Game:

Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex (2001)

Duration: 3:02:47

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1

Originally recorded: November 17, 2022
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Not gonna lie, I was *really* hoping I'd manage to get to the "normal" ending in this session... but at least I managed to make a little progress on the fifth (and final non-secret) world. I guess it's like they say: shoot for the moon, because even if you miss, you'll end up among the stars. I'm starting to reconsider going for the "true" ending though. Don't get me wrong, I'll still do all of the secret levels. But some of these gems are... pretty brutal, to put it mildly. And while the N. Sane Trilogy had quality of life measures meant to minimize wasted time between failed attempts on specific gems. But apparently, the sixth generation was a weird time where QoL would randomly veer back and forth, with no rhyme or reason.

I feel like the saddest part about Wrath of Cortex is that it's at its best when it's aping Warped. The original gameplay styles -- the robot, the "Atlasphere", ...Coco -- really drag the game down. I've heard good things about this game's direct follow-up, so I might nominate that as a stream at some point down the line. But at this point, I'm really just wondering if it's bad because it was some eleventh-hour directive to make the game "not too similar" to the old stuff... or if these were remnants of Traveller's Tales more ambitious plans for the fourth Crash game. Either way, things came to a head during the fourth world... where the only conventional stage was the fifth and final one. What a disaster.

At least I managed to find a couple more death routes this time around... even if they weren't all the ones I was shooting for. Thinking back now though, I forgot just how useful the advanced spin was for Crash. But even more so, I'm ashamed that I kept forgetting that I got the Fruit Bazooka by finishing World 4. Remembering it might make things easier down the line... at least with regards to normal stages. Ah well, here's hoping that thought stays with me until Sunday.

Hopefully, I can do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to the Time Trails then as well. I really don't want to push this game past Thanksgiving, especially since I've got one final game left on the docket for the year. Maybe doing Aria of Sorrow this year *was* a mistake after all...

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