The original trilogy is one of my favorite game series ever and this remake thankfully does it justice. It manages to capture the unique aspect of the originals, which is a bit hard to describe. Thanks to the extremely limited movement, the world feels video gamey and almost like a stage that exists just for you, with the distant objects and scenery having mystical aura about them, because you can never reach them. It stimulates your imagination and I think there's something truly special about it.
I also love the vibe of the environments - they don't have the overly sugary and innocent looks of a Mario game, they're more like a grungy 90s cartoon, playfully cheeky, atmospheric and the environments convey stereotypes of each world extremely well. This is especially true for Warped with its very medieval setting, very egyptian setting, very Arabian nights setting, etc.
The remake itself fixes some of the annoyances, like the stupid save system of Crash 1, while mostly preserving the pure and deliberate gameplay. On the other hand, it makes the already difficult games a little more difficult with its rather unforgiving hitboxes and precision. The mandatory minigames from Warped are still as annoying as ever, especially the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ racing game. All that said, this is a top-tier remake, and I'm pouring one out for Vicarious Visions. It's a tragedy Activision shut them down after all the incredible work they did on Crash and THPS.
