The developers over at Vicarious Visions certainly have their hands full thanks to everyone’s favorite bandicoot. Scheduled to make his long-anticipated PS4 debut this holiday season via Skylanders Imaginators, Crash Bandicoot will then feature in revamped versions of Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, and Crash Bandicoot: Warped.
With Crash Bandicoot veterans being a passionate bunch, Vicarious wants to deliver a “veritable smorgasbord of delicious treats for fans to gorge on ’til their eyes popped out from fun-gluttony.” This begins with a brand new Crash Bandicoot-inspired adventure for Skylanders Imaginators. In what is being called a “Synchronization Celebration,” the developers are creating an adventure where the world moves along to the beat of the classic game’s soundtrack.
The original Crash Bandicoot soundtrack is a treasure trove of awesomeness. It’s an upbeat and memorable score that matches Crash’s personality and gives him plenty of opportunity to show-off his mad dance skills. Fortunately, we have a long history with music and music-inspired gameplay. Thanks to our amazing sound department and some rhythmically-blessed developers, we had already done some early explorations in Skylanders, where we had slivers of gameplay match the beat of the music that was playing.
So, we decided to pitch the idea of an entire rhythmic adventure where the music, environment, and all its denizens move to the beat of the Crash Bandicoot soundtrack. It wouldn’t just be a party at the Wumpa Islands. The Wumpa Islands would become the party!
Vicarious has now confirmed that a fully-playable Dr. Neo Cortex will also feature in the Crash Bandicoot Skylanders adventure. Causing chaos as usual, Cortex has “constructed a machine to harness the rhythmic energies of Wumpa Islands during the Synchronization Celebration. Once properly channeled, he’ll be able to use his Matrix Chamber to creature an army of loyal minions to carry out his most dastardly of wishes.” However, his plan backfires, which results in a big mess than Crash and his Skylander buddies must work together to clean up.
Dr. Neo Cortex isn’t the only playable villain in Skylanders Imaginators. Fans of the franchise will recognize Kaos, the evil Portal Master, who joins Golden Queen, Wolfgang, and others as fully-playable Senseis with their very own toys.
Now, the ultimate villain of them all, Kaos, is jumping into the fray as a Sensei, and for the first time ever, he’ll also be available as a toy. Apparently, Kaos discovered the power of Mind Magic, and with it, the power to create his own army of Doomlanders. Of course, one of his first creations was none other than a clone of himself! He unleashed his clone upon Skylands in his quest for ultimate power, but to Kaos’ surprise, his clone—also being Kaos—wanted victory for himself, and has now joined the Skylanders in their mission to defeat the real Kaos.
Playing as Kaos, fans will immediately notice a big difference: he does not belong to a specific battle class—because he’s a master of them all. In addition to firing off snarky one-liners, Kaos can also wield a wide variety of mid and long-range weapons, call forth Doomlander minions, summon an army of heat-seeking Doom Sharks, pummel enemies with giant hands of doom, and even open a Doom Portal that rains down a flurry of Portal Master weapons on his opponents.
To celebrate Kaos’ inaugural appearance as a toy, fans will be able to get their hands on Kaos for free when they pre-order any Skylanders Imaginators Starter Pack and purchase between October 16-22, 2016, while supplies last.
Skylanders Imaginators, including the Skylanders Imaginators Starter Pack Featuring Crash Bandicoot, will arrive beginning October 16 in North America. The Thumpin’ Wumpa Islands Adventure Pack featuring Crash Bandicoot, Dr. Neo Cortex, and the Thumpin’ Wumpa Islands level will be available later this holiday season.
[Source: PlayStation.Blog, Activision Games Blog]
