Since I'm legally obligated to pick up any new Crash game that comes out, I ended up picking this up about a week ago and decided to play a few hours before getting to this review.
When it was announced I didn't really know what to expect from it, but after playing it, I will say that the core gameplay is surprisingly fun. It's not the deepest thing in the world, but the concept itself is pretty unique - being a sort of platform-based MOBA with some good feeling movement and snappy controls on that part (feeling similar to that of Crash 4) and the maps all feel unique with their own little gimmicks that fit their respective 'themes'. Plus the game is overall really nice visually and I also like how each character has a set of moves and whatnot that align well with their established personalities, in addition to the new 'Catbat' character which... hey, enby kittybat, pretty cool stuff.
That being said... I definitely don't see this game taking off. As some have talked about, the character balancing is a bit wonky. While you can still do pretty well if you're good enough at any of the players, it definitely feels like certain characters have abilities that put them at an inherent advantage over others that makes some feel more viable than others. Neo Cortex in particular has a pretty distinct ranged ability whereas most if not all the others are left with a couple simple melee attacks and on that note it can be difficult to fight him with any of the other characters since he can attack you without being close to you, and Ripper Roo is also in a similar boat having a 'bomb' attack that's inherently more devastating while also having some pretty versatile mobility. On the other hand, characters like Dingodile just feel pretty sluggish to play as while still being stuck with the close melee attacks that the others have with no real advantage to him other than being able to hold more Wumpas and (I think) having a bigger health pool and being more defensive. Plus the game feels like it encourages puppy guarding a bit too much, especially in maps like Bogged Down where both team points are pretty much right next to each other, and as such I've been in a few matches where it feels like the other team can just stand by your point and constantly knock you and your team out without much consequences. The result is that this ends up feeling like one of those games where if your team falls behind a significant amount early on, you're basically left with very little if any chance of winning the round.
My biggest issue with this game is that it feels extremely lacking in content. For $30, you get a grand total of... one game mode. Like I said, the game mode itself is fun enough, but at the same time, without much else to fall back on, I could definitely see it getting really monotonous, really fast, especially when this gameplay style feels like it could be open to much more. On top of that, you have a grand total of 9 characters to choose from, with only 3 being unlocked and only about 4 being actually viable due to the game's balancing issues, in addition to not giving much customization to them outside of cosmetics and powers (the latter of which are shared among all characters so it doesn't even feel unique). To be completely fair, it does seem like Toys for Bob does plan for there to be more content down the road, but... Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled had much more content from launch even if you don't include the stuff that was already in the original game to begin with. Also the game has a battle pass because... of course it does, I guess.
Despite all my criticism, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun with the game... but truth be told, at the rate it's going I really don't see this game having much of a life ahead of it with it's lack of content at launch, balancing issues and especially the fact that marketing for this game seems practically non-existent outside of the announcement trailer from the Game Awards. I could be wrong about that, but considering Nitro-Fueled had way more content and didn't build up a big long-lasting multiplayer base, and this game's matchmaking already seems pretty lacking, the odds in favor of this game having a long-lasting playerbase feel kinda slim. And if you do want to play this, I would probably wait for a sale or maybe even the chance that this game goes free-to-play lol.
When it was announced I didn't really know what to expect from it, but after playing it, I will say that the core gameplay is surprisingly fun. It's not the deepest thing in the world, but the concept itself is pretty unique - being a sort of platform-based MOBA with some good feeling movement and snappy controls on that part (feeling similar to that of Crash 4) and the maps all feel unique with their own little gimmicks that fit their respective 'themes'. Plus the game is overall really nice visually and I also like how each character has a set of moves and whatnot that align well with their established personalities, in addition to the new 'Catbat' character which... hey, enby kittybat, pretty cool stuff.
That being said... I definitely don't see this game taking off. As some have talked about, the character balancing is a bit wonky. While you can still do pretty well if you're good enough at any of the players, it definitely feels like certain characters have abilities that put them at an inherent advantage over others that makes some feel more viable than others. Neo Cortex in particular has a pretty distinct ranged ability whereas most if not all the others are left with a couple simple melee attacks and on that note it can be difficult to fight him with any of the other characters since he can attack you without being close to you, and Ripper Roo is also in a similar boat having a 'bomb' attack that's inherently more devastating while also having some pretty versatile mobility. On the other hand, characters like Dingodile just feel pretty sluggish to play as while still being stuck with the close melee attacks that the others have with no real advantage to him other than being able to hold more Wumpas and (I think) having a bigger health pool and being more defensive. Plus the game feels like it encourages puppy guarding a bit too much, especially in maps like Bogged Down where both team points are pretty much right next to each other, and as such I've been in a few matches where it feels like the other team can just stand by your point and constantly knock you and your team out without much consequences. The result is that this ends up feeling like one of those games where if your team falls behind a significant amount early on, you're basically left with very little if any chance of winning the round.
My biggest issue with this game is that it feels extremely lacking in content. For $30, you get a grand total of... one game mode. Like I said, the game mode itself is fun enough, but at the same time, without much else to fall back on, I could definitely see it getting really monotonous, really fast, especially when this gameplay style feels like it could be open to much more. On top of that, you have a grand total of 9 characters to choose from, with only 3 being unlocked and only about 4 being actually viable due to the game's balancing issues, in addition to not giving much customization to them outside of cosmetics and powers (the latter of which are shared among all characters so it doesn't even feel unique). To be completely fair, it does seem like Toys for Bob does plan for there to be more content down the road, but... Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled had much more content from launch even if you don't include the stuff that was already in the original game to begin with. Also the game has a battle pass because... of course it does, I guess.
Despite all my criticism, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun with the game... but truth be told, at the rate it's going I really don't see this game having much of a life ahead of it with it's lack of content at launch, balancing issues and especially the fact that marketing for this game seems practically non-existent outside of the announcement trailer from the Game Awards. I could be wrong about that, but considering Nitro-Fueled had way more content and didn't build up a big long-lasting multiplayer base, and this game's matchmaking already seems pretty lacking, the odds in favor of this game having a long-lasting playerbase feel kinda slim. And if you do want to play this, I would probably wait for a sale or maybe even the chance that this game goes free-to-play lol.