Now, TwinSanity isn't the most original platformer out there, but changes just enough to differentiate it from previous Crash titles. Gone is the hub world where one would select the next level, replaced by linear level progression dictated by events in the story. The biggest change here is the team-up between Crash and Neo Cortex, former mortal enemies. Nina Cortex, Neo's "daugh - I mean niece," also makes her debut as a playable character.

In all, you'll take control of four characters during the course of TwinSanity - Crash, Neo, Nina and joined Crash and Neo. Crash's levels are exactly what you'd expect, with ample amounts of running, jumping, spinning and the like. However, it's the Crash and Neo levels that really make the game. Much like Ico, you'll end up guiding and protecting Neo while you navigate the various obstacles. At other times, Crash and Neo will form a ball that results in some Super Monkey Ball-esque gameplay, gently rolling them through tunnels and avoiding the respective dangers. These sections, along with Nina and Neo's levels, are placed in such a manner that they keep the player from getting bored doing the same old thing over and over.

The story is advanced through cut scenes, both in game and full motion video. It's worth noting that these cinematics features genuinely clever and funny dialogue, which is only accented by the quality voice-actors used in the game. These scenes are often very tongue-in-cheek, with subjects ranging from tired platformer mechanics to the sales of Wrath of Cortex. At one point, Crash and Neo encounter a farmer whose field is overrun with worms. He just happens to have a power crystal he'd be willing to exchange for exterminating the worms. But before he can finish explaining, Neo shoots him and steals the crystal, quipping, "What did you expect, I'm an evil scientist." This was just so fresh and unexpected that it really serves to seperate TwinSanity from the mass of generic platformers out there.

That's not to say that TwinSanity is without its fair share of problems, however. The cinematics detailed above can only be skipped if they're full motion video - in game cinematics cannot be bypassed. The problem is if you die after a cinematic, you'll be forced to rewatch it every time you die until you get past that part. It's nothing that ruins the game, but it can be very annoying.

Boss fights are rather easy, relying on simple patterns. It doesn't help that the methods to defeating each boss are explained via on-screen hints when you face them, thus removing a majority of the challenge.

There are also some camera issues present that can make it difficult to judge the distance between jumps, leading to many a lost life. Luckily the game is very liberal with extra lives, which tend to appear in groups of five or more between levels.

TwinSanity also suffers from some technical issues on the PlayStation 2, specifically a problematic framerate. While this doesn't interfere with the gameplay too much, a few jumps ends up being based more on luck than skill. The caves between levels sometimes feature visible polygon seams, and several portions of the game feature flora that pops on screen as you approach.

Despite this, Crash TwinSanity is still a decent platformer. It doesn't do anything we've never seen before, but what it does do is usually done well. For Crash fans, this should be a no brainer. Everyone else may want to wait for a price drop though - with so many quality platformers due this fall, there's no reason to grab this over the latest Jak or Ratchet & Clank.