Story
Crash is sleeping in his hammock, just outside his house in the sunny Wumpa Island. He soon has a vision projected into his marsupial brain. What first seems to be a dream is then revealed to be Aku Aku, communicating with Crash from far away, using telepathy. He pleads Crash to wake up, for Dr. Cortex is at it again, and this time he has corrupted the Tiki power of the islands to transform the native creatures into monsters.

Meanwhile, Cortex and Uka Uka hold a meeting in their evil headquarters. Cortex reveals his plan and the blueprints for a so-called Doominator Robot, which will be used to destroy Wumpa Island, getting rid of the bandicoots at last. Cortex gives N. Gin, Tiny, Nina and Dingodile the job of robbing Wumpa Island of its resources, in order to build this giant robot of doom. Uka Uka is pleased, but he knows they will have to get rid of Crash before anything else. With Coco, Crunch and Aku Aku captured, he is the only one left to incapacitate. Giving Aku Aku a taste of his own medicine, Uka Uka locked him up with a double purpose- to prevent him from foiling their plans and to lure Crash into a trap.

Crash heads off to find Aku Aku. Suddenly, he is confronted by Cortex himself. They engage in a fight, but Cortex loses miserably, much to Uka Uka's later dismay. When Cortex returns to his evil lair, Uka Uka reveals to him that he's been fired. His niece Nina will take his place, and she seems quite joyous about it. She plans to use Coco's brain power to help him with the Doominator Robot. Both Coco and Crunch are taken away as bait to lure Crash.

When Crash finally frees Aku Aku, he tells him all about Cortex's new mutant army. With his help, Crash can Jack into these mutants and control their minds after he beats them up. It will be a bumpy ride, but Crash and Aku Aku will see their rescue mission through to the end.

Characters: Crash Bandicoot/Coco Bandicoot/Crunch Bandicoot/Aku Aku/Dr. Cortex/Nina Cortex/N. Gin/Tiny Tiger/Uka Uka/Dingodile

Generalities
Crash of the Titans for the GBA is nothing like the other two versions, but not in a good way, unfortunately. This black sheep of the family has its own flavour, but it's a very bitter one at that.

Let's start with the okay aspects of the game. One thing you'll notice immediately is how all the pre-rendered sprites are very smoothly animated (whether you like this type of sprites or not is a whole other story, but if you liked those from the previous GBA titles, you will probably love these). They are, however, much too big, but more on that later. The first backgrounds are colourful and there are tiny details spread about, like crabs walking in the sand and birds wheezing by. Not all backgrounds are this interesting though, with a lot of them looking really bland and uninspired.

The music isn't bad either. Very different from the previous titles and even the other versions of this game. It's somewhat hard to classify, but it's fairly nice. Still speaking audio-wise, Crash has a handful of voice clips and grunts, along with most of the enemies.

When it comes to controlling, Crash might feel a bit awkward at first, especially if you're used to the previous GBA titles. He moves slowly and jumps really low, and the initial lack of the double jump is definitely weird (don't worry though, as you get it by the second level). Crash has a small arsenal of punch and kick moves, all activated by the B button in conjunction with the D-Pad. This is your only means to attack, so get ready for a LOT of B-mashing through the entire game. Like in the other versions, you can Jack (take control of) the enemies once you beat them up, and this is required to get past certain points. Each enemy has basic pummeling moves and one special attack. Bosses can also be jacked once you hit them enough, but this isn't exactly useful, since the point in boss battles is to finish them off.

Old-styled Crates are present in the game. They mostly serve to give you goodies and hurt enemies with explosions. Speaking of goodies, Wumpa Fruit replenishes your health and also gives you lives when you collect enough of it. The well-known purple Crystals give you invincibility bursts for some reason, and Gems are almost as abundant as fruit this time, and almost as worthless- they're currency for vending machines, where you can purchase an enemy/boss, ready for the taking. This is never actually necessary due to the overabundance of enemies, so you'll probably reach the end of the game with hundreds of Gems to spare. It's only good if you feel like controlling a boss. Lastly, there are Tiki masks of 3 different colours- green, silver and gold. There's virtually no difference between either of them, except green ones are more abundant and easier to find, and gold ones are lesser and more hidden, with silver masks somewhere in the middle. Getting all the masks in an island unlocks an arena where you can fight a ton of enemies in succession, ending up with the island boss.

And then you start noticing the flaws in the game. Everything else and some of what's already been mentioned has been rushed or poorly implemented. The gameplay suffers the most, as you just spend the entire game mashing the B button while running through tedious levels. Although it's easier said than done, since the game is crawling with enemies all over! They're always in front of you, they appear behind you, they lurk in the corners... At some point, you'll just start jumping over them instead. There is limited emphasis on platforming elements and way too much in battles. Because of these things, the game gets very repetitive very fast.

Battling enemies may be the most frequent activity here, but it could use so much polish. For one thing, you might get caught in enemy combos because there is no way you can block or defend against them (!). However, you will spend most of the game Jacked onto a creature, instead of controlling Crash himself. Each creature has its own separate health bar and is better than Crash in every way, so unless you're required to, playing as Crash in this version is a stupid thing to do. Even still, it shows that not a lot of attention was paid to this mechanic: not only are there tons of jackable enemies everywhere, but you can also fully replenish your creature's health by simply dismounting it and Jacking it back, for as many times as you like (hard to believe no one noticed that during the game's production). Jacking isn't half as fun as in the other versions, because the enemies are just not interesting at all.

The level design is flawed too. There are lots of multiple paths, which seems like a good idea at first, but most of them end up being dead-ends filled with enemies or useless goodies. Because of this, it's sometimes easy to get lost. It's also odd that levels lock on certain Checkpoints, which means you sometimes can't backtrack. On top of that, the sprites - though well animated - are huge, and therefore make the screen very cramped, giving you a very limited perception of your surroundings. The GBA is a handheld with poor resolution, so making the sprites this big was not a wise choice.

Before getting to the next island, Crash must surf his way through, breaking floating Crates in the process. These phases are in pseudo-3D, just like they were in previous GBA games. Except this time they're completely dull and useless. It doesn't really matter if you get all the Crates, since you'll end up in the next island anyway. In fact, getting all the Crates simply gives you Gems (and remember, Gems are just common currency in this game). These segments are timed, but you can't skip them whatsoever. You can't even pause and exit the level! You actually have to wait for the timer to stop (or get all the Crates, if you actually can).

One final negative aspect lies in the glitches, most of which are fairly noticeable. There is a lot of poor collision detection, especially with the randomly-appearing rotating blades. Supposedly, rotating blades aren't supposed to harm you unless you touch them, but this game doesn't believe in such things. You will get hurt before you get close to them, and sometimes you will get stuck on them and keep suffering damage until you lose a life. Crash can, at times, get stuck between Crates or flicker between them. If an enemy goes off-screen, he will "freeze in time" until you go back to him (even if he's in mid-air). Additionally, enemies can sometimes bounce perpetually on Arrow Boxes. They can still see you when you're invisible, and if they accidentally break Stealth Crates, they get the invisibility effect themselves. It's hard to be sure if that's even supposed to happen or not, but "no" would be a good guess.

Duck- Press the D-Pad Down to duck. Useful to avoid rays and projectiles.

Attack- Press the B button repeatedly to attack. Use it in conjunction with the D-Pad for different attacks.

Hang- Press the D-Pad up near a rope or chain to hang onto it. Use the D-Pad to move around and press A to jump off.

Pick up/throw- Press the R button near an object, Doom Monkey or robot to pick it up. Press it again to throw it forward.

Jack- After stunning a Titan, press L to jack it.

Double Jump (Mojo upgrade)- Press the A button twice to go twice as high.

Spin Attack (Mojo upgrade)- Hold Up on the D-Pad and tap the B button repeatedly to spin in the same spot.

Super Punch (Mojo upgrade)- Hold Forward on the D-Pad and press the B button to deliver a more powerful punch.

Titans/Bosses
Jump- Press A to jump, and hold it longer to go higher.

Attack- Press the B button repeatedly to attack. Use it in conjunction with the D-Pad for different attacks.

Special attack- Press the R button to perform a special attack. This can be upgraded with enough Mojo.

Unjack- To get off a Titan, press L. Press L again before it disappears to re-jack it.