User blog:TyrantRex/TyrantRex's Review of Stormy Ascent (Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy)

So someone else made a review of Crash N. Sane's new level Future Tense, so I'll jump in and do that for Stormy Ascent. Stormy Ascent, infamous for being so N.Sanely difficult that it had to be cut from Crash Bandicoot 1 which is already a difficult unforgiving game. Now that it's playable with the N.Sane physics, what is it like? Well... it's a really cool level! Yeah it's tough, but nowhere as bad as I expected. It took 15 minutes to beat the level normaly and I only had 8 deaths total, I've taken longer and died more times in other levels.

Now I'm going to say this right away, in order to beat Stormy Ascent you NEED to have fully mastered the N.Sane controls and physics, you need to fully understand exactly how Crash jumps, what distances he can make depending on when and how he jumps, the difference between a brief hop without holding the jump button and a long jump holding the jump button. Without that, you'll screw up badly. Stormy Ascent is all about jump timings and precise jumps, because of that I think two levels that are good practice before tackling it are Slippery Climb and The High Road. Slippery Climb follows the same theme of tricky precise jumps and the High Road pretty much demands you to learn how to make long jumps in rapid succession. Once you can get through those two levels without too much issue, you're probably ready for Stormy Ascent.

The interesting thing about Stormy Ascent is that every single jump in the stage is completely doable and never cheap or unfair, you can ALWAYS see exactly what the level is asking you to do, where you're supposed to land, and how platforms move around. The key is always know when to jump and how to jump, many of these jumps have N.Sane timings and are difficult to make yes, but once you get down the timing  you probably won't struggle with it again. I won't sugar coat that many of the obstacles boil down to trial-and-error though, many times it'll take several tries to get down when to make certain jumps, even when you can see what you need to do. Here's a tip: Crash's shadow is reflected on the castle wall so you can always see when it's lining up with the platform you need to line up.

The main source of difficulty here however is what I like to call "Curve ball jumps". By that, I mean that the level is constantly throwing you obstacles with unexpected and different timings that can throw off your rythim. Some notable examples include:
 * Two moving platforms followed by another moving platform that's going in a completely different direction.
 * Rotating platforms going at different speeds.
 * Birds that usually move vertically now move horizontally.
 * Enemies throwing projectiles at the platform you need to land on after a tough jump.
 * A common obstacle is platforms that turn "on/off" at different intervals, but there's one that you need to jump into half a second before it turns on otherwise you won't get enough time to reach the next safe platform.
 * Retracting staircases usually go upwards, now they go downwards.

These types of "curveballs" seem punishing but they rarely come out of nowhere, however you do are very likely to mess up because the timing you were used to suddenly changed and sometimes you have less than a second to respond. This is VERY challenging, but it's in my opinion a fair challenge.

I've also heard that the level is too long, which is true but it isn't that much longer than Sunset Vista and you can die and STILL get the Gem so the long lenght isn't much of an issue, except...

THE TIME TRIAL!!! This... wasn't that bad either weirdly enough, I struggled more with The High Road because of the turtles. The level is already very difficult (but fair), it's long, and it revolves around tricky jumps, all that makes it sound like a Time Trial would be an absolute nightmare. Here's the catch though. the time limits are VERY generous, so much that you can take your time and play it safe and still get the Relic, unless you're masochistic enough to go for Platinum. The Time Trial basically boils down to beating the level without checkpoints, it's easier said than done but like I said once you get down how to make the harder jumps it becomes more manageable and you DON'T need to rush, you have more than enough time to get it done.   'DON'T. GO. FOR. PLATINUM!!!' 

Do I recommend giving Stormy Ascent a try? Yes, just make sure you have plenty of practice before attempting it. Do I recommend the Time Trial? Only for bragging rights.