When the ruins of Doctor Neo Cortex's space station crash-land on Earth, they unleash an evil entity known as Uka Uka, Aku Aku's evil twin brother, who joins with Cortex and the time-obsessed Doctor Nefarious Tropy as they plan to gather powerful crystals that lay scattered across 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.

The Story Behind Crash Bandicoot - Warped

The Great Wall of China is portrayed during its construction stage to add visual variety and provide gameplay obstacles. 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 levels of the game. The rider was ultimately removed for technical reasons.

American Exitus artist Charles Zembillas, who was a character designer for the previous two games, reprised his role for Warped. The Relic system was introduced to give players a reason to return to the game after it has been completed. 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.

How Crash Bandicoot - Warped Plays

When all 25 Crystals are found and all five boss characters are defeated, the game is won. However, it can be continued by selecting "Yes" at the "Continue?" screen. Boxes contain helpful items or can augment Crash's mobility.

More lives can be earned by collecting 100 "Wumpa Fruits" or breaking open a special crate to collect a life. The levels in the Secret Warp Room must be won before the game can be completed. Besides crystals, gems, both regular and colored varieties, can be collected for extra accomplishment.

Why Players Still Load It Up

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". 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." 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.

However, he criticized the absence of death animations for the enemy characters. PlayStation Magazine considered the game to be "the best 2.5D platformer ever released." Ryan MacDonald of GameSpot said that Crash Bandicoot: 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 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".

Crash Bandicoot - Warped — Frequently Asked Questions