Crash: Mind Over Mutant

Crash: Mind Over Mutant is a surprisingly well put-together platforming title.

Sure, Crash: Mind Over Mutant doesn't reinvent the wheel, and there's no way it's vintage-inspired gameplay can stand up to modern titles. But, it still manages to be quite fun, and it's worth a spin if you have ever played (and loved) a past Crash game.

Crash MOM isn’t a bad game, but it’s not a particularly good one either.

Crash Mind Over Mutant is the kind of game that does nothing inherently wrong, but also fails to do anything to set itself apart from the herd.

Mind Over Mutant doesn't mutate the standard platform game experience to stand out from the crowd.

The game succeeds in what it is trying to be but fails to be the amazing Crash game that we are all waiting for.

Being a colourful and thoughtful title the new Crash game will catch the attention of many youngsters. Parents will appreciate that. Action- and shooter-fans should back off though. The concept of the game has basically not changed, but great innovations have been realized (next-gen-ready!). After only ten hours the fun is over.

Crash: Mind Over Mutant is a charming game that will certainly delight fans of the franchise, but it can also wear thin on the more discriminating game player who doesn’t like a lot of repetition.

A decent attempt at a plaformer for the Xbox 360, in the end though it falls well short of being anything special.

If you are a parent looking for a title for your child, then I would definitely say to give this one a try. It has a vibrant, cartoon like appearance that many kids should appreciate.

Mind Over Mutant is a lot better than Crash of the Titans and the world is probably a slightly better place for its existence. But it’s not quite slick enough underneath all those pretty visuals to earn essential status.

So while the Crash series really doesn't bring anything new and exciting to the table with this new chapter in the story, its still a fun game to sit down and run through.

Crash: Mind Over Mutant is a fun game, colourful and beautifully presented, with an engaging combat system that includes mutants to control, which deliver moments of pure satisfaction. The game is definitely too easy for more experienced gamers, and even younger ones will probably find the whole thing a bit of a doddle, but there's a lot to be said for a game that you can just pick up and play, while the combination of comedic elements that will have kids rolling around in laughter and the co-op mode makes this a winner.

Crash Bandicoot: Mind Over Mutant is exactly like its predecessor: a mildly enjoyable platforming romp that's sure to satisfy younger players, but won't provide much that seasoned players haven't already experienced before.

A fun-packed playable cartoon. [Jan 2009, p.74]

The Crash Bandicoot games seem a little stuck in a rut, and despite some apparent efforts to expand the gameplay, Mind Over Mutant does nothing to pull the series out.

Crash: Mind Over Mutant is just another Crash title in a long line of Crash titles. The gameplay is nothing new and the graphics are average. The levels are creative but end up being a bit repetitive due to the mission structure and the back-tracking involved. The highlight is the story which is simply exceptional, and the satirical humour dotted throughout.

Mind Over Mutant has the building blocks of a great platformer, but with a dearth of content and an inexcusable amount of back-tracking, it's impossible to recommend this game for anything more than a rental.

However, if you loved last year’s Crash of the Titans or are a grade school-gamer with a love of offbeat humour, this game may just appeal to you.

The story is also flimsy and not interesting. Mutant is still a great game for kids and achievement junkies, but this series needs a reboot for anyone else.

It’s a shame that Mind Over Mutant turned out to be just another so-so Crash Bandicoot game, because it actually did seem promising for a little while.

Best case scenario, Crash is given a long needed rest and he comes back with a bang in a few years down the road.

I have to admit that I enjoyed Crash: Mind Over Mutant, and really wrestled with what overall score to give. However, take away the dialogue and the voice acting (they get an easy 11 out of 10) and I really would not have stuck with its frustrating inconsistency.

Fans will be pleased with what Crash brings in this new addition. Unfortunately, the well-paced action frequently stutters to a stop due to problems with the fixed camera, and players will quickly grow bored of being sent from one end of the island to the other across well-worn paths.

The whole game feels like a bland and unambitious platformer with a Crash Bandicoot skin stuck over the top to increase sales. It’s shamelessly repetitive and predicable and collecting mojo feels even more pointless than Wumpa fruit did, but none of that truly matters when playing.

Before the backtracking kicks in, the game is a lot of fun and had me thinking that I'd be getting a good gaming experience. As you continue to play, the technical problems start to rear their ugly heads, and many of the new platforming sections just aren't a lot of fun to play.

Mind Over Mutant isn’t a bad game. In fact, there’s a lot of it that’s enjoyable. I just wish the effort that went into a lot of the peripheral action and non-interactive videos had also been put on the gameplay, to make it more entertaining overall. It’s just not very consistent in its fun generation.

Crash Bandicoot still has a lot of potential left in him, but the developers are going to have to try harder than this if they want to resurrect this floundering franchise!

Crash Bandicoot's latest adventure has too much backtracking and too many camera problems to make it recommendable.

But ultimately, there's very little about Mind Over Mutant that makes it worth your $50 or the four hours it takes to complete. [Holiday 2008, p.67]

It does provide a few satisfying hours of gameplay before the backtracking sets in, and it has plenty of content to keep you busy for a while if you're a completist. But if you're looking for something new other than jokes, you won't find it here.

All together, I can't really suggest picking up the newest Crash title, unless the idea of backtracking really doesn't bother you in the slightest. There's a decent game here, but it's far too annoying to play thru and see everything it has to offer.

Crash's latest iteration ultimately feels strangely empty and sadly devoid of any real soul outside of its delightful cutscenes.

It may not be the end of an era for Crash, but it is certainly a disappointment. Crash Bandicoot: Mind Over Mutant could have been an entertaining game, but it has been rendered the video game equivalent of a nosebleed.

If you've missed out on a decade of new ideas and developments, or you really need to blow away the greying cobwebs of a dozen gritty shooters, then Crash is four or five hours of enjoyable, low intensity fun - the colourful, ill-fitting Hear'Say pullover of the platform stable. But with so many better alternatives on offer, it's not an experience we'd recommend.

Platforming doesn't get more generic than this. [Issue#40, p.102]

From design to execution, this is a mess of a game, and a new low point for the once-loved marsupial.

Passable as a single-player game but completely falls apart in co-op. Avoid. [Christmas 2008, p.64]

While Crash's latest offering retains the same great sense of humor and voice acting the gameplay and technical issues drag down the entire package.

Pretty annoying. [Christmas 2008, p.97]