VideoGame Short but Sweet
Twinsanity was originally going to be called Crash Evolution — a much bigger and better game. But due to an unfortunate aligning of the cosmos, much of the game's content was cut (including content near completion!), and Twinsanity was what we got.
However, while the game is short, that doesn't mean it's bad — not remotely. Though it relies on much of the gameplay from the old Naughty Dog games, those were great already — and Twinsanity made the gameplay even better. In short, Twinsanity took something great and improved it.
That's not to say it's perfect. Aside from it's short length, the game has a truckload of bugs. It's clear that the game was far from completion when it was released. Most of these bugs will only be found if you go out of your way to find them, but some will get you even when you play the game normally. They really do sour the experience.
However, at the end of the day, Twinsanity fulfills its purpose: it's really, really fun to play. (And it's funny, too.) If you get a chance, check it out. You might just enjoy it.
VideoGame Fall And Fade To Black
Ooooooh man, the tales I could tell with my first experience with this one. Now, I heard that this game received pretty mixed reactions from people, as they either enjoyed it or loathed it. Unfortunately, I can't say I am a fan of the game. The game was apparently released in an incomplete state, with loads of content not making it in. And while it's nice to imagine what could have been, I'm looking at what we got.
First of all, there's loads of bugs in this thing, as well as some things I'm not sure are bugs but are of baffling design choice (I'm looking at you, death-by-falling bollocks). And while some bugs can be pretty damn funny, such as the fact the tiki boss can still kill you after you defeated it, they do bring the whole thing down a notch.
The design of some of the hub levels leave a lot to be desired as well. Usually they consist of this massive, empty area with "puzzles" that looked like they were just thrown together without any sense of real coherence to their surroundings. The Iceberg Lab hub is a blatant example of this. The levels themselves are somewhat better, though not by much.
The gameplay can be pretty frustrating, as a lot of the deaths can come from cheap sources. And once you see the same area over and over again, with even sometimes having to sit through an unskippable cutscence every single time, it can certainly get rather grating. Even controlling Crash himself kinda feels off. While he moves just fine on foot, jumping just feels meh this time around, as he seems to lack that sense of weight that he had in previous games.
Despite all my harping, it's not like there aren't some good things to be had in this game. For one, I dig the soundtrack immensely. The acapella music provided by Spiralmouth is insanely catchy and I find myself humming it now and again. The humor in this game is really top-notch, as should be of a Crash game and was pretty much what kept me going through this slog. The dialogue from Cortex as well as the gags that occur are just great. The game also looks nice graphically, boasting some really nice cartoony aesthetics and colors.
However, despite looking nice, some great music and genuinely funny moments, the gameplay, levels and bugs just bring it down for me overall and I can't really find myself liking Crash Twinsanity. But who knows, maybe you'd tolerate it better.