Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time review: Best of the best
Gameplay
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time plays like a best of the biggest platforming franchises ever. There are stages within worlds and these worlds are each given a unique map similar to the set up in Super Mario 3 or Donkey Kong Country to give you a feel of what a world will be like.
I personally stuck with Coco but it doesn’t matter because they both control exactly the same. Their spin attacks cover the same range, their jumps operate the same way, there’s no difference which I really liked.
The game is still difficult but unlike the demo, there’s a really good progression to get there. While the first stages can get tough and you will sometimes die so quickly you’re not certain what exactly killed you until your second go through, it has absolutely nothing on some of the later stages which seem to almost seem joy in taking you out.
When you get to the end of each world you’re faced with a large boss battle. These bosses are incredibly gigantic and, in some cases, are nods to other Activision titles. There’s a boss that makes you survive as if you were on a Guitar Hero track, dodging the note circles as they make their way to the bottom of the conveyor belt.
The bosses are all very unique and all require a couple of moments of wondering how you’re even supposed to hurt it before everything becomes clear. I didn’t expect a Crash game to have me problem-solving like that but I definitely appreciate it.
The other thing this game adds though, which I was not ready for, is the ability to occasionally play as other characters. Sometimes you’ll play through a stage and something weird will happen. For example, in one stage I got to a gate only to have it open via a weird explosion.
Later I unlocked a stage where I could play as Crash Bandicoot character Tawna, albeit her alternate dimension bad-ass counterpart. I was in the same stage but a different area, leading to her causing the villain to miss an attack blowing up the gate behind me instead.
She also plays differently. Precise kicks instead of spin attacks, wall jumps that allow you to get in new places, and, best of all, a grappling gun. I love grappling guns. This not only allows you to make crazy jumps even longer by snagging far off rings and handles, but it also lets you stun enemies from afar making it a lot easier to get past them.
Tawna’s not the only character you can control either. There’s an alligator boss from a previous game who runs around with a shotgun. Fun little surprise characters (that I won’t spoil) and even the villain Neo Cortex in stages where you can go through and watch him try and fail to stop Crash leading to why some of the platformers operate like they do.
Not only do these characters add some exciting new features and play styles to the game, the fact that it leads to the explanation of why some of the strange things are happening in the game fill in plot hole questions I didn’t even realize I had. Why did this vehicle wait before it started chasing me? Why did that boat suddenly go away before I could jump on it? How did this stone door open on its own? All these things we normally take for granted in platformers gets explained and adds some surprising depth to Crash’s world.
Plus it’s just really fun playing as Tawna because she’s awesome and breaks the fourth wall constantly to make fun of Crash and Coco for being distracted with collectathons.
Another cool thing they added are the Quantum Masks. These add a lot of fun new twists to an already packed game.