Finally
Vicarious Visions released a new Crash Bandicoot Sequel. Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced is very much like other Crash games in
gameplay. It does have its own unique add-ons which make it shine over
prequels.

            N. Trophy has added N. Trance
to his villain’s team, and continues the story of Crash Bandicoot: The Huge
Adventure. N. Trance has brain washing powers which he uses on Coco
and Crunch making them your enemies. Besides them, an irritating Crash copy (he
does everything you do making him hard to beat), known as the fake Crash
appears as one of the final bosses. Starting by yourself and with a little help
with the voodoo man known as Aku Aku you will have to work extremely hard to
pass through the levels.

            Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced, presents a new map set replacing the
old one, the hubs. Most of the stages are 2D and side-scrolling. Each one has
its own unique theme, and music. Each stage has a bonus section where you will
require the use of your special moves, gained as you beat the bosses. You will
also require your special moves for the secret hided passages. If you can get
through a secret passage you will most likely get a good reward, but don’t tell
anyone, we are talking about gems here, ok?

            For those
who get bored of playing constantly through 2D levels, well, you won’t get
bored with Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced.
Vicarious Visions has added many 3D levels to the game making the gameplay even
better. The 3D levels consist either of Crash waterskiing, Coco
flying through space at a great speed or Crunch playing in the completely
original Atlas-Sphere. Hold it, don’t think of it as fun and easy… Did you know
that while Crash is waterskiing he is being followed by an enormous shark? Did
you know that Coco is about to be carbonized at an extremely
high temperature by the sun? How about that Crunch’s map is filled with Nitro’s
and dangerous cuts that may make him roll to the abysm. Don’t you think it
smells like a challenge?

            style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced has moments
where you just want to give up, and if it weren’t for checkpoint boxes I
certainly would have given up. There are parts where you have to fly a copter.
When you get the chance to fly the awesome copter, you will have to watch out
for the lava. If you touch it, is outcome is immediate death. It’s not as easy
as that, there are many lava jumping things among others that will make your
life extremely painful. This is not all; you will also get to fly in a magic
carpet. In these parts, the stage begins scrolling itself and if you crash into
a wall, you will die. The best you could do here, is get yourself under the
magic protection of the Witch Doctor Mask, we are talking about Aku Aku here!

            With a great gameplay, style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced has managed
to keep up an excellent replay value. So after you beat all the bosses, you
think you are done? You are completely wrong if you think you are done. There
are still relics and gems to collect. After you collect all of them you are
most likely done. To collect the relics you will have to beat levels faster
than a specific time, you will have to use Crash’s run ability or my personal
recommendation, slide. Multiplayer action has also been added to the new Crash
sequel. There are 2 types of levels in multiplayer mode. You can either fight
your friend in an atlas sphere challenge or race against him in a level race.

            Going aside from the gameplay,
graphics and the sounds of Crash
Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced are just another masterpiece. Both of these make
excellent use of the Game Boy Advance’s resources. Although the graphics are
almost equal to the prequel, Crash
Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure, gamers who never new about Crash will be
pleased to know that the graphics are very detailed. Most of the music used
during the game doesn’t get you bored or annoyed. Unless you are like me and
don’t leave a bonus stage until you beat it. If you are like me, then you will
get pretty annoyed.

            After all
this being said, I think most of you will agree with me. Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced is a fine addition to your Game Boy
Advance games collection, and maybe one of the best. The game is simply great,
packed with an adventure, which hopefully will never end!