EXACTLY the Crash game I've been waiting for.
Ever since Naughty Dog abandoned Crash, there's been some good games, but none of them have quite matched up to the original Bandicoot quality until TwinSanity, but even with games like that one, the series really needed a reboot, which came in the form of the masterpiece, Crash of the Titans. Though it seems impossible, Mind Over Mutant is every improvement Crash of the Titans needed.
The story is a good deal more inventive. Cortex and Brio have made up their differences (as best as they can, anyway) and Brio's designed the new NV, a technological sensation that's swept over the world. Crash and Aku are the only ones that aren't sucked in, so they make it their mission to stop Cortex again. This story is played out through various FMVs that are each played in a different style. You've got South Park, DBZ, and comic book, to name a few. All of these are hilarious in a classic cartoon type of way, with an edge of adult humor carefully implanted there, which effectively makes kids, teenagers, and adults laugh and enjoy.
The voice acting and dialogue are strong. Various voices from classic actors (maybe not well-known, but you'll say "I know that voice" a lot as you play through) are all easy to hear and understand. Crash's voice is my favorite, because of his babbling. It's cute, it's inventive, and it's great. The others voices are good too, though, so you'll be easily satisfied unless you're an ND fan boy who just likes to complain.
The rest of the audio is nothing to smirk at, either. No matter what you hear, it's bound to be good. The in-house composer at Radical was successful in mimicking the music of Spiralmouth from TwinSanity, so it should please longtime Crash fans especially. It's catchy enough to catch the attention of the average gamer too, but rather or not they'll like it is entirely based on their style of music. There are a lot of different kinds though, so pretty much anybody will come away humming at least one tune.
The average sound effects like picking up an item, landing a hit in combat, and jumping are so very well done they don't get annoying, the reason being how well suited to the action they are. When you collect a magic orb, the light ding of magic plays. When you jump or double jump, a light rush of air plays. When you hit an enemy, a light thunk plays. It all feels like it should.
The thing that needs to "feel" right the most importantly in any game with combat IS the combat. Crash of the Titans was the best combat system I've literally ever played, with the only flaw being how easy it was to get hit whenever you battle against fodders. Mind Over Mutant solves that problem by making Crash's combat the best in the game. His limbs stretch and his fists and feet grow, so you can hit back more enemies without getting hurt. The only enemies you have trouble with are the Znu, which attack with beams of light. Strategic timing fixes any of this, exactly the way it should be. The counter system is the best fun I've had with this game.
Like any good fighting game worth its salt, this game makes use of upgrades. The upgrades are good, because of the simple-but-brilliant multiplier system. Mojo is the pickup and the upgrader. It comes in 1s, 5s, and 100s. Every hit you land builds towards a system that multiplies each orb you collect by that number. As long as you don't get hurt, you'll keep the number, too, allowing for quick upgrades to both Crash and the titans in the game. The upgrades are usually strength and spin for Crash and strength and special for the titans. They're all well-worth the effort, making the game a little bit easier each time. The game successfully compensates for this by adding more enemies and making them smarter, which keeps the difficulty at a just-right place.
The free-roaming design is executed marvelously. Though you may have to backtrack through the game, this only makes it feel more like an actual world. The backtracking isn't difficult, either, because the camera usually gives you a good view, even if it's fixed completely. Radical's intent in keeping things simple for graphics, combat, and co-op paid off great. It's made even more enjoyable by the way you'll find yourself going sideways a lot. The paths you walk on are narrow, but this look is intricate, especially when you stare at it from a distance, which you will quite a bit. You'll simply see a world and go into it. Half the fun of any free-roamer is getting there. Going through the same environments over and over would be a bad thing, but the build in this game is way too interesting for that.
Platforming is classic Crash and it's brought back to its original glory in this game. As you wander around, you'll perform lots of those age-old jumps that never get boring. You don't have to be told that all of that stuff is fun and easy to play and enjoy, but the new things in this game (that are new to Crash games, anyway) are just as great. Crash can both dig and climb. When you dig, you'll see an overhead view of Crash, with a small lighted circle around him. Get exploring, because there are a lot of things to uncover and enjoy as you go. The climbing is pretty self-explanatory, but the usual problems that you might find are non-existent. Crash goes fast and jumps between walls and locations with a good, locked-on expertise.
Free-roamers demand a lot of time, usually, because of the wide-spread save points and checkpoints. Forget that in this game. Save points are so common, you could easily quit and re-enter the game at least 40 times within an hour of playtime. This game also capitalizes on the beauties of frequent checkpoints. When you die (which can only really happen if you stand there and let it), you'll be put right back in front of the challenge you failed.
Graphics are an important aspect of any game, aren't they? Well, don't expect this game to fail you. It's not as realistic-looking as the others, the environments are beautiful and the characters and enemies are detailed models that look very cartoonish and goofy, exactly as you'd want out of Crash. Can you really describe them any better?
Even this rose has its thorns, though, believe it or not. The biggest ones are titan-related, which is unfortunate because you'll need them to explore and unlock. For starters, the titan combat is, unfortunately, not as well built as Crash's. The biggest flaw is the inability to interrupt them when they're trying to attack you. A lot of them are very slow, too, making it worse. You can block, but their heavy attacks are surprisingly hard to avoid or interrupt. If you're in a tight area, you'll have a lot of trouble keeping a hold of your multiplier, which makes the upgrading harder.
Upgrading them really does solve the problem, though. Even the slow ones are suddenly just as good as they were the last time, except the TK and the Rhinoroller. The Rhinoroller never walks, which makes it even harder to keep your multipliers. The enemy Rhinorollers can walk and they use their attacks with easier precision then you can. The TK has good attacks, but it's the slowest titan and it has the hardest time blocking.
I have a few personal preferences, but they don't affect the gameplay any. I don't like the new look of the Rhinoroller, but every other redesign was great, especially the fat Sludges. I also think you should be able to switch between two fixed camera angles, in order to make sure you can see ahead of you in both directions. The new co-op changes were for the best, but I preferred the backpacks better then the new mask transformation. Shooting chickens, however, is cool, I don't care who you are.
The Wii is the best available SKU of the three main ones. You can suck up a lot of the mojo with the pointer. The gestures are a lot easier to work with then the buttons on the other main versions. Sometimes, though, you'll accidentally perform moves you didn't mean, but that's only if you get tired and are simply unable to be precise.
If you sum it up, you get a game with tons of fan service that also manages to present an appealing design to the casual gamer that just buys it because it looks cool on the shelf (and it does; I love that furry Crash design). The titans present a little disappointment when Crash's abilities are easier and more fun to use, but upgrading them solves most of it. It's very easy to enjoy anyway, because of the pocket feature, where you can store your mutants and use Crash at all the best times. The game never forces you to make long walks all over to find a titan that you need to advance (except for the secret "titan only" areas). It's put together too well to hate.