Hands on: Crash 3

Naughty Dog's Jason Rubin and representatives from Sony stopped by our offices Friday to give us a hands on look at the days-away-from-final version of Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped.

The visit provided an in depth look at the game and its new features. Most notable is the time trial feature that adds replay value to the game like never before. Once you complete a level and collect the crystal, you can go back and try to clear the level as fast as possible. You can enter your name next to your top three times per level and save them to a memory card. We played several levels over and over to see who could get through the levels the fastest.

Also fun are the new levels that have Crash piloting various vehicles such as a bi-plane, motorcycle, and jet ski. One of the bi-plane levels has you flying around in a completely free 360 degree environment in which your goal is to gun down five bomber planes that are being protected by swarms of fighter planes.

Crash 3 is scheduled for release November 4.