Despite having been abandoned by creator Naughty Dog more than eight years ago, Crash Bandicoot has refused to die. This is largely due to many hapless individuals continuing to buy Crash games in the hope that the rodent has reclaimed some of his former quality. Of course, that is never the case, as Crash continues to ignore his platformer roots in order to become a hopelessly derivative action-adventure title. His latest effort, Crash: Mind over Mutant, replicates the gameplay of the most recent outing, Crash of the Titans, and throws in one of the most offensively repetitive game structures in recent memory.

The setup for Crash’s latest adventure is simple, yet surprisingly amusing. Dr Neo Cortex is up to his usual tricks, trying to take over the world. He has paired up with some old allies, such as Dr Nitrus Brio, to create a mind control device called the NV. The NV is a fancy multimedia device that, when activated by Cortex, turns its wearer into a hideous mutant. Crash Bandicoot, being generally devoid of basic brainpower, is the only one on Wumpa Island immune to the NV’s abilities, and thus needs to put a stop to Cortex and save the day. The mind control device also contains an Internet-like entertainment device, which provides for a few clever jabs at the expense of the average Internet user (such as Coco uncovering Cortex’s plan via his blog). Much of the story is unravelled through a number of highly amusing animated sequences that mimic a variety of styles, such as the traditionally animated 70’s Saturday morning cartoon and the minimalist style of South Park. Sadly, these sequences are the highlight of the entire experience.


Mind over Mutant looks very plain, much like a high definition upscaling of the PlayStation 2 version. The models and environments are colourful and the frame rate is consistent, but nothing really stands out. On a more positive note, a considerable amount of talent was recruited to provide voices for the game, including Mark Hamill, John DiMaggio, Tom Kenny and Maurice LaMarche. There’s some pretty charming dialogue in there, particularly from the Ratnicians, who talk and act like miniature versions of Jerry Lewis from The Nutty Professor.

The early missions of Mind over Mutant serve to introduce players to the game’s basic mechanics and Crash’s latest moves. At this time, the game feels pretty good; the levels are fresh, and progression is reasonably straightforward. It’s not too long until the first cracks in the proverbial wall begin to show. The camera is fixed – players have absolutely no control over the perspective. You can deal with that when you are playing through a level for the first time, but it quickly becomes apparent that you’ll be going through each level many, many times.


You see, the designers of Mind over Mutant had a brilliant idea for padding out the game. Rather than going to the effort of creating lots of neat levels and making the game remotely interesting, they decided instead to make the player venture through a whole bunch of levels they had already completed in order to get to each new one. If that was not bad enough, several of the levels need to be done in reverse, and the camera is fixed in a way that only suits your initial trip through the level, so half the time you cannot see what you are trying to do. Eventually, the game gives you the ability to warp between levels... but only allows you to do so for a single mission before openly mocking you for having to repeatedly run through the same areas. It is actually kind of funny when you think about it, but infuriating when you are attempting to play the game.

Basic action in Mind over Mutant is virtually identical to last year’s game, with the titular mutants replacing the titans, despite the fact that they are functionally the same and remarkably similar in appearance. The game shares very little in common with the series’ platforming roots, taking more of a beat ‘em up approach. You will spend most of the game beating things into submission, whether you’re capturing mutants or just knocking out the enemies in your way. Each successive hit you land on an enemy without taking any damage increases your Mojo multiplayer, which in turn helps you level up faster. Levelling up grants Crash (or whichever mutant is active) various enhancements, such as being able to take more damage or spin for longer.


Combat in the game is repetitive and unsatisfying, particularly when playing as Crash, who feels all too limited. You will want to spend most of your time on the shoulders of a mutant. Mutants come in all matter of shapes and sizes, but each has a specific role in the game. Ratcicles are good melee fighters and can freeze your enemies and bodies of water, while RhinoRollers are great for getting across a level at a blistering pace. Not all mutants are so able bodied though – TK is a wimp, but makes up for it with telekinetic powers. Crash can have one mutant stored while riding another, but mutants will disappear if active on the screen and left alone for too long. If the specific type of mutant you lose is not available nearby, you will have to take yet another pointless trip across the game world to fetch it.

After defeating a particular boss, Mind over Mutant opens up a cooperative play mode, where a second player can join the action as either Coco (Crash’s younger sister) or Aku Aku (a floating mask who provides Crash with guidance). Sounds great, until you realise Radical screwed up the way co-op is implemented. Playing as Aku Aku is horribly limited – the player has no direct control over his movement, only the ability to point at things of interest and hurl chickens at enemies. Coco is a little better, but the camera does not adjust to accommodate the second player, instead only focusing on Crash as normal. This makes it easy for the second player to slip off-screen, inevitably die and quit out of frustration.


Despite the remarkable amount of backtracking and blatant padding, Mind over Mutant barely clocks in at four hours. There is little to challenge players in the game itself – you will find yourself struggling more with the horrible structure of the game. Beyond the brief campaign, there’s plenty of extra crap to collect, Achievements to unlock and mini-games to play; just be wary that all of these extras require more trips through the game’s limited level set.

Crash: Mind over Mutant feels like one of the laziest games in years. Most of the basic content and ideas are recycled from last year’s game, Crash of the Titans. The game still presents itself like a PlayStation 2 title. Worst of all, however, is the forced retreads of the game’s levels for the purposes of artificially lengthening the game, which is only four hours long to start with. The animated sequences between missions are nice and provide a few chuckles, but nothing to offset the offensive structure of the game. Mind over Mutant is probably the worst franchise misstep since Sonic 2006.