For the most part, Crash Bash has the same graphical scheme that all of the previous games in the series had -- bold colors, simple but effective texturing, and high frame-rates. There’s a lot moving on the screen at once, but the PlayStation keeps up quite well, and the game itself looks quite nice. Of course, the environments aren’t particularly complex, but that’s quite all right. Crash Bash is a pretty game, and while not the finest on the system, is pretty high up there.

The same can’t be said about the game’s audio. It’s strictly standard fare, and although you’ll hear some of the characteristic sounds of the characters (especially Crash), as a general rule, it’s nothing you’ll really notice. Generic music adds to that, adding up to an aural experience that’ll be forgotten as soon as the game is turned off. The only thing I can remember after a marathon game session is the clanging of the balls off of my ship, and that’s only because it’s my favorite level.

Okay, folks. Much like Crash Team Racing pretty much eschewed any real plot for pure kart mayhem, Crash Bash eschews plot even more so for a party gaming experience. While comparisons have been made to Mario Party and the recently-released Sonic Shuffle, Bash even eschews the board that those games sport. Instead, the game is simply a test of reflexes and skill in various environments, with the person who gets the most wins taking the game.

There are quite a few different game types (although you have to unlock some in single-player mode), and each game type has variations on the theme. You can play single levels, or you can do Tournaments which cycle through all the various variations (err...) for a theme. In each case, winner takes all. It’s simple, yes, but certainly quick to grasp.

And so are the games. There’s a push-the-guys-off-the-level mini-game set (very Motos, and props to those of you who’ve ever actually played said game). There’s a blow-up-the-enemies-with-mines-and-bullets set (can we say Bomberman?), the throw-things-at-your-opponents set (very Poy Poy), and so on. My absolute favorite is the knock-the-balls-away-from-your-goal set, which is basically a simplified Warlords. It’s great fun, and the variations are all entertaining.

For example: In the first variation, the balls simply careen around, and you can either hit them with your ship or give them a “boost.” The boost takes a while to charge back up, so you can’t constantly use it. In the second variation, the balls can be grabbed and then shot at your opponents at high speeds. Of course, they can catch them too and shoot them back. The third variation is similar to the first, but occasionally a bad guy appears in the center and spews balls in all directions. There is a shield you can pick up that deflects balls far, far away from your goal. And in the fourth (and best) variation, you’re on a flying disc with four motors in the four corners. Rather often, a motor goes out, tilting the entire board in a given direction. It’s mayhem, and mad fun.

There’s a single-player mode as well, which is used to get all of the game modes, but it’s a major pain in the butt. Some of the challenges are well-nigh impossible, and you may spend an hour or two trying to beat a few of the harder ones. It’s definitely nothing to write home about, but if you want the full multiplayer experience and don’t want to use cheats, it’s the only way to go.

Well, the A.I. is a little too sharp for my taste sometimes, but other times it’s a complete moron. Of course, playing against A.I. is nowhere near as entertaining as playing against your friends, so the real difficulty of the game comes from just how well your friends can play. Each game is explained quite well before it starts, so it’s generally easy to understand just what’s going on.

The controls for Crash Bash are simple and easy to use, with generally only a few buttons being used in any given game set. They’re all explained pre-game as well, so you don’t have to dig out the instruction book to know what to do. The menus are generally clear and easy to understand, and the basic structure of the game is solid (minus the weak single-player game).

PS2: After waving your magic wand and setting the two “improvement” options on your PS2, you’ll be stunned to find they do little for Crash Bash. The load times are slightly reduced, but they’re already short, and the graphical style, like Spyro, doesn’t benefit very much from texture smoothing. And since you have to jump through hoops to do it, don’t bother.

Do remember that you have to use a PSOne multitap for PSOne games, even when you’re playing them on the PS2. And the PS2 BIOS doesn’t recognize controllers plugged into the PSOne multitap; only the games themselves.

In the end, while it may not be anything original or mind-blowing, Crash Bash is a solid offering. While it capitalizes on a popular genre, much like CTR before it, that doesn’t keep it from being a solid game. If you have a group of people who want to sit around the TV and have a blast, you can’t go wrong with this.