Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (PS4 / Xbox One)

[Sonictrainer]

2 hours ago, SonicWind said:

Here's some exclusive new gameplay footage from IGN involving a pirate-themed level:

 

• The end of the level being inside a treasure vault is awesome
• What's with the crates that have flames coming out of them?

[Jango]

That video shows exactly what I was talking about! When Crash is grinding the rope (lol), you can see platforms and lower paths all around and bellow him. There's probably more than a single way to finish a level. Which begs the question: how are we gonna break every crate in a single run? Maybe there will be levels where this is simply not possible, but your crate progress will be saved and accounted for the next run. Cool and effective idea for more replay value.

Also, fuck this looks beautiful and so colorfull.

[mayday2592]

Maybe that's a previous part of the stage? The player hasn't been breaking all the crates in the previous gameplay so it could explain why there are still some visible.

[Ratcicle King]

https://twitter.com/ToysForBob/status/1278034702121660420?s=20

[KHCast]

18 minutes ago, Ratcicle King said:

https://twitter.com/ToysForBob/status/1278034702121660420?s=20

Hey guys remember that time devs for CTRNF specifically said and promised there would NOT be MTX in CTRNF and then had to walk that back afterwards and pretend it was never said. Yeah I’m sure TFB are a greeeeat company, but these statements when under Activison do Zilch to convince me anymore. Then again, I’m sure this will “reassure” many crash fans, cause of course it will, and get people feeling confident enough to “get hype bois” and pre order 

[Ratcicle King]

10 minutes ago, KHCast said:

Hey guys remember that time devs for CTRNF specifically said and promised there would NOT be MTX in CTRNF and then had to walk that back afterwards and pretend it was never said. Yeah I’m sure TFB are a greeeeat company, but these statements when under Activison do Zilch to convince me anymore. Then again, I’m sure this will “reassure” many crash fans, cause of course it will, and get people feeling confident enough to “get hype bois” and pre order 

Actually, they never said no MTX, they said no paid DLC, but it was misreported everywhere. On the subject of MTX they always said they were ''evaluating it'' and announced at launch they'd include it later down the road.

[mayday2592]

21 minutes ago, KHCast said:

Hey guys remember that time devs for CTRNF specifically said and promised there would NOT be MTX in CTRNF and then had to walk that back afterwards and pretend it was never said. Yeah I’m sure TFB are a greeeeat company, but these statements when under Activison do Zilch to convince me anymore. Then again, I’m sure this will “reassure” many crash fans, cause of course it will, and get people feeling confident enough to “get hype bois” and pre order 

Yeah until release, I'm going to be wary. The devs may not want to add them but it's activisions call. Sad thing is they could easily get away with adding it since so many in the fanbase and bigger Crash youtubers were dismissive and even defensive of their potential inclusion. As previously said by another user, some Crash fans will ignore any shady practice when it comes to activision and Crash out of fear they may shelf the series again. That being said the game looks excellent so I'm still looking forward to it.

[KHCast]

1 hour ago, Ratcicle King said:

Actually, they never said no MTX, they said no paid DLC, but it was misreported everywhere. On the subject of MTX they always said they were ''evaluating it'' and announced at launch they'd include it later down the road.

Regardless, in the big budget industry, these plans change frequently, and we see companies sneak them in, as they did with CTRNF as NO ONE in that team ever went out publicly to to make that clear(they maybe had one interview somewhere that they assumed would be good enough), as evident by the outrage sparked by them showing up, after the game was in everyone’s hands, and reviews were already out, and the ESRB had already rated it. 
 

Hell, Black Ops 4 pulled this “after the fact” shit as well.  Activision even put this in a remaster of COD4. They’re compulsive and addicted to this monetization bull.

so regardless, whether TFB say this or not, there’s no reassurance to the general public because they work under a company that actively undermines their work and words.

Edit: so I looked into your claim 

https://screenrant.com/crash-team-racing-microtransactions-gameplay-presentation-e3-2019/
 

Quote

Despite featuring online content and DLC plans for the future, all of Nitro-Fueled is microtransaction-free. In a sit-down presentation and hands-on during E3 2019, a member of the Nitro-Fueled team stated that the entire game would avoid microtransactions, instead offering new content for free during the game's life-cycle.

 

Unless they’re blatantly lying, it sounds pretty definitive that they at one point DID assure people there would be none 

Edit : ugh I hate the quote boxes -____-

[Wraith]

Even if they do end up doing DLC I won't care if it's just costumes and I'd pay for more levels as long as they're priced appropriately. 


Very excited for this one. I love how lively it looks. I like how it's a return to polished fast paced platforming since that's exactly my shit. I liked the other Crash games but the gimmicks were kind of obtrusive sometimes. The masks in this one seem like a lot of fun though. They add some variety to the platforming without resorting to vehicles or anything like that. 

[KHCast]

13 minutes ago, With Me said:

Even if they do end up doing DLC I won't care if it's just costumes and I'd pay for more levels as long as they're priced appropriately. 

If it’s more levels post development and release it’s fine, but I’d rather not support carved out content that’s potentially day one DLC regardless of its price. That’s just me tho

 

like I’m just frustrated about this cynical take I’m needing to have towards the game cause the game itself fundamentally looks so good, much like Nitro. The problem is Activision being Activision and potentially sucking out that excitement and enjoyment, again, much like it did with Nitro

[Celestia]

The masks and other playable characters are definitely much better ways of switching things up. It straight up reminds me of how Spyro kept things fresh rather than Crash.

That IGN video is interesting because it does look like levels will have alternate paths...I hadn't thought of it until Jango brought it up but how is that going to work with the crate count? Maybe you just need to break "x number of crates" rather than every single crate in that level, and there's just enough regardless of which way you go? Or maybe it's as simple as the grinding section loops back, so you have to go through the lower path later and things are still linear? If that's the case that's perfectly fine, but I like the idea of there being paths since it feels kinda Sonicy, and this is a new Sonic's Ass Game after all.

[8ther]

On 6/28/2020 at 9:18 PM, Your Vest Friend said:

Uh...bastard?

The link isn’t working.

[Jango]

2 hours ago, Ratcicle King said:

https://twitter.com/ToysForBob/status/1278034702121660420?s=20

As my mom used to say: hope for the best, but get prepared for the worst. That's all. 

34 minutes ago, Celestia said:

That IGN video is interesting because it does look like levels will have alternate paths...I hadn't thought of it until Jango brought it up but how is that going to work with the crate count? Maybe you just need to break "x number of crates" rather than every single crate in that level, and there's just enough regardless of which way you go? Or maybe it's as simple as the grinding section loops back, so you have to go through the lower path later and things are still linear? If that's the case that's perfectly fine, but I like the idea of there being paths since it feels kinda Sonicy, and this is a new Sonic's Ass Game after all.

I think alternate paths is a possibility for sure. And like I said, maybe you have to break every crate to get the gem, but not necessarily in one run. 

Or maybe, the levels are just that freaking huge. Either way, I like how this is looking!

 

[KHCast]

21 minutes ago, 8ther said:

The link isn’t working.

https://www.esrb.org/ratings/37045/Crash+Bandicoot™+4%3A+Its+About+Time/ There’s language in the game

[Wraith]

I think it's more likely that either the crates are all on the same path and the area below the rail was a sneak peak, or that it's possible to loop through every path in the level before you go to the goal. It'd be hard to pull off the second thing but I'd love that. 

[TheOcelot]

Did a gif of where we can see a lower path with boxes. IMO it's clear that the rail (where Crash is grinding & hanging) is looping around to the left and starts descending. Crash will end up on the lower section where there are platforms, crates and will eventually go through the small archway.

So the lower section is not an alternative route. It's all part of the same route.

[Jango]

So, I was rewatching some of AntDude's old Crash videos, more specifically this one.

It's a pretty funny video, you should check it out, and his channel too.

Aaaaanyyyyyways.

I noticed something interesting, something I wasn't expecting and didn't saw anyone else pointing out yet, probably because it's related to a, certainly not obscure, but definitely overlooked version of a game: Crash of the Titans on the DS. The part that called my attention starts at 5:30 on the video. First off, the nitro crates design, it's exactly the same as Crash 4, it has a single letter "N" in yellow, instead of the word "nitro". Then, later on, we see Crash grinding on rails, even switching between them, again, just like Crash 4. And the cherry on top, you can play as Nina, one of the villains of the game, on her quest to transform woodland criters into mutants with a ray gun.

I guess T4B took a few interesting pages from the Titans games. 

I just thought it was cool, that's why I'm sharing

[Jango]

Pirate level footage, now with music!

Looks and sounds absolutely fantastic. This is exactly how I always imagined a Crash 4 would be, more than 15 years ago. 

Also:

This looks like branching paths to me.

[Ratcicle King]

Notice how the song slowly fades into the N.Sanity Beach melody, that combined with the first shot we see of it being almost identical to the first shot of the N.Sanity beach level, makes me wonder if this IS actually that place but taken over by pirates.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Well,  despite how ugly this looks, and with how much they fucked up Nina, I do hope her presence in the mobile game is a sign that she'll show up for Crash 4.

She might even be one of the playable characters (obviously on Cortex' s side).

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

2 hours ago, Nina Cortex Jovahexeon said:

Well,  despite how ugly this looks, and with how much they fucked up Nina, I do hope her presence in the mobile game is a sign that she'll show up for Crash 4.

She might even be one of the playable characters (obviously on Cortex' s side).

In other news:

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/crash-bandicoot-on-the-run-makes-crash-a-runner-ag/1100-6479490/

Apparently Mr. Crumb will be making his long-awaited and apparently petitioned return.

[Sonictrainer]

We got some new screenshots from a Twitter User named Koala_Kong

Spoiler

In the screenshots with the Skull under Crash is a No Lives mode with a Death Counter

Also, we have some merch

Quote

Geek Store: Look who's crashed on to the scene!

Featuring our favourite cheeky bandicoot taking a selfie, this figure stands 7" tall and is the perfect way to show your love for Crash Bandicoot 4! 

 

[Sonicka]

So there’s plenty of new previews and Crash 4 footage doing the rounds today for 3 of its levels.

I think the footage speaks for itself in that this looks absolutely fantastic to play. And now we know that the third mask will give Crash the ability to phase objects in and out of existence. 

What I’m loving is how fluent everything appears to be as well as how much more dynamic the 2D to 3D sections feel when traversing between them mid-level.

I am starting to appreciate the art style a lot more now as well (no, will never get over what they did to Coco), as the approach seems to have lent them ways of creating fun new platforming elements. And whilst jumping on Square dino heads to get across chasms isn’t exactly a groundbreaking and new idea... the creative implementation works here because of the art direction. You wouldn’t see that sort of thing in Crash 1-3. 

Literally my only quibbles are that the double jump seems almost redundant in that you gain no extra height (so will be more about distance) and that your shadow is distractingly highlighted in the newer footage (I imagine this is an optional help feature for new players that hopefully can be switched off). 

So yeah, Good stuff! What will be interesting to see now is what exactly the Offline 1-4 players thing is about. A Crash Bash Mini Games style multiplayer extra perhaps? We’re getting multiple new characters to play on top of the regular Bandicoot duo, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to believe that could be a possibility. 

[Jango]

There's too many previews going on, Activision sent demos to a lot of channels and they're all uploading their videos xD

For the sake of raw, commentary-free gameplay, here's GameSpot's:

Cortex's gameplay actually looks fun. Oh, and the singing was priceless. I hope we get a lot of these comments from him mid-levels.

BTW, I'm loving the music. You can hear bits and samples from the prehistoric levels of Crash 3 in this new song, as well as Cortex's theme remixed into his level! I was really hoping they would do that, and they did. I'm glad.

And speaking of Cortex, he's protected by Aku-Aku in this demo. It's likely that they'll change it to Uka-Uka in the final game.

[Sonicka]

Oh heck... I just noticed that there is a collection counter for freaking Wumpa fruit now!