great party game!

Crash bash is one of the best non-sports games I have played in a long time. Not being a fan of the shoot-em-up genre, it is difficult to find games for me with a lot of excitement and replay value. Crash Bash has both.

Crash Bash is a few mini games in one. You compete in various games vs. either the computer player or up to three friends.

Here is a quick summary of the games in Crash Bash:

Ballistix: The first game is a pinball style pong game. You defend a goal while trying to knock a ball into your opponent's goal. Up to five balls are on the screen at any one time.

Pogo : Here you try to achieve victory by scoring the highest amount of squares. You score points by painting squares your color.

Crate Crush : In this game you are trying to defeat your opponents by throwing crates at them.

Polar Push : It’s a big block of ice and everyone is playing king of the mountain. Push your opponents off to win.

Tank Wars : You are a tank commander trying to out maneuver your opponents. This game features shooting and land mines.

Crash Dash : Hover Racing, most laps wins.

There are eight different characters in this game, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. This reminded me of the NES game Super Mario II where you had to figure out which character was best for each level. I enjoy this fact because it means you can't just take a generic character and run the gambit. It also allows you to challenge yourself when you get good by taking a character into an arena in which he may not be very good in.

Single player mode takes you through each of these games and ends each level with a "boss". When you defeat this boss, you go to a new level where the games change a little and get a little more challenging. Also, each game has a "gem" feature and a "crystal" feature, which is equivalent to "medium" and "hard" difficulty. These levels have you (for example) score more goals in ballistix, or set a time limit for defeating your opponents in polar push.

Multiplayer mode is the style this game was meant for. What is really nice about multiplayer is that the games are all very easy to pick up. Controls are not overly difficult; most games require only one or two buttons. This means that someone who has never played can pick it up rather quickly (as opposed to other games with special moves in which the more experienced player is usually the winner).

Multiple players can compete in one event, or enter a tournament. This tournament features four versions of the same game, each one slightly different than the other, but the same basic rules and arena apply (such as polar push or tank wars).