Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time

Genre: 3D Platformer

Players: 1-4 Competitive (Local Alternating)

Game Company Bad Behavior Profile Page: Activision Blizzard

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Review:

(Note: This review has been directly sponsored by a kind donation from MB. Thanks again for your generous contribution!)

(Note: This game is included in multiple bundles. It is in the Crash Bandicoot – Quadrilogy Bundle along with Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy, and it is in the Crash Bandicoot – Crashiversary Bundle along with Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled.)

Crash Bandicoot 4 is a family-friendly 3D Platformer released on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One in 2020 and ported to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/s in 2021. While this game may have the number 4 in its title, there have been many, many games in this series. As such, the number 4 stands as a statement of sorts declaring that this game is the first game to truly take up the mantle of the classic Crash Bandicoot series, and as such is the first game since the original trilogy truly deserving of being considered a direct sequel to those beloved PlayStation One titles.

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Crash and Burn

It’s quite a bold claim to make – not counting spin-off titles, there have been no less than a half-dozen Platformer games starring the mammalian mascot first created by Naughty Dog, who has long since moved on and is now best known for the Uncharted and Last of Us franchises. It’s not for lack of trying that the series hasn’t reached the same heights as its heyday, though – the series has seen games developed by noteworthy developers like Traveler’s Tales and Radical Entertainment, and almost all of them have been only serviceable at best. To be fair, the first two Crash Bandicoot games on Game Boy Advance are generally well-regarded, but those were smaller experiences, and few people really looked at those games as true successors to the series.

This all changed when Activision Blizzard and Vicarious Visions released Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy in 2017. This title was no mere remaster of the original PlayStation trilogy, but a complete remake of those games from the ground-up. Many critics, myself included praised this game for combining the classic gameplay of the original trilogy with an outstanding new presentation. With the release of the N. Sane Trilogy, Crash Bandicoot was finally relevant again after nearly two decades of mediocrity. And with the amazing success of this game, people started to ask what would be done to follow up this game, now that Crash Bandicoot was something people were talking about again.

As it happened, the task to do so was not given to Vicarious Visions, but to developer Toys For Bob, who in 2018 had found similar success revitalizing a once-beloved franchise by remaking a trilogy of beloved PlayStation games, with the Spyro Reignited Trilogy standing shoulder to shoulder with Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy when it came to praise for its high level of quality. And Toys For Bob was no stranger to the Crash Bandicoot series either, having worked on the solid port of the N. Sane Trilogy to Nintendo Switch. With a pedigree like this, they seemed like an ideal candidate to bring life to a new Crash Bandicoot game.

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A Crashing Good Time

While Crash Bandicoot 4 aims to match or even surpass the N. Sane Trilogy in terms of its graphical splendor, its gameplay will feel instantly familiar to fans of the series. The level designs are still largely linear obstacle courses, with the gameplay shifting from side-scrolling to corridor-based 3D sections. This was never a series designed around exploration in the way the Mario games tend to be, and Crash Bandicoot 4 does not change the formula, although it does add a few new ingredients to spice things up.

In addition to jumping, double-jumping, spinning, sliding, and belly-flopping, players will acquire magical masks that will give them new abilities they’ll need to get past new obstacles in levels, such as a mask that allows them to phase in and out platforms, and a mask that allows them to alter gravity. In addition, they’ll occasionally have a different character tag in for Crash and his sister for the duration of a level, bringing with them a new mechanic like a vacuum gun or a grappling hook.However, while these mechanics help to keep things interesting, they don’t tamper with the core formula this series is known for.

This is both a blessing and a curse – Crash Bandicoot works, it’s fun, but it’s also simple and a bit repetitive. These additions to the gameplay do help to keep things from getting stale, but even so, there are times when it feels like you’re just bouncing on an endless string of boxes and goofy enemies.

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Crash Test

Of course, that brings me to the other element that keeps this game feeling fresh, and that is the graphics.Simply put, Crash Bandicoot 4 is absolutely gorgeous, like a living cartoon, with wonderful colors, beautiful water effects, tons of detail in the environment and characters, and absolutely phenomenal animation that brings those characters to life.

Of course, having said that, I have to add the caveat that the Nintendo Switch version of this game is a significant downgrade from the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions, which ran at a silky-smooth 60FPS framerate and touted resolutions up to 1080p. The Nintendo Switch version of the game features a dynamic 720p resolution in docked mode, and a dynamic 540p resolution in handheld mode, with the framerate halved to a stable 30FPS both in docked and handheld mode (thanks to Digital Foundry for the numbers). The Nintendo Switch version also cuts out many of the lighting effects seen in those earlier versions.

Is this to say that the Nintendo Switch version of Crash Bandicoot 4 looks bad? Heck no! This game still looks magnificent, and even with these heavily-downgraded visuals, it’s one of the best-looking games of 2021 on Nintendo’s handheld. The cuts that were made to this game were well-measured, and do little to reduce the quality of the overall experience. However, the other versions of this game still do look clearly superior, which is something to keep in mind when deciding which platform to buy the game on.

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Enough Crash to Spread Around?

The other question many will undoubtedly have when considering whether to get this game is if it’s going to be better to spend their cash on this game… or on the N. Sane Trilogy. To this I would say that if you have not yet gotten the trilogy… get the trilogy. Both are excellent Platformers, but you just can’t beat the N. Sane Trilogy when it comes to the amount of quality content you get for a reasonable price (well, I would argue that the Spyro Reignited Trilogy is even better, but I’m more partial to that series personally).

Still, if you’ve played through the N. Sane Trilogy and are craving more great Platforming along those same lines, Crash Bandicoot 4 is an outstanding follow-up. While it may not have the depth or variety of the Mario series, it is nevertheless an outstanding Platformer that brings a lot to this franchise without diluting its core strengths, and it brings a stunning visual presentation to the Nintendo Switch that, while downgraded from other platforms, is nevertheless still absolutely gorgeous. If you’re a fan of Platformers, this game should be a no-brainer for you.

tl;dr – Crash Bandicoot 4 is a family-friendly Platformer that is an excellent follow-up to the N. Sane Trilogy, and a solid (albeit downgraded) port from more powerful platforms that still looks outstanding on Nintendo Switch. While this game can’t offer the same kind of value seen in the N. Sane Trilogy, or the same level of depth and variety as an average Mario game, this is nevertheless an outstanding Platformer well worth adding to your collection.

Grade: B+

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Platformer

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