I dunno, I think this game kinda rocks? At least a little bit?

The soundtrack is phenomenal, swinging effortlessly between the bombastic freneticism of classic Sonic the Hedgehog styled tunes and more thoughtful pieces reminiscent of early synthesizer music.

I love the way the game controls, the way Sonic moves, I love the split second of tension as you approach an enemy and with just a tap of the spindash button reduce it to dust.

I like that the game makes deciding when to turn in your flickies to their ring shaped receptacle into a meaningful decision; do you send them home early so that you don't have to worry about losing one? Or do you hang onto all five of them for a points bonus, and to be able to use them to collect powerups that Sonic can't reach on his own?

I love the game's lively animation and cutscenes. I love that each level has a new element to keep things fresh (even if some of the levels are rather visually busy).

I love how Panic Puppet Zone throws you for a loop; up until that point, every area of the game is split into zones, each with only 5 enemies each, one for each flicky. In Panic Puppet Zone, enemies don't drop flickies anymore; the first Act has only 5 total (the fewest of any stage in the game) and all of them are in a kind of bespoke container, and the second Act has none at all! With flickies and enemies completely mechanically separated, the final Zone of the game is able to throw way more enemies at the player, but because of how few flickies their are, rushing to the end as fast as possible is more viable than ever.

The game is not perfect. It's a little long, I was a bit surprised that Gene Gadget Zone was not the final level. The Final Fight, which I believe is only accessible if you collect all of the chaos emeralds, is pretty much unfair and I will openly admit to using the Steam version's Rewind feature to get through it. Outside of the two final bosses, I only died twice. Once was right after leaving a bonus area, and spawning back into the main level with no rings, and immediately dying to a spike trap. The other time was when I lost my fire shield power up in Volcano Valley Zone, which is about as disastrous as losing all of your power ups in a Gradius game.

I like that at the end of the game's final level, the entrance to the final boss arena is a tube that goes up a giant Eggman statue's enormous nostril.

Personally, I think it truly is... a blast 😏

No Titans, no tag-teaming, hell minimal vehicular manslaughter. Crash 4 earns its rightful place next to Naughty Dog's golden trilogy thanks to some tight controls, energetic level design, and modern ingenuity.

Perhaps it's easy to take Crash 4 for granted now, in a new golden era of platforming, but Crash 4's value as a proper sequel is not to be taken lightly. Crash Bandicoot is one of the most legendary icons in the industry, becoming a revolutionary purely by epitomizing the saying that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." On its surface, the rudimentary approach to 3D platforming, reliant on precision across a fixed viewpoint, appears archaic and mundane compared to the vast experimentation of Crash's contemporaries, but in doing so Crash provides the purely form of what it offers: having the precision and energy of a 2D game at the heart of its 3D gameplay. Rather than attempting to reinvent this formula, Crash 4 breaks it down and brings it to new heights.

The levels are chock full of detail and life, embodying a cartoon spirit that N. Sane Trilogy's confused attempt at realism utterly lost. A dynamic soundtrack always set to fit the mood, with a lot of added crunch to the sound effects.

First time players might be caught off-guard by the game's spike in difficulty. By far the hardest mainline Crash game, players will be expected to pull off insanely tricky maneuvers just to clear the end of a level, let alone the numerous side objectives the game has a surplus of. Box Gems and Time Trials make their return of course, alongside Hidden Gems, Death Gems, Perfect Relics, N. Verted Stages, Timeline Stages, and Flashback Tapes, the game is honestly quite bloated if you're a completionist. Honestly while I understand the complaint, I choose to take this content piecemeal, ensuring that I don't burn out on the game too quickly and I can take these challenges at my own leisure. It is doable, you just have to be ready for what's expected of you. But even if this doesn't interest you, the main campaign is plenty substantial, and in my opinion, justifies selling at a full $60, for one of the tightest sets of platforming levels ever conceived. The game just...FEELS right. This is what I've always wanted. If Toys For Bob gets to keep the mantle, I can say with confidence that Crash is back.

This is probably the best Spyro game not created by Insomniac in the early 2000s. At least in my opinion. Yes I hated how there was no incentive to pic up gems other than for money to buy powers ups you never used ( but mainly for treasure keys to open chests) And Sargent Byrd's speedways were very very bad ESPECIALLY CLOUDY DOMAIN'S I COULD NEVER BEAT THE SECOND PHASE, but it was a step above ETD.

I absolutely loved Red and the worlds and set pieces we're lovely to look at as well as the character designs.( And this is probably my favorite design of Spyro here since they actually gave him yellow crests down his spine.)

I only wish this had some semblance of the original formula but alas this game, although much better than ETD, was the start of Spyro diverging from his original formula.

My god, what a success. I've never played a franchise revival that gets so much right. Toys For Bob have proven that they understand much of the original Crash trilogy's appeal and that the series still has plenty of wriggle room for growth that the subsequent Crash outings weren't inspired enough to capitalise on.

Linear corridor-pushing platforming is back to Crash again with a base moveset as shrunken down as it was in 2 more specifically. What ensues are levels that are meticulously and appropriately balanced towards tight and challenging platforming around your more limited toolset. The devs have said "When we think about hazards and enemies and how they’re distributed, they stream across in almost a rhythmic way, so we’ve been really focused on how do we maximize that and use that differentiation to really push Crash gameplay", and that much is demonstrated in how the game retains the core trilogy tenets while also being more momentum-based than before.

For variance, new masks are thrown into the mix with controlled segments that require you to make use of their unique abilities - as well as entire characters that control very differently from the heroes. This is about as welcome as this kind of shakeup could be, these levels being immediately more cognisantly put together than the more extraneous-feeling vehicle segments in Crash 3. It's so nice that they're rarely ever necessary for completion, too, if the player doesn't happen to be keen on the way any given side character's levels play out.

I'd be remiss not to mention how gorgeous the game is. Toys For Bob seemed like the right choice for Crash after their art team's stellar work on the Spyro Reignited trilogy - proving that they are essentially the masters of stage and character design, adding details and changes to the base work that make the world feel effervescent.
I LOVE what they've done with the character redesigns here, taking their old shapes and making them as stylised and expressive as the GPU can handle. Coco's new style is a particular standout; she's never looked this good. Cortex's taller design is quite enlightened too. It suits his character so perfectly for him to try and look as big as he thinks he is, only for him to be a wee rodent when anyone else in the cast enters the frame.

It feels almost cruel and unfair to compare 4 to the remake trilogy that came out just a few years prior, but it's worth noting how incredibly dated that game already looks. A remake mired in bizarre visual choices that, while all minor in the grand scheme of things, illustrates a full image of a team that doesn't know what to do with the paints provided. I wish I could embed images for comparison's sake, but please believe me when you can pinpoint any minute detail from 4 (the water, fire effects, character shadows, foliage, animation, the list goes on) to their direct counterpart in the remake to see it almost completely botched. It all sounds like nitpicking, and it is, but art is an art babye.
https://twitter.com/BeachEpisode/status/1382872345321291785

Where things get particularly interesting with Crash 4 is sadly also where my problems begin. If you were to go into 4 with the same completionist ethos as you would in the OG trilogy, you'd get chewed up and spat out by some senselessly cruel design choices that are actually quite baffling. Crash 4 should act as a case study for how much goodwill can be diminished by level after level of "fuck you", bosshi-like cruelty. Where 100%'ing a given Crash game used to simply add about five or so hours onto the total playtime as you aim for optional collectables, 4 is quite literally padded front and back, forcing you to play through each given level (twice), with an "N.verted" visual filter. Doubling the level count in the laziest way conceivable. This wouldn't be so bad if not for the fact that the levels in Crash 4 are considerably longer and more densely packed with crates than ever before. I have to specify; it's not so much the difficulty being the problem; the content surrounding the difficulty is so disproportionately bloated. Racking up tens of minutes in a single level as you try to break every crate you can as you scan every nook and cranny with a fine-tooth comb, only for you to come to the end of a level, one crate short, it's enough to knock a star off a total score (and it did).

One of Crash 4's best elements is how unpredictable it is from a pacing standpoint. There are numerous points where you think you're in the final runup to the end only for the trapdoor beneath you to fall out, revealing a whole new slew of levels. This would normally be quite exciting, if not for how easily you could get burnt out at any point by the game's padded nature, making it hard to savour how much of a rambling journey the game takes you on. Sure, you could ignore these side things and sprint to the ending. You'd definitely finish the game with a more positive take away than me! But I am a simple man who wants those unlockable skins.

While I'm effortposting far too much about this orange marsupial game, I might as well add that I love the interdimensional story this game is trying to tell. Its sense of humour gets me to a tee and is filled with very subtle winks to even the prior games that are now rendered "not canon". Cutscenes with incredible squash n stretch tex avery loony tunes esque animation that conveys character better than any game I've ever played. I love it to death.

Crash 4 is a fleshed out, wonderfully well-studied sequel. Built with a uniquely high grade of technical skill that is often diminished by design choices that can feel a little misguided. This is one of the most concrete building blocks I have ever played, and is one iteration away from complete perfection to my eyes. (Like... just make it so the checkpoint boxes tell you how many crates you missed. That would help SO MUCH). I'm hoping Toys For Bob continue pumping out wall to wall bangers now that Skylanders seems to have bitten the dust; they're more qualified than most to make gorgeous, satisfying and engaging platformers that are absolutely drenched in personality.

This game is a big mixed bag. On one hand, it's very surprising to see a licensed game branch out from it's usual generic "2D Sidescroller" genre, but it's welcome, especially if that genre is a Pikmin clone. It even incorporates a streamlined charge mechanic before Pikmin 3 Deluxe did it. They also tied new units to a mission like structure spread across 3 islands which encourages backtracking later on in the game. Combat isn't amazing, but it's very streamlined and easy to pick up for anyone. The first island is even structured very well with plenty of puzzles and secrets to find. I was about ready to give this game 3 1/2 Stars and gush about how it's criminal that no ones playing this game any attention. Sadly, this game is hampered to death with MAJOR problems. First off, it's impossible to access the map of the current island you're on. This makes going through the games very similar hallways confusing at times and can cause a headache when you just want to get to where you need to go. While annoying though, I was still willing to overlook this problem as I was still enjoying this game very much. Unfortunately, this all ended once I got to the third island. This level is an absolute nightmare. Glitches and bugs were endless here. My units were constantly getting stuck on nothing and even downright disappearing out of nowhere. The game even straight out crashed after one point! Not to mention how inconsistent the checkpoints are in this level as they start out few and far between and then get more constant near the end. The puzzles are also very haphazard and the secret treasures are just randomly dropped out in the open with no cleverness like the previous two islands. The bosses are also very underwhelming. Just spam enough units at them and avoid their very delayed attacks and they go down within a minute or two. In the end I really wanted to love this game and recommend it as a hidden gem of underappreciated licensed games, but the game really trips over its own feet and gets trampled at the finish line. If the curiosity of this game is eating away at you, Rent it or pick it up for $5. It's short enough that you won't regret it, but for everyone else, you're not missing a thing here and are fine with skipping it.

There's some rushed development here, what with shorter levels and cut side content like races. But it doesn't feel like the game necessarily suffered from it, instead it's more like the game just got a higher focus on the action aspect (which may or may not be a good thing depending on who you ask).

There are times when I did feel the shortcuts taken though, like how some levels have 4/5 missions that all take place in the same exact area and just have you mow down hordes of enemies. The hovership sections are hugely nerfed and less fun versions of the spaceship battles. The arena battles don't have anything as flashy as the cage matches from before (but there are now a few extra challenges like cycling weapons, and of course the obstacle courses...which reuse the same routes for all 10 or so ones).

But Up Your Arsenal definitely has some direct improvements, particularly some quality of life ones. Being able to refill all ammo at once from a vendor is such a huge improvement.

The plot now feels a tad more focused by having a hub world that you go back to between many of the levels. I liked that it utilised many of the past side characters well. Much better than past games which kinda just chauffeured you from one planet to the next.

Great villain with fun chemistry with his sidekick/butler.

The Qwark Vid Comics are a really great side activity, not only letting you play as Qwark, but also bringing in a brand new style of gameplay (2D Platformer).

Even the Clank sections didn't feel that bad this time around. But maybe that's just because I'm used to them now. The giant clank battle was definitely infinitely less annoying than the ones in Going Commando though.

There's some things that I think remain the same too, obviously the combat itself is basically the exact same (which isn't a bad thing). But it even carries over the flaw of puzzles just not being hard. Like when you use the refractor it's always 100% obvious what you need to do, so it feels like you're just wasting a bunch of time to equip the item over and over. Plus like I said in my last review, I really dislike how the weapon upgrade system works in these games. It promotes using weapons in bad context, and, ironically, ignoring fully upgraded weapons because it feels like a waste of exp. It is at least nice to see how close you are to levelling up weapons in terms of numbers now though I guess.

I'd basically say this game is a sidegrade than an upgrade or downgrade to the last game. It giveths and it takeths away.