Crash Bandicoot Fusion is the latest game in the on-going series that started way back on the Playstation. For the Gameboy Advance version, Naughty Dog turned to Vicarious Visions to handle the cartridge based game. As soon as you begin to play, from the title screen music to the in-game graphical style and controls, this is Crash Bandicoot through and through. The game looks and plays great on GBA. For Fusion, however, the developer has moved away from the traditional platform-based adventure that we are used to, and shifted to a game centered around mini-games and challenges.

   

There is a small story element to the game, and along the way you meet up with another gaming hero, Spyro. You never actually play together so to speak (which is a shame), but the story involves both characters and both characters’ enemies; Neo Cortex and Ripto who have teamed up to take over the world! The game is still split into levels as per usual, but instead of going from A to B, you now go through the level, finding and opening warps which take you to various challenges. If you complete the challenges, you obtain crystals, and when you have enough, you can open the next area up.

The challenges are nicely designed, and vary from 2D shooter style sections, button-bashing weightlifting games and shooting sheep with rocket launchers. The games only last for a couple of minutes, and they are enjoyable to play. Once completed, the mini-games can be played from the front-end, and picture cards that you have picked up through your adventure can be viewed and traded via the GBA linkup mode. The game links with its brother title, Spyro Fusion, for card trading and unlocking secrets within each game.

   

I enjoyed Crash Fusion a lot – the game (which requires you to perfect every minigame obtaining every single crystal and gem in the game) took around 10 hours of play to complete, and after that some of the mini-games have enough pull to get you playing them again from the Party Mode option. You can’t actually die in the game, as there is no lives system, so as long you keep playing it you’ll complete the game eventually (even though some of the challenges that require 100% completion are quite tricky). Whether you liked the Crash Bandicoot games before, or are fresh to the series, then I think you’ll enjoy this outing on GBA.