Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex

Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex is the fourth mainline series game and the first to feature Crash Bandicoot on the PlayStation 2. It was later ported to the GameCube and Xbox, making it his first…

62 29 October 2001

Platform Action

Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex is a platform developed by Traveller's Tales, released 29 October 2001 on Xbox 360, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The main story takes about 10 hrs to finish.

Verified 10 Oct 2026 Sources: IGDB , Wikipedia

What Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex is

Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex is a platform game developed by Traveller's Tales and released in 2001. It was published by Konami. It is available on Xbox 360, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

The premise, in the publisher's words

The story is set sometime after Crash Bandicoot: Warped. Dr. Cortex wants revenge after being defeated by Crash, and for this purpose he creates Crunch, a super-bandicoot who can destroy everything that crosses his way. Crunch's power source is a set of magical masks known as the Elementals, each representing a different element, including Earth, Water, Fire, and Ice. Crash Bandicoot and his sister Coco must travel the world and gather special Crystals that will return the Elementals to a hibernated state, and thwart Cortex's plans to use Crunch as a weapon for world domination.

Description from the publisher · source

How it plays

It is played from a third person perspective. Its themes are action. It is a single-player game with no multiplayer component.

Where it sits in the Crash Bandicoot series

Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex is the ninth of 72 entries we hold in the Crash Bandicoot series. It arrived 12 months after Crash Bash. The next entry was Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure in 2002. Its critic score of 62 is 6 points below the series average of 68. The highest-rated entry is Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time at 86.

See all 72 Crash Bandicoot games in release order →

How it was received

Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex holds a critic score of 62 out of 100. That places it above 21% of the 2,372 rated platform games in our database, which average 72. Games released in 2001 averaged 72, so it scored 10 points below the year average. Player ratings track closely with critics at 65, across 189 votes.

How long it takes, and what that costs

The main story runs about 10 hrs.

What it launched against

Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex launched on 29 October 2001, within three weeks of Grand Theft Auto III, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Halo: Combat Evolved and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. All of them reviewed better.

Released around the same time: Grand Theft Auto III, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Halo: Combat Evolved, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3.

Cheats and codes

We have not confirmed any working cheat codes for Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex yet. Rather than reprint a list we have not tested, this section stays empty until one is verified.

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