Crash Bandicoot is a platformer with an emphasis on skill, with just two moves to make use of, keeping things pretty straightforward. I played through the game normally and it wasn't really anything special, levels which use the same templates, questionable design choices like crates which are off screen, giving you no indication where they are, buffered inputs for jumps could also be annoying sometimes too.

None of that really matters though, because the best part of this game is the relics, which require you to beat every stage under a certain time without dying. You learn to navigate through some long, complex stages, especially the DLC, and when you finally get that perfect run it's pretty satisfying. That's where this game shines, when it demands real skill from the player.

If there was a little more variety in the stages and some of the gems didn't have bullshit crates off screen, I'd probably rate it higher.