
Has this bandicoot, Crashed?
In this thread, I started out with the intentions of examining my favourite Crash Bandicoot game from the past, since I have semi-gone off modern gaming. That view will most likely change when Modern Warfare 2 comes out but none the less, here I am. So, I stared going through all of the past releases in an effort to single out my favourite one of the series and upon closer inspection, I realised that Crash Bandicoot is dying. Not literally but the series is dying in my opinion. This is truly a sad day for me. Firstly, playing Crash Bandicoot as a kid was one of my greatest memories, noticing that it had gone so downhill that the huge boulder in the second one wouldnt bother chasing you any more is fucking sad. Secondly, I am now in two minds about whether they should realise another game in the series. I often thought they should go back to the roots and bring out a revamped game similar to the first few. Then I look at the game they offer now and I think maybe they shouldnt. I mean, no point further tarnishing a good series.
Anyway, my love affair of this game started a long, long time ago. I got a PlayStation for my 7th birthday and the only game I got with it was Crash Bandicoot. To be honest, it was the only game I needed. I spent so long on that game that even when I did get new games like Abes Odyssey, I only played them for a while and then got right back to the lovable bandicoot. It is probably the best game I have played in my life. Not for graphics, not for creative design but for just sheer playability and enjoyment. There wasnt a day in my life that I did not wake up and put on Crash Bandicoot. It was a great game and the beginning of a gaming phenomenon that swept everything out of the way.
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, was just as brilliant in my eyes. Honestly, it was one of the finest sequals to a game I have ever played and just further reinforced the fact that Crash Bandicoot was on top of his game. Smashing through crates and rocket launching his way to the top. It was a hilarious game and something that is very pure. Pure in the sense that it didnt try to be something else, it was just a fun game that you could sit down and play for hours and hours at a time. I cannot tell you how many hours I spent playing that game right through. Mainly because I missed one fucking crate and didnt realise until the end. They released this game for the XBOX 360 arcade a while back and I downloaded it without hesitation. I, again, played it for hours upon hours and it really got me back into playing retro games. I started playing Final Fantasy games more and I found an old copy of Future Cop LAPD, another of my favourite retro games. It really brought back some great memories and is just a damn fine gaming experience.
Then we have Crash Team Racing. By this point, I was a complete fan boy by this point and anything that they brought out as a sequel to Crash Bandicoot 2, I would have gotten without a doubt. I was taken aback with this game when I got to play it. It was so good. I mean, there was plenty of other games like this out there but this was by far the best of them. The follow up to this game was Nitro Kart, which is not an altogether bad game but I would think that it was the beginning of the end for the series. Team Racing though was amazing. A truly great game that inspired me into more racing games. To this day, these 3 games still stand as some of my favourite games ever.
My question is: Where should they have stopped and has the series been ruined by
This:

And this:

I think so. But what do you guys think?