Road to Ruin

Road to Ruin is the fourteenth level in Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. It is somewhat similar to the ruin-themed levels from the first game, specifically Temple Ruins and Jaws of Darkness, though this time it takes place outside, with a beautiful panorama of other ruins serving as the backdrops for Crash's platforming hijinx. This is a stage where environmental elements are more dangerous than the actual enemies, it seems, with Crash leaping across crumbling pillars and avoiding the flaming breath expelled by hideous stone statue heads at animal enemies like Frill Necked Lizards, monkeys at Common Ringtail Possums.

This level contains a Death Route, which contains no crates, but does contain a shiny new Clear Gem as a reward for surviving its gauntlet of log-throwing gorillas. In order to obtain the other Clear Gem, the usual crate Gem, the player will have to unlock this level's alternate entrance, by finding the secret warp in Diggin' It. This secret path is very, very short, but contains a big, solid mass of crates that Gem-hunting bandicoots simply cannot live without, though one should be careful about blindly spinning through it as it contains a not-terribly-delicious TNT Crate creme filling.It is possible to get everything in this level without going through the secret warp room.

Trivia

 * This level's name might be a reference to the 1978 Ramones album of the same name.