{"id":23208,"date":"2020-10-11T20:54:10","date_gmt":"2020-10-11T10:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=23208"},"modified":"2020-10-20T23:34:08","modified_gmt":"2020-10-20T13:34:08","slug":"crash-bandicoot-4-its-about-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=23208","title":{"rendered":"Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"crash4title\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Developer:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Toys for Bob
\nPublisher:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Activision
\nPlatform:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Playstation 4<\/p>\n

Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time<\/em>, as the double meaning in the title playfully implies, has been a long time coming.\u00a0 The\u00a0Crash<\/em> series was a mainstay of the original Playstation console in the Nineties and was both a critical and commercial hit.\u00a0 At the height of the series’ popularity, for a brief moment in time, the Crash<\/em> games were genuinely as popular as their Super Mario Bros<\/em> counterparts.<\/p>\n

As times changed, interest in the platform genre waned and cartoon mascots were set aside as the industry (and Sony in particular) shifted their focus towards attracting an older\u00a0market.\u00a0 The Crash<\/em> franchise changed hands and was passed onto Activision who released a handful of titles to an increasingly indifferent audience.\u00a0 But despite the\u00a0Crash Bandicoot<\/em> name having faded for the better part of two decades, nostalgia is a powerful force and there was always a sense that the audience would return if the series returned to its roots (see also: Tomb Raider, Tony Hawk<\/em> etc).\u00a0 That hunch proved true with the\u00a0Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy<\/em> of 2017, a budget priced remaster of the original trilogy that gave Crash a makeover with some modern graphics but otherwise kept the gameplay and original level design intact.<\/p>\n

The game quickly hit the bestseller charts and that lead to Activision hastily green-lighting a\u00a0Spyro the Dragon <\/em>remastered\u00a0<\/em>trilogy, a\u00a0Crash Team Racing<\/em> remaster and ultimately,\u00a0Crash Bandicoot 4<\/em>, the first numbered sequel to the original games in 22 years.<\/p>\n

\"crash4thumb\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Although the\u00a0N.Sane\u00a0<\/em>trilogy was handled by developer Vicarious Visions, Toys for Bob were responsible for the well received\u00a0Spyro<\/em> trilogy so there was a feeling that the new Crash game was in safe hands.\u00a0 The developers were making all the right noises about their creative decision-making process for the first modern\u00a0Crash<\/em> game in a long time.\u00a0 Make sure it handles like the old games.\u00a0 Bring back the cast of beloved supporting characters.\u00a0 Provide lots of colourful costumes and bonus levels but don’t charge an extra cent for them.<\/p>\n

The end result?\u00a0 A game that has some incredible highs – the stunning visuals, the new Quantum mask powerups, ambitious level design – and also some unexpected missteps.\u00a0 This isn’t quite the\u00a0world-beating,\u00a0revolutionary return of\u00a0Crash Bandicoot<\/em> that I hoped for.\u00a0 What’s frustrating is that it gets close at times, but a design brief that seems hell bent on punishing the player at every opportunity threatens to spoil the party.<\/p>\n

\"crash4scene\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Crash 4\u00a0<\/em>makes a very positive first impression.\u00a0 It goes without saying that this is the best the series has ever looked.\u00a0 The art style is eye-catching and smartly constructed; the high production values poured into the animation, soundtrack and cut-scenes vividly bring the series to life like an interactive Saturday morning cartoon.\u00a0 It’s the most elaborate storytelling that the series has ever had but its still short, sharp and punchy and gets you right into the action.\u00a0 Crash and Coco are tasked with collecting Quantum masks in a time travelling adventure that sees them form alliances with old acquaintances and even some old foes.<\/p>\n

Once players get their hands on Crash and begin navigating the first level, there’s a sense of relief that the controls feel tight, responsive and instantly familiar.\u00a0 As the game unfolds, the player begins to acquire new Quantum masks that each add a fresh wrinkle to the gameplay – the ability to soar over long distances, flipping gravity upside down, slowing down time and teleporting objects in and out.\u00a0 The later levels mix and match a variety of these unique effects making the game more complicated and demanding than any previous Crash<\/em>.\u00a0 It’s a welcome introduction\u00a0that adds depth and sense of freshness to the proceedings.\u00a0 The game has a robust line-up of forty stages (a big jump up from the original trilogy that average twenty-something levels) so to keep players on their toes, Toys for Bob have also introduced Tawna, Dingodile and Neo Cortex (!) as playable characters who each handle quite differently.\u00a0 Tawna has a grappling hook and can do wall-jumps.\u00a0 Dingodile carries a vaccuum with him that can suck up objects.\u00a0 Neo Cortex can air-dash and shoot a laser that converts enemies into platforms.\u00a0 And if all that wasn’t enough, there are also bonus stages called Flashback tapes and N.Verted levels – monochrome mirror image copies of the main levels.\u00a0 It’s so much content that at times, it threatens to overwhelm you.\u00a0 Phew!<\/p>\n

It sounds amazing – but there’s a catch.\u00a0 A pretty big one, if I’m honest.\u00a0 Somewhere in the design brief for\u00a0Crash 4<\/em>, its apparent that the Toys for Bob developers decided that this game should play to the audience that enjoyed not only beating\u00a0the\u00a0Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy<\/em>, but also enjoyed tracking down every last crate, hidden gem and speed run objective<\/em>.\u00a0 The presentation of the game makes very clear that completing the level from A to B is only half the job.\u00a0 They want you to do all that other stuff too.\u00a0 And if you don’t, you can forget about unlocking any costumes or seeing the ‘true ending’ to the game.<\/p>\n

The problem is,\u00a0Crash 4<\/em> is punishingly difficult.\u00a0 Frequently unreasonably so.\u00a0 The game has some of the longest levels I’ve ever experienced in a mainstream platformer and the checkpoints are few and far between.\u00a0 For the masochists trying to track down every crate to smash, many of the levels feature over TWO HUNDRED, often with a handful of them hidden out of sight.\u00a0 Miss just a single one and you get nada.<\/p>\n

The developers are seemingly aware that they’ve made “the\u00a0Dark Souls<\/em> of platformers” so they’ve given players the option to play the game in “modern mode” where you can have an infinite number of lives.\u00a0 If you keep dying in a particular area, you are eventually gifted uka uka masks and even new checkpoints.\u00a0 But the frustrating thing is that the majority of deaths are usually because Crash or Coco has fallen to their deaths so the extra masks don’t do shit.\u00a0 And the eventual unlocking of new checkpoints (after you’ve died 10+ times) feels like they’re adding markers that should’ve been there in the first place and at this stage you’re basically brute-forcing your way through the level through a war of attrition.\u00a0 You don’t feel much sense of accomplishment when you’ve got past a tricky part of a level through sheer bloody-mindedness and muscle memory.\u00a0 And remember – for the overwhelming majority of people who play this game – they’re looking to rekindle a fond memory of a game from their childhood.\u00a0 I don’t really know if it’s the best idea to make a final stage so goddamn brutal that the\u00a0Games Radar guy who played the review code died 258 times on it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This miserly and nihilistic attitude to gameplay regularly threatens to fuck up what should be some of the high points of the game.\u00a0 One of the most attention-grabbing and lavish stages you experience early in the game is in a level called Off Beat, where you play through a New Orleans\u00a0themed dimension complete with toe-tapping jazz numbers and visually extravagant trappings that I’ve never seen in a platformer before.\u00a0 But the level is hard as nails and I suspect it’ll take most people 10-15 lives and a (way too long) 20 minutes or so to beat.\u00a0 Think of some of the great showpiece levels in other platformers of recent years, like the Donkey Kong homage in\u00a0Mario Odyssey’s<\/em> Metro City or when the orchestral score begins to soar in\u00a0Mario Galaxy’s\u00a0<\/em>Gusty Garden.\u00a0 Then imagine how ruinous it would be to the experience if they added a difficulty spike that made you repeat sections of those levels over and over<\/em>.\u00a0 Sometimes, a developer needs to know when to step back and let the player enjoy the spectacle.\u00a0 In\u00a0Crash 4<\/em>, you are basically\u00a0never<\/em> afforded that luxury.<\/p>\n

Creating challenging but achievable obstacles in gaming is a tricky business.\u00a0 If you get it right, you have the next Super Meat Boy\/Spelunky\/Impossible Lair<\/em> on your hands.\u00a0 Get it wrong and you have, well, this<\/em>.\u00a0 I know people who enjoyed platinuming\u00a0the\u00a0Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy<\/em> who aren’t even bothering to attempt it with\u00a0Crash 4<\/em>.\u00a0 I wonder how many players who aren’t platforming die-hards will be able to get to the end of the game, let alone finish that brutal final stage Cortex Castle.<\/p>\n

For me personally, I managed to finish the game but have no inclination to do much more with it.\u00a0 The game has moments of brilliance but it is also exhausting.\u00a0 I’m glad I managed to beat that utter bastard of a final stage but I’m done.\u00a0 I can’t fault Toys for Bob for the amount of ambition they have shown with this game and the polish it has is second to none.\u00a0 But holy cow, if they get around to Crash 5<\/em>, my advice: tone it down a notch.\u00a0 2020 has been rough on all of us as it is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the evil N.Tropy opens a rift in the fabric of space, Crash, Coco and their friends must unite to save the Quantum masks and restore order to the multiverse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":23210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2909,1200,1702,2910],"class_list":["post-23208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gaming","tag-crash-bandicoot","tag-playstation","tag-playstation-4","tag-toys-for-bob"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23208"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23261,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23208\/revisions\/23261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}