CRASH BANDICOOT 4: IT’S ABOUT TIME
Turning back the clock and loosening screws
Numbers are important. That big number four is, in some respect, a big lie. We regret to inform you that other (mostly bad) Crash Bandicoot games were made after PS1’s Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. But here, Toys For Bob is using the number as a statement of intent.
That doesn’t mean the N.Sane Trilogy developer is grafting a new game over the necromancied bones of Warped. Instead, it’s using that game as a jumpingoff point, positing how the series should have evolved. Crash donned different outfits in Warped, so here there are plenty to unlock (microtransactionfree); Coco had her own stages in Warped, so here she’s fully playable; and the expected time crystal and gems challenges are here joined by N.Verted mode, which provides an extra challenge for each level, from navigating by painting platforms in colour to resetting stages under water – physics included.
MASK ON
Mr Bandicoot was regularly wearing masks long before it became a health necessity. Where Aku Aku shielded him from a hit, new masks more directly affect how Crash moves through levels. They can enable you to flip gravity, slow down time so you can jump on fast-moving platforms, or switch which platforms physically exist at all. More powers have yet to be announced. What’s important is these all occur within the standard perspectives we’re used to in classic Crash – camera angles that swing from behind him to the side, and sometimes in front. New additions like the masks – and wall runs, rope swings, and grinding – fit within the usual Crash formula rather than causing it to mutate.
Where it does deviate more is with the introduction of both Neo Cortex and Dingodile as playable characters, with their own ways of playing (they use an enemy morphing laser and a crate-sucking vacuum respectively). Dingodile is spurred to action after seeing his beloved diner destroyed, suggesting these characters may have their own stories to follow. Crash Dummies watch out, this isn’t a safe Crash, and it’s making a lot of noise.
“NEW ADDITIONS FIT WITHIN THE CRASH FORMULA RATHER THAN CAUSING IT TO MUTATE.”