The game's story centers on the discovery of a substance known as "Mojo", which series antagonist Doctor Neo Cortex and his niece Nina harvest to turn the inhabitants of the Wumpa Islands into an army of ferocious mutants known as "Titans".

The protagonist of the series, Crash Bandicoot, must stop Cortex and Nina by using the technique of "jacking" to take control of and destroy the Titans while collecting mojo; he must also rescue his sister Coco, who has been kidnapped and forced to help build a doomsday machine that will assist the Titans in Cortex and Nina's bid for world domination.

[2] Each episode contains a portal leading to a simple mini-game arena, where the player must accomplish a task in a set time.

Generally the task involves collecting a specified quantity of Mojo, jacking a titan and using its abilities, or simply defeating a select number of enemies.

[4] When Crash collects enough Mojo, he will earn either an ability upgrade or a new move, such as the Norris Roundhouse or the Triple Dragon.

[4] His classic spin attack, named "Old Skool", is an unlockable move, along with an aerial variant that allows Crash to float over chasms.

On reaching the temple, Cortex reveals his plot to use the stolen Mojo to create an army of loyal mutants, which will be used to build the Doominator, a colossal robot that will destroy Wumpa Island and conquer the world.

The development team sought to achieve this by granting Crash a wider variety of fighting moves, which they described as "Street Fighter lite"; McGinn elaborated that while the combat system would lack the hardcore appeal of Soulcalibur, it would be deep enough for skilled gamers to explore.

[11] Art director Yousuf Mapara acknowledged great difficulty in developing a strong artistic direction for three technologically different consoles.

With this in mind, the concept art was primarily created around lighting composition, color theory, graceful shapes, and areas of focus.

[10] The game includes 7,000 lines of dialogue, with the intent of limiting repetition and encouraging players to battle enemies for their humorous responses.

Though writer Chris Mitchell found this task challenging, the focus on comedic depth granted by amusing character flaws made it attainable.

[14] During the game's development, Vivendi Games entered a partnership with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and on August 6, 2007, they jointly announced that Crash Bandicoot would serve as a mascot for the Society's "School and Youth" programs, with Crash appearing on the programs' web site and printed materials.

[15] A Hummer with a playable Wii inside was painted with imagery from the game and displayed at the Annual Balloon Fiesta in Bristol, United Kingdom.

[38] The camera was criticized for its lack of adjustability, which would often result in attacks by enemy characters outside of the player's range of vision.

[33][35] Dakota Grabowski, also of GameZone, complimented the environmental textures and lighting, but admitted to not having been won over by the character redesigns, and said that "a lot of the up-close environments look dismal".

[34] Keller considered the character models and animation to be the most detailed in the series, and commended the color palette and large levels.

Thomsen praised the game's "kooky Danny Elfman-esque" score, exaggerated voice-acting, sophisticated writing and variety of enemy voice lines.

[38] Davis and Grabowski felt that the voice cast was strong and lent a good amount of humor to the game.

The only voices that have any merit are the smaller creatures in the first five levels, who sound a lot like Jerry Lewis from The Nutty Professor".

[42] Crash of the Titans was a nominee in the Writers Guild of America's inaugural video game writing awards, competing against Dead Head Fred, The Simpsons Game, The Witcher and World in Conflict;[43] Dead Head Fred won the award.

[44][45] Crash of the Titans was also selected as a nominee in the "Best Sound Design" and "Best Character" categories of the Second Annual Elan Awards.