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.
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.