Resident Evil (2002)

The original Resident Evil was a groundbreaking title, mixing together survival and horror in a way that was never seen before. The PlayStation version was a product of its time, and the developer remastered it for the GameCube generation with a significant overhaul to its visuals and several quality-of-life changes. The fixed camera angles meant better pre-baked reflections and textures, making the visuals a step above what was possible with a free camera.

First released in 2017, the N. Sane Trilogy contains remasters of Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, and Crash Bandicoot: Warped. While retaining the gameplay of the original titles, the trilogy offered unified save files, revamped visuals, new Time Trials, and the ability to play as Coco, Crash’s sister.

Of course, Game Pass subscribers can look to other releases this month, including 11 bit studios’ Creatures of Ava for cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X/S on August 7th. Hangar 13’s Mafia: Definitive Edition also goes live on August 13th for cloud, consoles, and PC.

Stay tuned for updates on the next wave of titles in the latter half of August. In the meantime, the following titles will leave the service on August 15th, so play them now while you can:

• Airborne Kingdoms (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Offworld Trading Company (PC)
• Shadow Warrior 3 (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Cloud, Console, and PC)

While the status of the others is unknown, leaker eXtas1s (who reported the Game Pass release date for Modern Warfare 3) has alleged that Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy would arrive on August 8th. Given the timing, Microsoft may announce it next week as part of the first wave of August games. The other Activision-published games may also be included, though time will tell.

The leaker also reported that Riot Games’ Valorant would be out for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on July 26th, following the apparent end of its limited console beta. Stay tuned for more details and updates in the meantime.

🔥👀 100% CONFIRMADO 🔴

📌 Crash Bandicoot n sane trilogy estará disponible en Gamepass el 8 de Agosto de 2024.

Paso a recordarlo porque no puse tweet individual de ello y quizás algunos no han visto el video donde lo mencioné, me doy el lujazo de confirmarlo también. pic.twitter.com/gme4ilOqnX

— eXtas1s 🎮 Noticias & Rumores (@eXtas1stv) July 23, 2024

Over on the Exputer forums, prominent leaker eXtas1s has claimed that Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy will be releasing for Game Pass sometime in August, though it’s unknown if it will be playable via Xbox Cloud Gaming as well. Interestingly enough, the same has been corroborated by Windows Central as well.

Meanwhile, the leaker claims that the trilogy of Crash remakes will be joined by fellow platforming remake trilogy Spyro Reignited Trilogy, as well as beloved remake duology Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2. It’s unknown, however, whether they will also release for the service in August.

The leaker goes on to say that they currently have no information on when we can expect Call of Duty games to begin being added to the Game Pass catalog. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will, of course, launch day 1 for the service this October, but it remains to be seen how long we’ll be waiting for prior instalments in the series to follow suit.

Psycho Mantis (Metal Gear Solid)

Metal Gear Solid has a reputation for featuring boss fights that defy player expectations – and Psycho Mantis is definitely one such fight that really shocked gamers back in the day. You see, Psycho Mantis will always evade your moves since he’s reading them directly from the controller – which makes it impossible to damage the boss at first. Psycho Mantis can also read your memory card, and his dialogues will reflect what saves are present on your card.

The solution to beating him is to switch the controller from port 1 to port 2, which makes him open to attacks. Once that’s done, this boss fight becomes ridiculously easy and you can easily gun him down and get on with the story. On repeat playthroughs when you know what needs to be done, Psycho Mantis becomes a very silly albeit creative boss fight that poses little to no threat to the player.

Phantom Express – Cuphead

Cuphead is no stranger when it comes to frantic firefights and grueling duels against towering behemoths of bosses, and the Phantom Express is most certainly no different in this regard. Set as an endless train ride, players have to remain confined to the wooden platform while chipping away at the ghostly phantom and dodging his attacks. Subsequent phases of the fight also require you to maneuver the wooden platform while attacking the increasingly deadlier attacks of the boss. Paying due attention to so much happening on screen can definitely induce sheer panic in most players, which makes this level so damn stressful.

Mafia: Definitive Edition

After the Definitive Editions for Mafia 2 and Mafia 3 released with numerous issues, there was concern for Mafia: Definitive Edition especially since it’s a full-fledged remake. Fortunately, Hangar 13 has exhibited true love and care in updating the classic. The graphics have been significantly improved, especially with the new lighting engine; more story sequences have been added; and even the layout between objectives has been redesigned. So if you’ve ever wanted to experience Tommy Angelo’s rise through crime, this is the way to do it.

Whether it’s Crash Bandicoot’s style, characters, or it’s gameplay mechanics, many of the 3D platformers we know and love today owe at least a little something to Crash as it was one of the very first games to do the 3D platforming thing totally right. As such, what most people think of when the world of Crash is brought up is the original three games on the Playstation 1. While there are other games that came out much later in the series and we will mention how they factor into today’s topic, there is no denying that the first 3 mainline games are the bread and butter of the series.

That said, with a series so successful and popular, that is still hailed as many gamers’ favorite games even today well after several years has passed for them, we still haven’t seen a new entry in the numbered series. There are plenty of theories that have been speculated on over the years as to why, but today we’ll take a look at just what has happened to the Crash Bandicoot legacy.

The original Crash Bandicoot was the real trailblazer of the series as well as the genre. Very few 3D platformers existed before it, and even fewer were very good. Naughty Dog pulled it off it though. By nailing the controls, the sense of depth, and creating a fun, classic group of characters in Crash, his friends, Dr. Neo Cortex and his henchmen, the world of Crash was perfect for it’s time and extremely digestible even today as it’s linear style keeps the experienced close and focused, so it avoids many of the issues that befall other 3D games of that era. The second game followed suit with tighter controls, more abilities, and a little more story that helped us get to know the characters a little better.

The third game pushed even further in the same areas and introduced the most variety that the series had seen yet by quite a margin, but also perhaps started to show the limitations of the franchise in its current form. Where else do you go with this concept? The games had already explored ice levels, time traveling to the past and future, running towards the screen away from various terrible things, racing levels, under water levels, and a litany of different types of boss fights.

What else is there? Well, after Crash played the Kart-racing card and tried something fairly interesting with Crash Bash, Universal Interactive made a decision shortly after this that made sense on paper but would not end well for fans of the original three games; Taking Crash and farming it out to different developers. While this did free up Naughty Dog to try new things with Jak and Daxter and eventually The Last of Us, it also handed control of the rest of the series to other parties with very different plans for Crash.

As such, we got some very different types of Crash games. Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex is considered to be the 4th game in a technical sense, as its story does acknowledge the events of Warped, and takes place not too long after said events, but  the development was left up to Traveler’s Tales and not Naughty Dog. Traveler’s Tales certainly had some experience with developing games, but most of them were mediocre to put it gently. Their portfolio before Crash includes the likes of Sonic R and Puggsy. You can argue for or against the merits of those titles but it’s fair to say that they certainly aren’t on the level of the original 3 Crash games.

That said, as far as Traveler’s Tales games go, Wrath of Cortex could have been a lot worse. And to be fair, it does follow suit with the previous games in a lot of its gameplay. There’s a hub world that you select levels and unlock new ones in and the levels themselves are heavily inspired by the ideas of the original three games. They’re largely linear, the boxes and abilities generally work the same way, and there’s even a lot of the level types from the original games present here.

The game did mix in a few ideas of it’s own but most of the best parts of Wrath of Cortex were the ones they lifted from 2 and 3. Even still, the game was by no means a failure at the time. Most reviewers gave it something between 5 and 8, which indicates a game is above average, although many would remark on how it leaned too heavily on the ideas of its predecessors. Despite that, some bland levels, and a ho-hum Crash Bandicoot story, the series was considered viable and would continue on with more games of average overall quality for the next decade.

Given that history, it would make sense that fans started clamoring for the series to get back to basics, as it has become a bit of a mess at this point. In a way, it ultimately sort of did, though, in true modern gaming fashion, the original three games as well as the kart racing spin-off have been remastered on just about every platform possible. This is why a brand-new Crash Bandicoot  will probably never be a thing.

The market has clearly spoken when it comes to Crash, and it is saying, in a nutshell, that it wants remade versions of old games, not new ones. Activision isn’t going to make a game they don’t think will sell gangbusters. Especially when they know that some new polygons on 20 year old games will sell just as well as a new game, yet cost them a fraction of what a new game would to produce?

Rumors of a remaster of Wrath of Cortex have been swirling as of late though, so perhaps that could, in essence, be “the next game” to coincide with Vicarious Visions’ previous remastered collection of the original trilogy, but outside of that, if you’re still waiting for a true, brand new continuation of the Crash Bandicoot series, I wouldn’t recommend holding your breath.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Microsoft has already revealed its Xbox Games With Gold for February, which means it won’t be long before Sony unveils its free PlayStation Plus offerings. In a recent community post by PlayStation Spain on its YouTube channel, it noted that the titles would be revealed today at 5:30 PM GMT+1. Here’s the kicker: One of the game is from a “well-known saga”.

Could it be an Assassin’s Creed title? Resident Evil? The post featured a GIF of Crash Bandicoot from Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy so it could be that. Yes, that’s a little obvious but considering how great the remastered trilogy is, we’re more than okay with that.

The real question is what other titles could on offer. For January 2020, PlayStation Plus subscribers got Naughty Dog’s Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Trilogy and Coffee Stain Studios’ Goat Simulator. Both titles are still available to claim until the PlayStation Store resets next week so claim them now.

Nemesis – Resident Evil 3

Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that the redesign for Nemesis in the upcoming Resident Evil 3 is pretty twisted. While the original looked frightening enough, the remake stretches its lower jaw skin further while resembling the T-103 more (which itself very much resembling Mr. X). It’s a natural evolution and reflects the extreme nature of the Pursuer.