstopper.
Crash turns the tried-and-true platform/action genre into a 3-D, texture-mapped, polygon-a-go-go experience. It's the closest thing yet to a playable cartoon. As you hop down jungle paths and leapfrog ravines in the quest to rescue Crash's girlfriend Tawna from the nasty vivisectionist Dr. Neo Cortex, the perspective changes angles to facilitate the best gameplay. Even though Crash allows for 3-D movement, it is on tracks. But I never once wished I could break away and explore: while the scenery is gorgeous, the pace is so fast and the action so manic that I found myself grateful for the imposed travel plans.I was never a big fan of the old-school platform games - all the plodding and boinking along. Playing Crash was a whole new experience. I was leaping, spinning, and grinning like a madman.
PlayStation: US$59.95. Sony: +1 (415) 655 8000, on the Web at www.sepc.sony.com /SCEA/index.html
STREET CRED
Crash Course Morphing the Creation
