air_show
elementary my dear baxter
And who the hell else am I going to talk to about them?
So I was but a preteen lad when I got my first PSX, which boy howdy saw a lot of use from me over the years. The game that came with it was Crash Bandicoot and I did play it and eventually beat it and even more eventually 100%-ed it but I don't think I'd ever put it up there with the best games I've ever played. I mean it had strong competition on that console alone. Still I ultimately came away liking the game.
And yet, after trying to re-visit the game by way of the N. Sane Trilogy I now think I hate it. I know I hate the N. Sane Trilogy version of it at the very least. It's entirely possible, and my googling has turned up evidence of this, that said remake of the game uses updated physics that don't mesh with the game's sometimes ruthless platforming demands and I can believe it, as I can't even muster the patience to even get to the end of the game, much less get all the gems. And for all my flaws I am a significantly more patient person now than I was in the PSX days.
Not to mention I'm pretty sure the original game had much more punishing mechanics for losing all your lives, it was still in the old times enough to not save all of your progress at all times so game overs meant going through multiple tough levels. At least I think that's how it was, I haven't done any research for this brain spew. Point is there's something about the PSX original that I think is lost...
It's the music, it's absolutely 100% the music.
Crash 1 was a blocky, simplistic obstacle course game only vaguely imitating 3-d gameplay but it had charm and it had a voice. Two words: Boulder Dash. Do yourself a favor and listen to this song with headphones. It's so percussive. So Australian. The way it builds up and crescendos with this amazing thumping sense of impending doom. This is some serious got damn music to flee from boulders with. It didn't matter if the trial-and-error gameplay got tedious with this motherfucking jam carrying you. There's something truly haunting in the PSX soundscape at times and music like this epitomizes that for me.
And then there's the remake. And I mean no offense to whatever hard working musician put this piece together. They know how to put the key notes in the right places and yet it feels so flat, so lifeless and generic. There's no real build up or pay off to the song and anything to give it that grungy, wild sound. So if I miss a frustrating jump and lose another life, now I'm just dealing with the shit gameplay, not feeling particularly thrilled.
I don't want a Crash Remake. I want the original game, emulated as best as possible, even if trickery is used to simulate the look and feel of playing it on a CRT with the very stiff and reliable PSX physics and especially the music, forever and away that music.*
And this isn't restricted just to the first Crash. I slept on Crash 2 but did play Warped and arguably enjoyed it even more than Crash 1 and it had a boss I would regularly load the game just to fight and hear this delightful song again. It occurs to me there are other interesting, haunting sounds the PSX made that would immensely affect me with the desired mood for the game I was playing and I'd like to revisit a couple more of them now.
The intro to Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee: to this very day this amazing otherworldly howl of a title drop gives me genuine goosebumps. Interestingly enough I think this one also has a remake that sucks all the personality out of it? I'm not certain as I noped out of it pretty quickly before even getting to any gameplay.
This music drop from Tomb Raider 2: It's a very short sound clip that only plays a handful of times in the game to my recollection but it's usually at moments that are meant to evoke a sense of awe and granduer and I did always feel like it did draw me in and make me feel like I was exploring this huge majestic environment, blocky though it may be.
*By the way you can also basically say this this all of this EVEN MORE SO for Ratchet and Clank, which I do consider one of the best games on the PS2 for sure and possibly of all time as well. Man oh man did that remake just turn me off super fast with the deviations both story and gameplay mechanics.
So I was but a preteen lad when I got my first PSX, which boy howdy saw a lot of use from me over the years. The game that came with it was Crash Bandicoot and I did play it and eventually beat it and even more eventually 100%-ed it but I don't think I'd ever put it up there with the best games I've ever played. I mean it had strong competition on that console alone. Still I ultimately came away liking the game.
And yet, after trying to re-visit the game by way of the N. Sane Trilogy I now think I hate it. I know I hate the N. Sane Trilogy version of it at the very least. It's entirely possible, and my googling has turned up evidence of this, that said remake of the game uses updated physics that don't mesh with the game's sometimes ruthless platforming demands and I can believe it, as I can't even muster the patience to even get to the end of the game, much less get all the gems. And for all my flaws I am a significantly more patient person now than I was in the PSX days.
Not to mention I'm pretty sure the original game had much more punishing mechanics for losing all your lives, it was still in the old times enough to not save all of your progress at all times so game overs meant going through multiple tough levels. At least I think that's how it was, I haven't done any research for this brain spew. Point is there's something about the PSX original that I think is lost...
It's the music, it's absolutely 100% the music.
Crash 1 was a blocky, simplistic obstacle course game only vaguely imitating 3-d gameplay but it had charm and it had a voice. Two words: Boulder Dash. Do yourself a favor and listen to this song with headphones. It's so percussive. So Australian. The way it builds up and crescendos with this amazing thumping sense of impending doom. This is some serious got damn music to flee from boulders with. It didn't matter if the trial-and-error gameplay got tedious with this motherfucking jam carrying you. There's something truly haunting in the PSX soundscape at times and music like this epitomizes that for me.
And then there's the remake. And I mean no offense to whatever hard working musician put this piece together. They know how to put the key notes in the right places and yet it feels so flat, so lifeless and generic. There's no real build up or pay off to the song and anything to give it that grungy, wild sound. So if I miss a frustrating jump and lose another life, now I'm just dealing with the shit gameplay, not feeling particularly thrilled.
I don't want a Crash Remake. I want the original game, emulated as best as possible, even if trickery is used to simulate the look and feel of playing it on a CRT with the very stiff and reliable PSX physics and especially the music, forever and away that music.*
And this isn't restricted just to the first Crash. I slept on Crash 2 but did play Warped and arguably enjoyed it even more than Crash 1 and it had a boss I would regularly load the game just to fight and hear this delightful song again. It occurs to me there are other interesting, haunting sounds the PSX made that would immensely affect me with the desired mood for the game I was playing and I'd like to revisit a couple more of them now.
The intro to Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee: to this very day this amazing otherworldly howl of a title drop gives me genuine goosebumps. Interestingly enough I think this one also has a remake that sucks all the personality out of it? I'm not certain as I noped out of it pretty quickly before even getting to any gameplay.
This music drop from Tomb Raider 2: It's a very short sound clip that only plays a handful of times in the game to my recollection but it's usually at moments that are meant to evoke a sense of awe and granduer and I did always feel like it did draw me in and make me feel like I was exploring this huge majestic environment, blocky though it may be.
*By the way you can also basically say this this all of this EVEN MORE SO for Ratchet and Clank, which I do consider one of the best games on the PS2 for sure and possibly of all time as well. Man oh man did that remake just turn me off super fast with the deviations both story and gameplay mechanics.
