Crash Bandicoot: Warped
Encyclopedia
Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped is a platform
video game published
by Sony Computer Entertainment
, produced by Universal Interactive Studios (now the defunct Vivendi Games
) and developed
by Naughty Dog
for the PlayStation. It was released in North America on October 31, 1998, in Europe on December, 1998 and in Japan on December 17, 1998. It was re-released for the Sony Greatest Hits line-up on August 23, 1999 and for the Platinum Range
on 2000. The game was made available for the PlayStation Store
in Japan on September 27, 2007, in North America on February 7, 2008 and in Europe on October 23, 2008.
The game's story takes place immediately after the events of its predecessing game: Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
. The ruins of a space station called the Cortex Vortex owned by the series antagonist, Doctor Neo Cortex
, crash-lands on Earth and unleashes an evil entity known as Uka Uka. Uka Uka, in collaboration with Cortex and the time-obsessed Doctor Nefarious Tropy, plans to gather powerful Crystals in their original places in time and use their energy to enslave the Earth. The game follows the main characters Crash
and Coco Bandicoot as they travel through time and prevent the villains from gathering the Crystals by collecting them themselves.
Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped received universally positive reviews from major critics, who noted a high quality in many areas, including graphics, audio and gameplay. The game went on to sell 5.7 million units as of 2002, making it the seventh best-selling PlayStation video game of all time. In Japan, the game surpassed the sales of its two predecessors and became the first non-Japanese title to sell over one million units in the country.
in which the player controls Crash
and Coco Bandicoot, who must travel back in time and gather the 25 Crystals from the previous game in their original places in time before the antagonists of the story do so. Much of the game takes place in the Time-Twisting Machine, which acts as the hub area of the game. The Time-Twisting Machine is split up into five chambers; only the first chamber is initially available. Each chamber has five buttons that open portals to different levels. The goal in each level is to find and obtain the Crystal hidden in the area. In some levels, the Crystal will be located at the end of a level or must be earned by completing a specific challenge. Some levels contain a "Bonus Platform" that leads to a special bonus area, where the player must navigate through a separate area and collect everything in sight. As no lives are lost in the bonus areas, the bonus areas can be played through as often as the player desires until the bonus area can be cleared. After completing all five levels in a chamber, a sixth button that opens a portal to a boss level
will appear. By defeating the boss, the next chamber will become available for play. When all 25 Crystals are found and all five boss characters are defeated, the game is won.
Crash and Coco start the game with four lives. A life is lost when they are struck by an enemy attack or suffer any other type of damage. More lives can be earned by collecting 100 "Wumpa Fruits" or breaking open a special crate to collect a life. If the player runs out of lives, the game is over. However, the game can be continued by selecting "Yes" at the "Continue?" screen. Crash has the ability to jump into the air and land on an enemy character, spin in a tornado-like fashion to knock enemies off-screen, slide across the ground and perform a body slam to break certain objects. These abilities can be expanded on by defeating boss characters, often resulting in more powerful attacks or increased jumping and running prowess.
Boxes play a prominent role in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped and can be broken with all of Crash's techniques. Boxes contain helpful items or can augment Crash's mobility. Check Point boxes allow the player to return to a specific point in the stage upon losing a life. TNT Boxes explode after a three-second fuse when jumped on, while Nitro Boxes explode upon any physical contact. All of the Nitro Boxes in a level can be detonated at once if a green-colored box with an exclamation point (!) on it is touched; contact with this box is necessary in obtaining the level's Gem, as Nitro Boxes count towards the total number of boxes broken in the level.
Besides Crystals, Gems and Colored Gems can be collected for extra accomplishment. Gems are rewarded to the player if all of the crates in a level are broken open or if a secret area is completed. There is a total of 45 Gems in the game. Colored Gems are found in special levels and lead to hidden areas. There are five Colored Gems in the game. "Relics" can be won by re-entering a level where the Crystal has already been retrieved. To obtain a Relic, the player must initiate the "Time Trial" mode by touching the floating stopwatch near the beginning of the level and race through a level in the pre-designated time displayed before entering a level. Scattered throughout the level are yellow crates with the numbers 1, 2 or 3 on them. When these crates are broken, the timer is frozen for the number of seconds designated by the box. As no lives are lost in the Time Trial mode, the level can be played through as often as the player desires. Sapphire, Gold and Platinum Relics can be won depending on how low the player's final time is. The first five Relics the player receives unlocks access to level in the "Secret Warp Room". Every five Relics thereafter open up another level in the Secret Warp Room. The levels in the Secret Warp Room must be won before the game can be completed.
are populated by wizards
, rams
, knight
s and frogs that transform into princes upon being kissed
. The prehistoric
levels take place in a Jurassic
swamp
and feature a tyrannosaurus rex hatchling that can be mounted and ridden, restless pterodactyls and a gigantic triceratops
that pursues Crash throughout the level. The Arabian
levels take place on the rooftops and are overrun with swordmen, scorpions, and genies who seek to stuff Crash into their lamps. The Egypt
ian levels are set during the heyday of the Great Pyramids and are populated by mummies
, pyramid construction crews, scarabs
and cobra
s; in addition to the various enemies, the tombs are also overrun with traps. The future
levels take place in "Neo York
", a city under Cortex's rule that features laser cannons, robots, flying saucers, force fields and moving platforms. The "Lost Highway" levels, in which Crash pilots a motorcycle, take place in a 1950's America
highway, where Crash must race against Cortex's hot rod
ders to win Crystals, avoiding construction barricades and cops along the way. The World War I
levels take place in the skies of Europe
and alternatively feature Crash and Coco as the player character. In these levels, Cortex's fleet of dirigibles
must be shot down to obtain the Crystal. The Atlantis
levels are split up into two different types; the first type features Crash as the player character, who must don scuba gear and find the Crystals in the Atlantean ruins, which are wrought with sharks, depth charges and poisonous blowfish. The second type features Coco as the player character, who must ride a jetski
and gather the Crystals on the surface of the water, avoiding pirates
and water mines as she does so. The Great Wall of China
levels feature Coco as the player character and are played riding on the back of a tiger cub while avoiding doddery pan carriers and Chinese dragon
s.
, a mutated bandicoot who must travel through time and stop Doctor Neo Cortex from gathering the Crystals. He is aided by Aku Aku, an ancient witch doctor mask who protects Crash from harm and gives him sage advice between levels. Also helping Crash is his younger sister Coco Bandicoot, who gathers the Crystals on the Great Wall of China, on the surfaces above Atlantis and in the skies of World War I Europe. The main antagonist of the game is Uka Uka, the evil twin brother of Aku Aku. Uka Uka was previously locked away by Aku Aku to protect the world from his villainy, but has been freed because of the bumblings of Doctor Neo Cortex
, the antagonist of the previous two games. Aiding Uka Uka and Doctor Cortex is Doctor Nefarious Tropy, the self-proclaimed master of time and the creator of the Time Twisting Machine used to gather Crystals and Gems in different time periods. Other antagonistic characters include Tiny Tiger, a hulking beast who battles Crash in the Colloseum; Dingodile, a half-dingo
half-crocodile
hybrid with a large flamethrower
; and Doctor N. Gin, a bad-tempered scientist with an unexploded missile in his head.
The game's story takes place immediately following the conclusion of Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
, in which Doctor Neo Cortex's space station is destroyed by Doctor Nitrus Brio's laser beam device. Pieces of Cortex's space station hurtle towards Earth and crash into a tropical mountain. This sets free an evil entity known as Uka Uka, the mastermind behind Doctor Cortex's previous schemes. Uka Uka confronts Doctor Cortex and calls him out for failing to retrieve the Crystals and Gems, both of which are a great source of world energy. Uka Uka then recruits Doctor Nefarious Tropy to join them in their latest plan. Tropy has created the Time-Twisting Machine, a time machine that allows them to travel through time to find the Gems and Crystals in their original places in time.
At the home of the Bandicoots, Aku Aku senses Uka Uka's emergence and orders Crash and Coco inside. Aku Aku tells the two that Uka Uka is his evil twin brother and that he was locked in an underground prison to protect the world from his malice. Crash, Coco and Aku Aku go to the Time-Twisting Machine, where Aku Aku gives Crash and Coco the task of recovering the Crystals before Uka Uka and Doctor Cortex do so. Crash and Coco proceed to travel through time and collect the Crystals and Gems, thwarting Cortex's minions (including Tiny Tiger, Dingodile and Doctor N. Gin) along the way. Doctor Nefarious Tropy is also defeated, throwing the Time-Twisting Machine into disarray. Crash and Cortex eventually face off in the Time-Twisting machine's core while Uka Uka and Aku Aku fend each other off. Following Cortex's defeat, the Time-Twisting Machine implodes on itself, transforming Cortex and Tropy into infant
s and trapping them and Uka Uka in a prison of time.
. The new engines combined make up a third of the game, while the other two-thirds of the game consist of the same engine used in the previous games. Jason Rubin explained that the "classic" engine and game style was preserved due to the success of the previous two games and went on to say that "were we to abandon that style of gameplay, that would mean that we would be abandoning a significant proportion of gamers out there." An arbitrary plane z-buffer
was created for the jet-ski and flooded Egyptian hallway levels of the game. To create a completely fluid feel for the water on these levels, an environment map
that reflects the sky was fitted onto the surface of the water. A real shadow
was given to the Crash character at the request of the Sony Computer Entertainment America producers, who were "sick of that little discus that's following him around." To create an "arcade" experience in the airplane levels and to differentiate them from flight simulators, the enemy planes were programmed to come out in front of the player and give the player ample time to shoot them before they turn around and shoot the player rather than come up behind the player and hit them from behind. The Relic system was introduced to give players a reason to return to the game after it has been completed.
The soundtrack of the game was produced by David Baggett and composed by Mark Mothersbaugh
and Josh Mancell
of Mutato Muzika
, while the sound effects were created by Mike Gollum, Ron Horwitz and Kevin Spears of Universal Sound Studios. Clancy Brown
voiced the dual role of Doctor Neo Cortex and Uka Uka, while Brendan O'Brien
voiced the dual role of Doctor N. Gin and Tiny the Tiger. Additionally, Michael Ensign
voiced Doctor Nefarious Tropy, William Hootkins
voiced Dingodile and Mel Winkler
voiced Aku Aku. A small sampling of the game's levels were prominently displayed at Sony's Electronic Entertainment Expo booth in Atlanta, Georgia. Around this time, the video game industry wondered if Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped was just more of the same of the previous installment. The release of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped was accompanied by marketing campaigns by Sony and Pizza Hut
. The Japanese version of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped was one of the first video games to support the PocketStation
, a peripheral
that downloads minigames from PlayStation games. A playable game demo
of the Insomniac Games
game Spyro the Dragon is available in the final product and can be accessed by entering a code
at the title screen.
was originally considered but was rejected due to its similarity to the polar bear
seen in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. A tiger
cub was chosen as an alternative. When creating the triceratops
chase sequences in the prehistoric levels, a minion of Doctor Cortex was initially animated riding the beast. Whenever the triceratops got stuck, it would thrash the minion around. The rider was ultimately removed for technical reasons. The Tyrannosaurus
hatchling that Crash mounts in the prehistoric levels was drawn with chicken
-like proportions by Naughty Dog's Bob Rafei. The shark seen in the game's underwater levels was one of Jason Rubin's first PowerAnimator
models. The model was originally built for the first Crash Bandicoot game, but wasn't used until Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped.
The "time-travel-around-the-world" theme of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped allowed the Naughty Dog artists to stretch beyond the limits imposed by the island themed setting of the previous games; each time theme has distinctly unique structures and color palettes. To demonstrate the effect that color has on the mood of an environment, level sketches, such as those of the Arabian or Medieval levels, were recolored to alter the depicted time of day from day to night. Naughty Dog aimed to visually distinguish Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped from previous installments by "opening up the environment" and allowing greater distances to be visible without draw-in or fog; to achieve the image of endless rolling hills and distant castles seen in the Medieval levels, level of detail
was accounted for by introducing new technologies into the game engine and changing the way some of the background elements were constructed. The most detailed textures
of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped are located in the Egyptian Tomb levels in the form of decorative paintings. To keep the image of an endless highway in the motorcycle levels from being boring, roadside details such as cacti
and telephone poles
were added to the scenery. Additionally, distant mesa
s were added to help break up the horizon. To give the desert highway some character, full service
gas stations
and diner
s were added to the roadside to evoke a "1950's America
" flavor. The Great Wall of China
is portrayed during its construction stage to add visual variety and provide gameplay obstacles. Initial ideas for the submerged Atlantis
stage varied from an ancient Roman-esque city in ruins to a high-tech submerged city of alien origin.
concluded that the game was "a very strong contender for PlayStation game of the year" and that the ""rowdy rowdy" gameplay will keep your head spinning for days." Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine considered the game to be "the best 2.5D platformer ever released." Ryan MacDonald of GameSpot
said that Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped is "easily the best Crash yet," describing how all of its aspects were superior to previous installments in the series, and concluded that the game was "the most fun I've had with a 3D platform game in a long, long time." Mark Cooke of Game Revolution
called the game "a barrage of good things" and said that the game's elements "all come together perfectly." Scott Alan Marriott of Allgame
("All Game Guide" at the time) considered the game to be "so impressive to watch that you'll have to keep one hand firmly below your chin to keep it from falling to the floor."
The game's graphics were lauded by critics. Johnny Ballgame praised the game's graphics as "incredibly clean" and "detailed", citing the water in the jet ski levels as "the most realistic-looking waves of any PlayStation game we've seen so far". Randy Nelson called the game "drop-dead gorgeous", detailing that "the textures are impeccable, the animation's top-notch, and the special effects kick some serious booty." Ryan MacDonald called the game "one of the most beautiful PlayStation games ever", citing the game's "smooth" character animations, "bright" and "colorful" landscapes, "gorgeous" lighting effects and a "refreshingly fast and steady" frame rate. Mark Cooke praised the game's "smooth" and "cartoonish" animation as "top of the line, bested by no other game" and its "limitless" rendering distance and "beautiful" 3D models as "the pinnacle of PlayStation rendering". However, he criticized the absence of death animations for the enemy characters. Scott Alan Marriott described the graphics as "unbelievable" and said that "everything is crystal clear, colorful, smoothly animated and extremely detailed."
The game's audio was also critically praised. Johnny Ballgame said that the sound "gets you pumped to play, especially the wicked drum beats that blare when you're charging through a level with the invincibility mask." He also commented positively on the other audio effects, such as "the boiling lava", "the raging pterodactyls" and the "zany movie voice-overs". Randy Nelson was thankful for the game's increased musical diversity in comparison to Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. Ryan MacDonald praised the music, sound effects and character voice-overs as "outstanding" and "extremely well done" and noted that the onscreen lip-synching is "almost perfectly matched to the voice." Mark Cooke said that the game's "over-exaggerated" voice-acting is "like those in good cartoons, and sometimes even better", and cited an "equally cartoonish" aspect in the music. Scott Alan Marriott described the voice-acting as "five-star quality all the way" and noted that the music "captures the level setting(s) perfectly."
As of 2002, Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped has sold over 5.7 million units worldwide, making it the seventh best-selling PlayStation video game of all time. The game's success resulted in its re-release for the Sony Greatest Hits line-up on August 23, 1999 and for the Platinum Range
on 2000. Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped was the first non-Japanese title to receive a "Platinum Prize" in Japan for sales of over 1,000,000.
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
video game published
Video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
by Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. is a major video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony...
, produced by Universal Interactive Studios (now the defunct Vivendi Games
Vivendi Games
Vivendi Games, formerly known as Vivendi Universal Games, was the holdings company for Sierra Entertainment and Blizzard Entertainment. Vivendi Games was founded as Vivendi Universal Games after Vivendi bought Universal Studios in the early 2000s...
) and developed
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
by Naughty Dog
Naughty Dog
Naughty Dog, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Santa Monica, California. Founded by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin in 1986 as an independent developer, the studio was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2001...
for the PlayStation. It was released in North America on October 31, 1998, in Europe on December, 1998 and in Japan on December 17, 1998. It was re-released for the Sony Greatest Hits line-up on August 23, 1999 and for the Platinum Range
Platinum range
The Platinum Range is a Sony PlayStation budget range in the PAL regions, notably Europe , Australia, New Zealand, India, and Africa...
on 2000. The game was made available for the PlayStation Store
PlayStation Store
The PlayStation Store is an online virtual market available to users of Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable game consoles via the PlayStation Network. The Store offers a range of downloadable content both for purchase and available free of charge. Available content includes full games,...
in Japan on September 27, 2007, in North America on February 7, 2008 and in Europe on October 23, 2008.
The game's story takes place immediately after the events of its predecessing game: Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back is a platform video game published by Sony Computer Entertainment, produced by Universal Interactive Studios and developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation...
. The ruins of a space station called the Cortex Vortex owned by the series antagonist, Doctor Neo Cortex
Doctor Neo Cortex
Doctor Neo Periwinkle Cortex, often referred to as "Doctor Cortex" or simply "Cortex", is a video game character and the main antagonist of the Crash Bandicoot series of video games. His name is a play on the term neocortex, an area of the brain...
, crash-lands on Earth and unleashes an evil entity known as Uka Uka. Uka Uka, in collaboration with Cortex and the time-obsessed Doctor Nefarious Tropy, plans to gather powerful Crystals in their original places in time and use their energy to enslave the Earth. The game follows the main characters Crash
Crash Bandicoot (character)
Crash Bandicoot, or simply Crash, is a video game character and the primary protagonist of the Crash Bandicoot series of video games. Introduced in the 1996 video game Crash Bandicoot, Crash is an Eastern Barred Bandicoot that was genetically enhanced by the series antagonist Doctor Neo Cortex and...
and Coco Bandicoot as they travel through time and prevent the villains from gathering the Crystals by collecting them themselves.
Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped received universally positive reviews from major critics, who noted a high quality in many areas, including graphics, audio and gameplay. The game went on to sell 5.7 million units as of 2002, making it the seventh best-selling PlayStation video game of all time. In Japan, the game surpassed the sales of its two predecessors and became the first non-Japanese title to sell over one million units in the country.
Gameplay
Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped is a platform gamePlatform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
in which the player controls Crash
Crash Bandicoot (character)
Crash Bandicoot, or simply Crash, is a video game character and the primary protagonist of the Crash Bandicoot series of video games. Introduced in the 1996 video game Crash Bandicoot, Crash is an Eastern Barred Bandicoot that was genetically enhanced by the series antagonist Doctor Neo Cortex and...
and Coco Bandicoot, who must travel back in time and gather the 25 Crystals from the previous game in their original places in time before the antagonists of the story do so. Much of the game takes place in the Time-Twisting Machine, which acts as the hub area of the game. The Time-Twisting Machine is split up into five chambers; only the first chamber is initially available. Each chamber has five buttons that open portals to different levels. The goal in each level is to find and obtain the Crystal hidden in the area. In some levels, the Crystal will be located at the end of a level or must be earned by completing a specific challenge. Some levels contain a "Bonus Platform" that leads to a special bonus area, where the player must navigate through a separate area and collect everything in sight. As no lives are lost in the bonus areas, the bonus areas can be played through as often as the player desires until the bonus area can be cleared. After completing all five levels in a chamber, a sixth button that opens a portal to a boss level
Boss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
will appear. By defeating the boss, the next chamber will become available for play. When all 25 Crystals are found and all five boss characters are defeated, the game is won.
Crash and Coco start the game with four lives. A life is lost when they are struck by an enemy attack or suffer any other type of damage. More lives can be earned by collecting 100 "Wumpa Fruits" or breaking open a special crate to collect a life. If the player runs out of lives, the game is over. However, the game can be continued by selecting "Yes" at the "Continue?" screen. Crash has the ability to jump into the air and land on an enemy character, spin in a tornado-like fashion to knock enemies off-screen, slide across the ground and perform a body slam to break certain objects. These abilities can be expanded on by defeating boss characters, often resulting in more powerful attacks or increased jumping and running prowess.
Boxes play a prominent role in Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped and can be broken with all of Crash's techniques. Boxes contain helpful items or can augment Crash's mobility. Check Point boxes allow the player to return to a specific point in the stage upon losing a life. TNT Boxes explode after a three-second fuse when jumped on, while Nitro Boxes explode upon any physical contact. All of the Nitro Boxes in a level can be detonated at once if a green-colored box with an exclamation point (!) on it is touched; contact with this box is necessary in obtaining the level's Gem, as Nitro Boxes count towards the total number of boxes broken in the level.
Besides Crystals, Gems and Colored Gems can be collected for extra accomplishment. Gems are rewarded to the player if all of the crates in a level are broken open or if a secret area is completed. There is a total of 45 Gems in the game. Colored Gems are found in special levels and lead to hidden areas. There are five Colored Gems in the game. "Relics" can be won by re-entering a level where the Crystal has already been retrieved. To obtain a Relic, the player must initiate the "Time Trial" mode by touching the floating stopwatch near the beginning of the level and race through a level in the pre-designated time displayed before entering a level. Scattered throughout the level are yellow crates with the numbers 1, 2 or 3 on them. When these crates are broken, the timer is frozen for the number of seconds designated by the box. As no lives are lost in the Time Trial mode, the level can be played through as often as the player desires. Sapphire, Gold and Platinum Relics can be won depending on how low the player's final time is. The first five Relics the player receives unlocks access to level in the "Secret Warp Room". Every five Relics thereafter open up another level in the Secret Warp Room. The levels in the Secret Warp Room must be won before the game can be completed.
Setting
Much of the game takes place in the Time-Twisting Machine, which allows the characters to travel to different periods in time. The levels that take place in the Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
are populated by wizards
Magician (fantasy)
A magician, mage, sorcerer, sorceress, wizard, enchanter, enchantress, thaumaturge or a person known under one of many other possible terms is someone who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources...
, rams
Domestic sheep
Sheep are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name "sheep" applies to many species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries...
, knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
s and frogs that transform into princes upon being kissed
The Frog Prince (story)
"The Frog Prince; or, Iron Henry" is a fairy tale, best known through the Brothers Grimm's written version; traditionally it is the first story in their collection. In the tale, a spoiled princess reluctantly befriends a frog , who magically transforms into a handsome prince...
. The prehistoric
Prehistory
Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...
levels take place in a Jurassic
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
swamp
Swamp
A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...
and feature a tyrannosaurus rex hatchling that can be mounted and ridden, restless pterodactyls and a gigantic triceratops
Triceratops
Triceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur which lived during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period, around 68 to 65 million years ago in what is now North America. It was one of the last dinosaur genera to appear before the great Cretaceous–Paleogene...
that pursues Crash throughout the level. The Arabian
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula is a land mass situated north-east of Africa. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula and covers 3,237,500 km2...
levels take place on the rooftops and are overrun with swordmen, scorpions, and genies who seek to stuff Crash into their lamps. The Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian levels are set during the heyday of the Great Pyramids and are populated by mummies
Mummy
A mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...
, pyramid construction crews, scarabs
Dung beetle
Dung beetles are beetles that feed partly or exclusively on feces. All of these species belong to the superfamily Scarabaeoidea; most of them to the subfamilies Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae of the family Scarabaeidae. This beetle can also be referred to as the scarab beetle. As most species of...
and cobra
Cobra
Cobra is a venomous snake belonging to the family Elapidae. However, not all snakes commonly referred to as cobras are of the same genus, or even of the same family. The name is short for cobra capo or capa Snake, which is Portuguese for "snake with hood", or "hood-snake"...
s; in addition to the various enemies, the tombs are also overrun with traps. The future
Future
The future is the indefinite time period after the present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the nature of the reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently exists and will exist is temporary and will come...
levels take place in "Neo York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
", a city under Cortex's rule that features laser cannons, robots, flying saucers, force fields and moving platforms. The "Lost Highway" levels, in which Crash pilots a motorcycle, take place in a 1950's America
United States in the 1950s
During the 1950s in the United States, manufacturing and home construction were on the rise as the American economy was on the upswing. The Korean War and the beginning of the Cold War created a politically conservative climate in the country, and the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the...
highway, where Crash must race against Cortex's hot rod
Hot rod
Hot rods are typically American cars with large engines modified for linear speed. The origin of the term "hot rod" is unclear. One explanation is that the term is a contraction of "hot roadster," meaning a roadster that was modified for speed. Another possible origin includes modifications to or...
ders to win Crystals, avoiding construction barricades and cops along the way. The World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
levels take place in the skies of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and alternatively feature Crash and Coco as the player character. In these levels, Cortex's fleet of dirigibles
Airship
An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...
must be shot down to obtain the Crystal. The Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
levels are split up into two different types; the first type features Crash as the player character, who must don scuba gear and find the Crystals in the Atlantean ruins, which are wrought with sharks, depth charges and poisonous blowfish. The second type features Coco as the player character, who must ride a jetski
Jet ski
Jet Ski is the brand name of a personal watercraft manufactured by Kawasaki Heavy Industries. The name is sometimes mistakenly used by those unfamiliar with the personal watercraft industry to refer to any type of personal watercraft; however, the name is a valid trademark registered with the...
and gather the Crystals on the surface of the water, avoiding pirates
Piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator...
and water mines as she does so. The Great Wall of China
Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups...
levels feature Coco as the player character and are played riding on the back of a tiger cub while avoiding doddery pan carriers and Chinese dragon
Chinese dragon
Chinese dragons are legendary creatures in Chinese mythology and folklore, with mythic counterparts among Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Bhutanese, Western and Turkic dragons. In Chinese art, dragons are typically portrayed as long, scaled, serpentine creatures with four legs...
s.
Characters
The titular protagonist of the game is Crash BandicootCrash Bandicoot (character)
Crash Bandicoot, or simply Crash, is a video game character and the primary protagonist of the Crash Bandicoot series of video games. Introduced in the 1996 video game Crash Bandicoot, Crash is an Eastern Barred Bandicoot that was genetically enhanced by the series antagonist Doctor Neo Cortex and...
, a mutated bandicoot who must travel through time and stop Doctor Neo Cortex from gathering the Crystals. He is aided by Aku Aku, an ancient witch doctor mask who protects Crash from harm and gives him sage advice between levels. Also helping Crash is his younger sister Coco Bandicoot, who gathers the Crystals on the Great Wall of China, on the surfaces above Atlantis and in the skies of World War I Europe. The main antagonist of the game is Uka Uka, the evil twin brother of Aku Aku. Uka Uka was previously locked away by Aku Aku to protect the world from his villainy, but has been freed because of the bumblings of Doctor Neo Cortex
Doctor Neo Cortex
Doctor Neo Periwinkle Cortex, often referred to as "Doctor Cortex" or simply "Cortex", is a video game character and the main antagonist of the Crash Bandicoot series of video games. His name is a play on the term neocortex, an area of the brain...
, the antagonist of the previous two games. Aiding Uka Uka and Doctor Cortex is Doctor Nefarious Tropy, the self-proclaimed master of time and the creator of the Time Twisting Machine used to gather Crystals and Gems in different time periods. Other antagonistic characters include Tiny Tiger, a hulking beast who battles Crash in the Colloseum; Dingodile, a half-dingo
Dingo
The Australian Dingo or Warrigal is a free-roaming wild dog unique to the continent of Australia, mainly found in the outback. Its original ancestors are thought to have arrived with humans from southeast Asia thousands of years ago, when dogs were still relatively undomesticated and closer to...
half-crocodile
Crocodile
A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: i.e...
hybrid with a large flamethrower
Flamethrower
A flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to project a long controllable stream of fire.Some flamethrowers project a stream of ignited flammable liquid; some project a long gas flame. Most military flamethrowers use liquids, but commercial flamethrowers tend to use high-pressure propane and...
; and Doctor N. Gin, a bad-tempered scientist with an unexploded missile in his head.
Story
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back is a platform video game published by Sony Computer Entertainment, produced by Universal Interactive Studios and developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation...
, in which Doctor Neo Cortex's space station is destroyed by Doctor Nitrus Brio's laser beam device. Pieces of Cortex's space station hurtle towards Earth and crash into a tropical mountain. This sets free an evil entity known as Uka Uka, the mastermind behind Doctor Cortex's previous schemes. Uka Uka confronts Doctor Cortex and calls him out for failing to retrieve the Crystals and Gems, both of which are a great source of world energy. Uka Uka then recruits Doctor Nefarious Tropy to join them in their latest plan. Tropy has created the Time-Twisting Machine, a time machine that allows them to travel through time to find the Gems and Crystals in their original places in time.
At the home of the Bandicoots, Aku Aku senses Uka Uka's emergence and orders Crash and Coco inside. Aku Aku tells the two that Uka Uka is his evil twin brother and that he was locked in an underground prison to protect the world from his malice. Crash, Coco and Aku Aku go to the Time-Twisting Machine, where Aku Aku gives Crash and Coco the task of recovering the Crystals before Uka Uka and Doctor Cortex do so. Crash and Coco proceed to travel through time and collect the Crystals and Gems, thwarting Cortex's minions (including Tiny Tiger, Dingodile and Doctor N. Gin) along the way. Doctor Nefarious Tropy is also defeated, throwing the Time-Twisting Machine into disarray. Crash and Cortex eventually face off in the Time-Twisting machine's core while Uka Uka and Aku Aku fend each other off. Following Cortex's defeat, the Time-Twisting Machine implodes on itself, transforming Cortex and Tropy into infant
Infant
A newborn or baby is the very young offspring of a human or other mammal. A newborn is an infant who is within hours, days, or up to a few weeks from birth. In medical contexts, newborn or neonate refers to an infant in the first 28 days after birth...
s and trapping them and Uka Uka in a prison of time.
Development
Production of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped began on January 1998, with Naughty Dog given only 10½ months to complete the game. Programmers Andy Gavin, Stephen White and Greg Omi created three new gameplay engines for the game. Two of the three new engines were three-dimensional in nature and were created for the airplane and jet-ski levels; the third new engine was created for the motorcycle levels in the style of a driving simulatorDriving simulator
Driving simulators are used for entertainment as well as in training of driver's education courses taught in educational institutions and private businesses...
. The new engines combined make up a third of the game, while the other two-thirds of the game consist of the same engine used in the previous games. Jason Rubin explained that the "classic" engine and game style was preserved due to the success of the previous two games and went on to say that "were we to abandon that style of gameplay, that would mean that we would be abandoning a significant proportion of gamers out there." An arbitrary plane z-buffer
Z-buffering
In computer graphics, z-buffering is the management of image depth coordinates in three-dimensional graphics, usually done in hardware, sometimes in software. It is one solution to the visibility problem, which is the problem of deciding which elements of a rendered scene are visible, and which...
was created for the jet-ski and flooded Egyptian hallway levels of the game. To create a completely fluid feel for the water on these levels, an environment map
Reflection mapping
In computer graphics, environment mapping, or reflection mapping, is an efficient Image-based lighting technique for approximating the appearance of a reflective surface by means of a precomputed texture image. The texture is used to store the image of the distant environment surrounding the...
that reflects the sky was fitted onto the surface of the water. A real shadow
Shadow mapping
Shadow mapping or projective shadowing is a process by which shadows are added to 3D computer graphics. This concept was introduced by Lance Williams in 1978, in a paper entitled "Casting curved shadows on curved surfaces"...
was given to the Crash character at the request of the Sony Computer Entertainment America producers, who were "sick of that little discus that's following him around." To create an "arcade" experience in the airplane levels and to differentiate them from flight simulators, the enemy planes were programmed to come out in front of the player and give the player ample time to shoot them before they turn around and shoot the player rather than come up behind the player and hit them from behind. The Relic system was introduced to give players a reason to return to the game after it has been completed.
The soundtrack of the game was produced by David Baggett and composed by Mark Mothersbaugh
Mark Mothersbaugh
Mark Allen Mothersbaugh is an American musician, composer, singer and painter. He is the co-founder of the new wave band Devo and has been its lead singer since 1972. His other musical projects include work for television series, films, and video games....
and Josh Mancell
Josh Mancell
Josh Mancell is an American composer and musician attached to Mutato Muzika.-Biography:As a child, Mancell learned to play the piano, drums and guitar and was a "rabid record geek". The exposure of playing music in different types of bands combined with being a fan of many genres led Mancell to...
of Mutato Muzika
Mutato Muzika
Mutato Muzika is a music production company established in 1989 by Devo co-founder Mark Mothersbaugh. While Devo members Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald V...
, while the sound effects were created by Mike Gollum, Ron Horwitz and Kevin Spears of Universal Sound Studios. Clancy Brown
Clancy Brown
Clarence J. "Clancy" Brown III is an American actor and voice actor. He is known for his roles in live action as The Kurgan in the cult classic film Highlander, Byron Hadley in the award-winning The Shawshank Redemption, Brother Justin Crowe in HBO's critically acclaimed Carnivàle, and Career...
voiced the dual role of Doctor Neo Cortex and Uka Uka, while Brendan O'Brien
Brendan O'Brien (voice actor)
Brendan O'Brien is an American voice actor who is best known for providing voices for the Crash Bandicoot video games during the Naughty Dog years...
voiced the dual role of Doctor N. Gin and Tiny the Tiger. Additionally, Michael Ensign
Michael Ensign
- Early life :Ensign was born in Safford, Arizona and was raised in both the United States and England. He trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and spent the first ten years of his professional career working in the theatre in Britain.- Career :...
voiced Doctor Nefarious Tropy, William Hootkins
William Hootkins
William Michael Hootkins was an American character actor, most famous for supporting roles in Hollywood blockbusters such as Star Wars, Batman and Raiders of the Lost Ark.-Early life:...
voiced Dingodile and Mel Winkler
Mel Winkler
Mel Winkler is an American film and TV actor. Though he mostly takes on minor live-action roles, he is probably best known as the voice of the guardian mask Aku Aku in the Crash Bandicoot series, and Johnny Snowman in the TV series Oswald....
voiced Aku Aku. A small sampling of the game's levels were prominently displayed at Sony's Electronic Entertainment Expo booth in Atlanta, Georgia. Around this time, the video game industry wondered if Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped was just more of the same of the previous installment. The release of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped was accompanied by marketing campaigns by Sony and Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is an American restaurant chain and international franchise that offers different styles of pizza along with side dishes including pasta, buffalo wings, breadsticks, and garlic bread....
. The Japanese version of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped was one of the first video games to support the PocketStation
PocketStation
The is a peripheral by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation home video game console. Categorized by Sony as a miniature personal digital assistant, the device features a monochrome liquid crystal display , infrared communication capability, a real-time clock, built-in flash memory, and...
, a peripheral
Peripheral
A peripheral is a device attached to a host computer, but not part of it, and is more or less dependent on the host. It expands the host's capabilities, but does not form part of the core computer architecture....
that downloads minigames from PlayStation games. A playable game demo
Game demo
A game demo is a freely distributed demonstration or preview of an upcoming or recently released video game. Demos are typically released by the game's publisher to help consumers get a feel of the game before deciding whether to buy the full version....
of the Insomniac Games
Insomniac Games
Insomniac Games, Inc. is an American video game developer headquartered in Burbank, California. Founded in 1994, Insomniac has released titles for the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3 video game consoles. It created Disruptor, the first three Spyro the Dragon games, and the Ratchet &...
game Spyro the Dragon is available in the final product and can be accessed by entering a code
Machine code
Machine code or machine language is a system of impartible instructions executed directly by a computer's central processing unit. Each instruction performs a very specific task, typically either an operation on a unit of data Machine code or machine language is a system of impartible instructions...
at the title screen.
Character and level design
The antagonist Uka Uka was created as a presence that would cause Doctor Neo Cortex to cower in fear. The emotion sketches depicting Cortex begging for forgiveness inspired the shot design and animation for the game's cinematic introductory sequence. Because the game's plot involved time travel, the time-traveling secondary antagonist Doctor Nefarious Tropy was created. Tropy was drawn wearing a piston-driven, smog-generating time machine to reflect his unhealthy obsession with time. The Dingodile character, created by Charles Zembillas, stemmed from a request by Naughty Dog employee Joe Labbe, who asked for a character that was a cross between a dingo and a crocodile. When conceiving Coco Bandicoot's companion in the Chinese levels, it was decided that a "cute and huggable critter" that fit the Chinese theme was needed. A panda bearGiant Panda
The giant panda, or panda is a bear native to central-western and south western China. It is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black patches around the eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the panda's diet is 99% bamboo...
was originally considered but was rejected due to its similarity to the polar bear
Polar Bear
The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...
seen in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. A tiger
Tiger
The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
cub was chosen as an alternative. When creating the triceratops
Triceratops
Triceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur which lived during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period, around 68 to 65 million years ago in what is now North America. It was one of the last dinosaur genera to appear before the great Cretaceous–Paleogene...
chase sequences in the prehistoric levels, a minion of Doctor Cortex was initially animated riding the beast. Whenever the triceratops got stuck, it would thrash the minion around. The rider was ultimately removed for technical reasons. The Tyrannosaurus
Tyrannosaurus
Tyrannosaurus meaning "tyrant," and sauros meaning "lizard") is a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex , commonly abbreviated to T. rex, is a fixture in popular culture. It lived throughout what is now western North America, with a much wider range than other...
hatchling that Crash mounts in the prehistoric levels was drawn with chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
-like proportions by Naughty Dog's Bob Rafei. The shark seen in the game's underwater levels was one of Jason Rubin's first PowerAnimator
PowerAnimator
PowerAnimator and Animator, also referred to simply as "Alias", the precursor to what is now Maya and StudioTools, was a highly-integrated industrial 3D modeling, animation, and visual effects suite. It has had a long track record, starting with Terminator 2: Judgment Day in 1991 and ending in Star...
models. The model was originally built for the first Crash Bandicoot game, but wasn't used until Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped.
The "time-travel-around-the-world" theme of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped allowed the Naughty Dog artists to stretch beyond the limits imposed by the island themed setting of the previous games; each time theme has distinctly unique structures and color palettes. To demonstrate the effect that color has on the mood of an environment, level sketches, such as those of the Arabian or Medieval levels, were recolored to alter the depicted time of day from day to night. Naughty Dog aimed to visually distinguish Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped from previous installments by "opening up the environment" and allowing greater distances to be visible without draw-in or fog; to achieve the image of endless rolling hills and distant castles seen in the Medieval levels, level of detail
Level of detail
In computer graphics, accounting for level of detail involves decreasing the complexity of a 3D object representation as it moves away from the viewer or according other metrics such as object importance, eye-space speed or position....
was accounted for by introducing new technologies into the game engine and changing the way some of the background elements were constructed. The most detailed textures
Texture mapping
Texture mapping is a method for adding detail, surface texture , or color to a computer-generated graphic or 3D model. Its application to 3D graphics was pioneered by Dr Edwin Catmull in his Ph.D. thesis of 1974.-Texture mapping:...
of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped are located in the Egyptian Tomb levels in the form of decorative paintings. To keep the image of an endless highway in the motorcycle levels from being boring, roadside details such as cacti
Cactus
A cactus is a member of the plant family Cactaceae. Their distinctive appearance is a result of adaptations to conserve water in dry and/or hot environments. In most species, the stem has evolved to become photosynthetic and succulent, while the leaves have evolved into spines...
and telephone poles
Utility pole
A utility pole is a pole used to support overhead power lines and various other public utilities, such as cable, fibre optic cable, and related equipment such as transformers and street lights. It can be referred to as a telephone pole, power pole, hydro pole, telegraph pole, or telegraph post,...
were added to the scenery. Additionally, distant mesa
Mesa
A mesa or table mountain is an elevated area of land with a flat top and sides that are usually steep cliffs. It takes its name from its characteristic table-top shape....
s were added to help break up the horizon. To give the desert highway some character, full service
Full service
Full service is a term that has many different uses. In general the term implies that the customer will receive as much service as is reasonably possible.-Gas station:...
gas stations
Filling station
A filling station, also known as a fueling station, garage, gasbar , gas station , petrol bunk , petrol pump , petrol garage, petrol kiosk , petrol station "'servo"' in Australia or service station, is a facility which sells fuel and lubricants...
and diner
Diner
A diner, also spelled dinor in western Pennsylvania is a prefabricated restaurant building characteristic of North America, especially in the Midwest, in New York City, in Pennsylvania and in New Jersey, and in other areas of the Northeastern United States, although examples can be found throughout...
s were added to the roadside to evoke a "1950's America
United States in the 1950s
During the 1950s in the United States, manufacturing and home construction were on the rise as the American economy was on the upswing. The Korean War and the beginning of the Cold War created a politically conservative climate in the country, and the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the...
" flavor. The Great Wall of China
Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups...
is portrayed during its construction stage to add visual variety and provide gameplay obstacles. Initial ideas for the submerged Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
stage varied from an ancient Roman-esque city in ruins to a high-tech submerged city of alien origin.
Reception
Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped was met with near universal critical acclaim upon release. Johnny Ballgame of GameProGamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
concluded that the game was "a very strong contender for PlayStation game of the year" and that the ""rowdy rowdy" gameplay will keep your head spinning for days." Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine considered the game to be "the best 2.5D platformer ever released." Ryan MacDonald of GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
said that Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped is "easily the best Crash yet," describing how all of its aspects were superior to previous installments in the series, and concluded that the game was "the most fun I've had with a 3D platform game in a long, long time." Mark Cooke of Game Revolution
Game Revolution
Game Revolution or GR is a gaming website created in 1996. Based in Berkeley, California, the site includes reviews, previews, a gaming download area, cheats, and a merchandise store, as well as webcomics, screenshots, and videos...
called the game "a barrage of good things" and said that the game's elements "all come together perfectly." Scott Alan Marriott of Allgame
Allgame
Allgame is a commercial database of information about arcade games, video games and console manufacturers.Allgame is owned by All Media Guide, along with Allmusic and Allmovie....
("All Game Guide" at the time) considered the game to be "so impressive to watch that you'll have to keep one hand firmly below your chin to keep it from falling to the floor."
The game's graphics were lauded by critics. Johnny Ballgame praised the game's graphics as "incredibly clean" and "detailed", citing the water in the jet ski levels as "the most realistic-looking waves of any PlayStation game we've seen so far". Randy Nelson called the game "drop-dead gorgeous", detailing that "the textures are impeccable, the animation's top-notch, and the special effects kick some serious booty." Ryan MacDonald called the game "one of the most beautiful PlayStation games ever", citing the game's "smooth" character animations, "bright" and "colorful" landscapes, "gorgeous" lighting effects and a "refreshingly fast and steady" frame rate. Mark Cooke praised the game's "smooth" and "cartoonish" animation as "top of the line, bested by no other game" and its "limitless" rendering distance and "beautiful" 3D models as "the pinnacle of PlayStation rendering". However, he criticized the absence of death animations for the enemy characters. Scott Alan Marriott described the graphics as "unbelievable" and said that "everything is crystal clear, colorful, smoothly animated and extremely detailed."
The game's audio was also critically praised. Johnny Ballgame said that the sound "gets you pumped to play, especially the wicked drum beats that blare when you're charging through a level with the invincibility mask." He also commented positively on the other audio effects, such as "the boiling lava", "the raging pterodactyls" and the "zany movie voice-overs". Randy Nelson was thankful for the game's increased musical diversity in comparison to Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. Ryan MacDonald praised the music, sound effects and character voice-overs as "outstanding" and "extremely well done" and noted that the onscreen lip-synching is "almost perfectly matched to the voice." Mark Cooke said that the game's "over-exaggerated" voice-acting is "like those in good cartoons, and sometimes even better", and cited an "equally cartoonish" aspect in the music. Scott Alan Marriott described the voice-acting as "five-star quality all the way" and noted that the music "captures the level setting(s) perfectly."
As of 2002, Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped has sold over 5.7 million units worldwide, making it the seventh best-selling PlayStation video game of all time. The game's success resulted in its re-release for the Sony Greatest Hits line-up on August 23, 1999 and for the Platinum Range
Platinum range
The Platinum Range is a Sony PlayStation budget range in the PAL regions, notably Europe , Australia, New Zealand, India, and Africa...
on 2000. Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped was the first non-Japanese title to receive a "Platinum Prize" in Japan for sales of over 1,000,000.