In Crash Twinsanity, Crash Bandicoot loses his marbles.  He's been fighting Neo Cortex for much too long.  For some reason the world will never decipher, Crash teams up with his lunatic of a nemesis to save the world from evil forces.

Neo is just as evil and as greedy as he was when he met the orange bandicoot eight years ago.  If he wants to continue spreading that greed, he'll have to swallow his pride and fight side-by-side with the one he hates most.

With Crash and Neo together, the developers had the opportunity to implement three changes to the series.  First and foremost it changes the gameplay.  Crash was a jump-spin-run kind of guy in his previous titles.  Neo was just a villain.  Together they can bash metal crates that Crash could not destroy otherwise.  They can reach platforms that were too far away for Crash to jump too.  They even get to wrestle with each other, rolling down steep areas like a super monkey ball.

This is all in the name of humiliating Cortex since nobody likes a villain who wears the first letter of his name on his head.  (He should wear an “L” for “LOSER.”)

Bashing metal crates is as easy as lifting Neo into the air and slamming him down as quickly as possible (the triangle button handles the task for you).  Crash's spin becomes larger and more powerful when swinging Neo around.  He can even toss him in the air to flip the switch of a drawbridge, or just to get rid of him because you're sick of having a playmate.  Don't separate yourselves for too long though.  Neo is needed to complete every mission.  Crash can't do it alone and neither can he.

The Super Monkey Ball-style Rollerbrawl is the best part of the game.  Toxic green boxes are littered throughout the route, ensuring that your journey won't be a safe one.  Touch the box and both of you die.  The animators had the chance to turn this painful way to go into a hilarious death sequence, but instead chose to use the same death animations that Naughty Dog created nearly a decade ago.

Crash Twinsanity is the first Crash game to leave behind the confines of linear stages for a world that's more open and free.  Believe it or not, this doesn't change the series in the least bit.  The game plays like an expanded version of the other Crash titles, but with sluggish controls and less-than-fluid movement.  Most of the time you won't even notice that the transformation from 2.5D to 3D has been made.  Within the main world are several linear stages, pushing you forward, never backward or in any direction other than the obvious.

The third change was to make the game funnier.  Neo's a quack and Crash is stupid (in this game, not so much in the others), so it's natural that the two would make a great comedic duo.  At least that was the theory.  The under 12 crowd might find reason to giggle, but everyone else will be rolling their eyes at the goofy, Warner Brothers-style antics.  They can't even compare to the stuff Warner Brothers used to make. 

Spinning for soup.  Or is it bowling for soup?  I can never remember… 

Like it or not, you're going to watch every movie sequence the game has.  Computer-generated movies are few and far between and can be skipped by pressing one button.  The real-time movies, however, occur frequently and cannot be skipped at all.  Not on your second viewing, not on your third, not ever.  This is terribly frustrating.  If I wanted to watch a movie, wouldn't I just go to the theater?  Wouldn't I just spend $8.50 for non-interactive entertainment instead of the $39.99 Crash Twinsanity sells for?

I wouldn't say that the difficulty is any higher, but the death toll has definitely increased.  You'll find more extra lives than in the previous games, but that's only to compensate for the dozens of booby traps hidden in each level.  If the booby traps don't kill you, the poor controls will. 

Sad but true, Crash Bandicoot is best at defeating enemies on his own.  Twinsanity had a decent concept, but it was the brand name and series history that attracted me to the title.  It's the typical, unpolished gameplay that turned me off.  I stray from saying that a game feels unfinished because that only encourages delays, but that's the best way to describe this one.  Twinsanity is not nearly as "complete" a game as the titles Naughty Dog developed, or as complete as the first Crash game Universal made.

You could argue that it's a decent buy for gamers who really love Crash, but I'm one of those gamers!  I love Crash.  In 1996 I would have bought anything to kill the time in between Crash games.  Back then Twinsanity might have been acceptable.  Today it's just Crash Bandicoot with too much insanity.

Gameplay: 6.9
The absence of Naughty Dog is really starting to show.  Twinsanity lacks the depth, challenge and replayability that other Crash games offer.  Sluggish controls are looked down on in new series, but those games don't have a past to look back on.  Twinsanity does.  Crash never had bad controls until now.  The levels have a few clever moments, primarily during the Rollerbrawl stages.  Is that a reason to play a game?  It would be, but the controls cannot be overlooked.

Graphics: 6.5
Plain levels masked with organic and industrial aesthetics.  None of the enemies, big or small, have the detail the series is known for producing.  Sequels are supposed to move the series forward, not backward.

Sound: 3
Insanely annoying music that doesn't fit with the wacky and crazy world of Crash Bandicoot.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
The subtitle could have been "death by default."  Twinsanity has several pitfalls, booby traps, weak platforms and other hazards that make navigation a chore.  A good control scheme would've made the experience fun and challenging.  If only it had one...

Concept: 7.5
Once again I was more attracted to the Crash Bandicoot name and the brand history than I was the concept.  With more polish, solid controls and better levels, Twinsanity's concept would have worked beautifully.

Overall: 6.9
There's crazy, there's insanity, and then there's Crash Twinsanity.  It's double the insanity for all you psychopath-loving gamers out there, but it's half the fun for gamers.  Crash loyalists waiting for his next big adventure are going to have to wait a bit longer.  This may be the next chapter in his long-running saga, but it's hardly a big adventure.  A big disappointment is more like it.  Rent if you just can't bear to live without playing each and every Crash game.  Then go pre-order Jak III and Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal.