Talk:Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back/GA1

GA Review
The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.''

Reviewer: J Milburn (talk) 22:44, 24 May 2011 (UTC)

Happy memories! I'm just bagging this one now, I will do the actual reviewing later, probably tomorrow evening. J Milburn (talk) 22:44, 24 May 2011 (UTC)

I really should be going to bed, but here are some opening thoughts-
 * File:Crash2warp.JPG- Are we certain this is needed? Ok, the whole "Warp Room" thing is important, but is the concept not explainable without the use of an image?
 * File:Crash2snow.JPG- Why is this here? What is that serving to illustrate? The rationale's not that clear. Regardless, it needs to be reduced.
 * Syzygy is a dablink
 * There's some date inconsistency in the references- accessdates in xx-xx-xxxx format, as opposed to Month xx, xxxx.
 * "The Official Crash Bandicoot 2 Website" Random caps, lack of italics, etc. "Official site" would be fine.

Ok, I'll give it a proper look over soon. I'll make little fixes as I go, I'd love to see this article do well! J Milburn (talk) 23:00, 24 May 2011 (UTC)


 * I figured we'd need at least one image that conveys the graphical style of the game, and I figured one of the Warp Room would not only serve that purpose, but also illustrate the Warp Room concept, which is especially important since this is the first game in the series that incorporates that aspect. Aside from that, I did get rid of the snow picture (which I didn't put up) since it definitely seems to only be for decorative purposes. Cat&#39;s Tuxedo (talk) 13:01, 25 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Makes sense, but clarifying those details in the rationale would be very helpful. J Milburn (talk) 17:30, 25 May 2011 (UTC)

Ok, I'm taking a look through.
 * "produced by Universal Interactive Studios (now the defunct Vivendi Games)" UIS became VG, which is defunct? Odd phrasin"
 * "it was re-released for the Sony Greatest Hits and Best for Family line-ups in 1998; for the Platinum Range in 1999; and for" Not wild about the semicolons...
 * "for the PSone Books line-up in 2001" The what?
 * "player controls Crash Bandicoot, who must gather 25 crystals for his nemesis Doctor Neo Cortex" Odd phrasing and raises a lot of questions. How about "player controls Crash Bandicoot and seeks to gather 25 crystals"?
 * "Each Warp Room contains five doors, each of which lead to a level." Repetition
 * "in which the player can continue from the last level played by selecting "Yes".[4] Crash has the ability" These two sentences appear unrelated to each other, which interrupts the flow somewhat.
 * "Crash can increase his jumping ability by jumping after a slide." Not clear what this means
 * You haven't clarified the role of enemies- you need to explain the nature of the levels a little more. Note that readers may not be at all familiar with the series.
 * "body slammed on"?
 * "Enemies with sharp necklines can only be defeated by sliding into them." What does this mean?
 * "Wumpa Fruit" Do we have a link somewhere?
 * "Most boxes in the game contain Wumpa Fruit, which give the player an extra life if 100 of them are collected." Rephrase? Clunky.
 * "Check Point boxes allow Crash to return to the point where the first Check Point box has been opened upon losing a life. If more than one Check Point box has been opened in a stage, Crash returns to the last Check Point box that has been opened." This could be explained better.
 * "The main antagonist of the previous game, Doctor Neo Cortex, is a mad scientist who claims to have changed his ways and is out to save the world." You don't make clear his role in this game
 * "Coco Bandicoot is the spirited and highly intelligent younger sister of Crash Bandicoot who discovers Cortex's true intentions and tries to warn Crash of her findings." We know who Crash is, we don't need "Bandicoot", but you're yet to mention "Cortex's true intentions", so that mention seems out of place.
 * "Crash Bandicoot left off, Crash Bandicoot" Again
 * "and escapes his lair via airship with his girlfriend, Tawna," his his his
 * Why do you need the "characters" section at all? Is that information not all in the plot section? If it isn't, what's stopping it being?
 * "informs Crash of the situation" Presumably he leaves out the part about the Cortex Vortex? He just says that the crystals are needed to stop the planet being destroyed?
 * "Andy Gavin" Who?
 * "perfected" Hardly NPOV
 * "twice the polygon count.[32][33] The jungle levels" Unrelated?
 * "brutalize" Again, overly emotive
 * The information in development is good, but it needs to be somewhat reoredered. At the moment, it's all over the place- we effectively seem to have the technology, the design (including level and character design), the sound and the release, all mixed together. Could it be smoothed out, so that the four lead into each other a little better?
 * ""warp room" concept" We've already been introduced to the term- lose the quotes and format with caps as above?
 * "while IGN praised" Writers for IGN?
 * "went into more detail and started off by describing the graphics as "awesome"." Odd phrasing
 * "IGN said that" Again
 * "environments are recycled from the previous game and reused multiple times in the game" Repetition, clunky phrasing
 * "from the PlayStation Network" You've not mentioned that yet
 * Seems odd that so much of the lead is devoted to the rereleases, yet in the article they're just tagged on the end.
 * References look reliable, but I'm yet to double-check formatting.
 * Categories look good.

Sorry if I'm sounding over-critical, this is generally a very nice article! So you're clear, I made a few changes. Hope you're able to deal with the issues I've raised- there's no great rush. J Milburn (talk) 22:45, 25 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Alright, I think I've addressed most (if not all) of the points addressed. Cat&#39;s Tuxedo (talk) 11:08, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

Second read through
Ok, I'm taking another look.
 * "in and around the fictional N. Sanity Island" Do things not happen on islands?
 * "Crash has the ability to jump into the air and land on an enemy character, spin in a tornado-like fashion to knock enemies off-screen, slide across the ground and perform a body slam to break certain objects" Sentence implies that the body slam and slide are linked.
 * "Enemies with sharp necklines can only be defeated if Crash slides into them." Still not clear. What does "sharp necklines" even mean?
 * "The main antagonist of the previous game, Doctor Neo Cortex, is a mad scientist who claims to have changed his ways and is out to save the world." Ok, previous game, what about this game?
 * Again, what purpose does the character section serve? Why not just include those details in the plot section?
 * "Coco, untrusting of Cortex, occasionally hacks into Cortex's holograph projector and warns Crash of the uncertainty of Cortex's true intentions." Cortex Cortex Cortex
 * "gathered all of the Crystals that Coco" Crystals?
 * "on October 1996" In?
 * Development section is looking better, but you jump right in to talking about the ground fog. Perhaps establish first who was designing the levels? Who were the main designers/developers?
 * "Wanting to have some "dirty" locations in the game, Naughty Dog worked in the sewer levels and added color contrast to the levels to show depth and break up the repetitive monotony of the endless sewer pipes." Long, slightly clumsy setence
 * "A death animation in which Crash is squashed into a stunned head and feet was altered for the Japanese release of the game due to its resemblance to the severed head and shoes left by a serial killer loose in Japan at the time." Was this kept in the western version? Was the Japanese release brought out at the same time?

Definitely getting there, this is a great article. So we're clear, I made a few more edits. J Milburn (talk) 18:46, 29 May 2011 (UTC)
 * I've fixed up most of the new points. On a side note, all of the Crash Bandicoot-related articles that've passed GA thus far have featured character sections, but since this case was such a bother to you, I just went ahead and got rid of it. Cat&#39;s Tuxedo (talk) 22:32, 30 May 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure that I'm crazy about the gameplay image. I would venture to say that a more expressive image of the average gameplay style would be more useful for readers. - New Age Retro Hippie (talk) (contributions) 03:53, 31 May 2011 (UTC)

Ok, I think I'm ready to promote now. This article isn't perfect (some sections of text are still a little choppy, the references could do with some more wikilinks in places, the lead seems to have a slight over-focus on the various releases, we're waiting on a size reduction of the screenshot, etc) but I feel it is strong enough for good article. If you interested in heading to FAC, I recommend you try to get hold of a copyeditor, and I strongly suggest you put the article through peer review first. If you're interested in any further review, whether formally or informally, feel free to contact me. J Milburn (talk) 09:11, 5 June 2011 (UTC)