A Fantastic Party Game Even Today
Crash Bash is a game that is almost certainly remembered fondly by many of the PS1 generation, and was one of the pioneers of the party game genre. Before the era of “Wii Party Games” and “Motion Controlled” nonsense, we had this: an unbelievably fun PS1 title that made it socially unacceptable not to own a multitap.
Crash Bash is a competent party game which, while fun alone, really comes into its own with other human beings. The game starts off in a sort of hub-world, in which you can access an assortment of different party games.
All these games can be played alone, or with friends, depending on the number of controllers plugged in. And all of these games feature an assortment of Crash Bandicoot’s most noteworthy characters and enemies, and the boss fights are no exception.
Progress is made through the game by completing tasks in each party game. Upon completion of one task you are then able to replay the game to receive a greater reward (such as gems and crystals) upon completing a tougher challenge.
Polar Push is an example of one of these games, and is sort of a sumo style game in which you must try and push your opponents from an ice rink whilst riding on the back of a baby polar bear. The sheer ridiculousness of the situation only adds to the enjoyment, and the ice based setting allows for a degree of challenge by rendering the polar bears particularly hard to handle.
Later variations of this game see you attempting to evade Uka Uka’s beam, which gradually destroys more and more of the ice rink you are on as time progresses, or freezes your character if you are unlucky enough to be hit by it. Furthermore, in another variant, a large seal launches itself onto the ice rink, slanting it precariously and often sending an unwary polar bear and rider into the ocean.
But, once you have completed all the games in the hub-world, you have far from finished the game. Once you defeat a particularly tricky boss level – featuring memorable characters from various other Bandicoot titles, like Papu Papu (Crash Bandicoot PS1) and Nitros Oxide (Crash Team Racing PS1) – you are able to traverse to the next level of party games, which either add an interesting new twist to a previously played game (such as the Pogo-a-Gogo variation of Pogo Pandemonium) or introduce completely a new game (like Desert Fox, a tank game in which players must shoot the other players tanks in a box type maze.)
The game offers a great deal of playtime, and each variant and new game feels fresh and invigorating. Furthermore, it is something you are unlikely to get tired of soon, as every round pans out differently, leaving you wanting to play more.
Each party game is great and entertaining enough to play alone against the CPUs, however Crash Bash is a game designed to be played with friends. Once you have a few friends around your PS1, and are all blasting away balls at each other’s goals in Ballistix, then you will have discovered the true joy of this game, and one that makes it a competitive party game even today.