Review of Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time

The 2017 remaster of the Crash Bandicoot trilogy was a clear hint from Activision that they planned to bring the series back. When the fourth game was announced, there were some concerns. The main worry was that Toys for Bob would be handling the game on their own without the help of the original developers, Naughty Dog, and that the studio might fail to deliver a solid fourth entry.

I’m happy to say that Toys for Bob somehow managed to surpass the classic Naughty Dog trilogy from the 90s and delivered one of the best platforming experiences that will stay with me for a long time.

As with previous Crash Bandicoot games, the focus isn’t heavily on the story, but that didn’t stop Toys for Bob from delivering an excellent continuation of the events from Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. We saw the return of several iconic villains like Neo Cortex, N. Tropy, and others.

In the previous game, after defeating Neo Cortex, N. Tropy, and Uka Uka, we imprisoned them in a time prison. However, due to their combined strength, they escaped and opened a portal to the multiverse. As usual, it’s up to Crash and Coco to close these time rifts and save the world from the villains. The story is light, fun, and filled with amusing moments that you’ll enjoy, along with its lovable characters.

What sets every Crash Bandicoot game apart is its gameplay. Toys for Bob succeeded in maintaining the classic challenging gameplay while introducing new mechanics that add fresh elements to the experience.

For those who find the game difficult, the studio now offers a “Modern” mode, where you have infinite lives and respawn at the last checkpoint you reached. This contrasts with the “Classic” mode, where you have limited lives, and if you run out, you restart the level.

The core gameplay mechanics, like Double Jump, Spin, and Slide, are present, but this time you’ll also get four special masks throughout the game, each offering unique powers that will help you navigate different levels.

One mask grants stronger spins and higher double jumps to help you cross large gaps. Another lets you walk on the ceiling instead of the floor by flipping gravity. The third mask stops time for a limited period, and the fourth alters the world around you to create new platforms to jump on. These masks will be used throughout the game, and each level introduces new ways to utilize them.

The game also introduces new playable characters: Doctor Neo Cortex, Tawna, and Dingodile. These characters are introduced in mandatory levels, and their additional levels are available as side missions after the main story. Cortex can dash and use a weapon to turn enemies into rubber, Tawna can wall-jump and use a grappling hook, and Dingodile uses a weapon to suck up objects in the environment and throw them at enemies or break obstacles.

Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time is the largest Crash game to date. The main story consists of 43 levels, which took me about 8.5 hours to complete. Besides the main levels, there are side levels with the characters mentioned above, plus “Flashback Tapes” that allow you to experience Cortex’s experiments on Crash and Coco in his old lab.

The game features six boss battles, three of which are relatively easy, while the other three are incredibly difficult. Despite the difficulty, these encounters are enjoyable and require focus, speed, and sometimes the use of the masks you’ve acquired throughout the story.

If you’re tired of the story and want to try something with your friends, Crash Bandicoot 4 offers Local Multiplayer (so your friend has to be sitting next to you with another controller). There are two modes: Crate Combo, where you compete to break the most crates in a specific level, and Checkpoint Race, where the game tracks your time to reach the checkpoint, and the winner is the one who reaches it the fastest.

Crash Bandicoot 4 is built entirely on the Unreal Engine 4, which is a significant upgrade from the engine used by Vicarious Visions for the trilogy. This results in a huge graphical leap between the trilogy and the new game, with beautifully designed characters and enemies, along with their movements and facial expressions significantly improved.

The game offers a massive variety of environments, each level feeling completely different from the last. You’ll explore snowy landscapes, forests, volcanoes, swamps, futuristic cities, and Japanese-inspired architecture, among other settings.

Each environment is crafted with great attention to detail, and you’ll find Easter Eggs from other games, like Spyro. The visual effects, especially explosions, have a cartoonish style, but they’re beautifully done. Some effects, like reflections, are done so well that they almost look like ray-tracing technology you’d see on PC.

The voice acting for all the characters is excellent, and from the intro, you’ll immediately get into the Crash mode that you’ve loved from past games. The sound effects and character movements are all improved and match the gameplay seamlessly.

Crash wouldn’t be complete without its iconic soundtrack, and the composer managed to keep the classic tunes while adding some new, fitting melodies for this entry.