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

[Sonicka]

2 hours ago, Jango said:

Just changing the subject real quick: I just read that our man, Roger Craig Smith, Sonic himself, is the voice of N. Brio in Crash 4. And he is flawless, holy bananas.

You know what... I thought he sounded different. Not bad by any means though!

Oh, I add the final level to my list of favourites. My god that was exhilarating! I should be super stressed out after that last section but it was really fun trying to learn how to get it right. I’m looking forward to giving it another run to get my death counter down from 49. Considering I’ve heard others are in the 200’s (...really?) I feel quite happy for my first run at it. 

Having just beat the game (37% completion). It’s time to go for (or as much as I can) the 100% ending (...106%? or whatever).

I’m nervous about the Perfect Run Relics now, I ain’t gunna lie. That shit should not be tied to any of this. 

On the positive... I just discovered the unlockable skins require a specific amount of gems that are shared between the Normal and N-Verted Versions of each stage, honestly I didn’t realise this before and thought they were unlocked upon full total 100% completion of a level.

I think initially I assumed the Normal / N-verted levels had different skins unlocks attached to each version (much like alternate timeline versions do). Not to mention (until you reach N-Brio anyway) each level requires 6 gems - which is the total amount to grab in a level.

So I paid these no attention during my initial run and thought I’d come back for them later. So Learning I can get these unlocks faster does make me happy.  And at least there are little rewards to keep you going as you try for the 100%. 

Although the requirements are much harder for totalling this game, not even the older Crash games have many constant incentive rewards other than just humbly feeling good about yourself for grabbing that elusive gem or relic.

[mayday2592]

Canadian Guy Eh's review is up.

https://t.co/UCBUrr2UDD?amp=1

[Sonicka]

Aaaaaaand I’ve just found out there are Purple Dev Time Relics After Platinum. Christ alive

I did decide of my own accord to view the 100% and 106% endings... and quite glad I did. They’re sweet, but not worth the effort considering...

 

...it doesn’t really add anything story-wise to the game beyond some crash 1 type character epilogue slides (and oh... so Crash is the Narrator? Ha!). I suppose there is a teaser with UkaUka returning at the end too (whether that is supposed to signify a lead into Wrath of Cortex / Crash Bash or a potential Crash 5 is anyone’s guess. But it’s there.

Other than that, I’ve really enjoyed this game inso far I do also love in the ending where...

 

... the events of Crash 1’s beginnings is a product future Crash breaking the device leading to the error in the Cortex Vortex. 

I also presume now the masks are awake that they can just go to whatever reality or time they want as well now...? It’s not like everything was reset or time and dimensions were reassembled. The rifts were simply fixed and the Quantum guys just seemed to stick about. 

So does this Tawna stay about in the prime dimension? What about all the other games in the series (Wrath, Twin, Titans etc..?) Did they happen in other dimensions or are they later in the prime timeline or were they referenced in this game at all? I’m asking because I genuinely have no idea I having never played the games (beyond Wrath). Were any Easter eggs in the end? As I only really got the CTR ones and a couple of others.

I suppose part of me expected some significant story merges from the other side series of games with some in game explanations. We saw an alt Tawna, so why not Coco and Crash... not even in Costume form?

I will say though, that I loved how the devs implanted the dedication at the end of the game... I had no idea about him passing. But what a sweet tribute.

 

[BadBehavior]

Kay, just beat the game and Ieres a few new throughs

• I like how the skins you get for beating the game is just Crahs & Coco beaten up and in bandages. They knew how hard they made it.
• Why is there no conveniant way to replay levels other than pressing directions until you get to the world and level you want? They had the foresight to have Flashback tape portals in every world but not a mechanism to teleport from the final world to the 1st one?
• Cortex Castle. Holy hell this meme wasn't lying.
• I didn't like how costumes were tied to getting every gem in a specific level rather than a general gem count that counted every levels gems towards a shop or something to buy them. So when I got the N.verted levels and I saw that you could earn gems in either of them but they still counted toward earning a particular skin, I liked it. It meant a player didn't have to perfect one level, just be mostly good in two. And then the gem requirement just kept rising until the final world where you have to earn all the gems in both normal and N.Verted levels for them. You had a good thing going for a sec guys, oh well.
• I think the overall quality of the game took a hit after beating N.Tropy. The joint Dingodile/Tawna level is just everything wrong with the game in a nutshell: too long and so many goddamn boxes to break for completion. The Cortex level was fine until the sudden, out of nowhere autoscrolling section at the very, very end where Crash is crossing a pile of debris falling out of a plane. This section ruined my box total, my 3 life limit, and made the death counter spike hard. It's physics are weird, it seems to go faster when you're jumping, and I just couldn't get a handle on it. If it absolutely had to be gameplay and not a cutscene, couldn't they just make another new level rather than ruin another one of Cortex's?
• Also, as I was writing this, I finally got the sapphire gem with the "use the bouns round as a checkpoint" strat and I still think it's a bullshit hard challenge that few if any people on the team playtested seriously. Even when you approach an obstaclke the same way, theres some element of luck that seems to determine whether you win or lose, whether Akano will decide to be a fucking bastard and break that box that you could swear you were nowhere near, or whether he decides to be a good boy and doesn't.
• What the hell is the powerup you earn for beating the game? A better spin? I don't think it even works. Tried it with Coco, didn't feel a difference. Tried it with Crash in another level, still nothing. Why no Crash Dash?
  "Well if the players going that fast then it will be hard for the levels to load in after them"
  Then you shouldn't have made such massive goddamn levels, shouldn't you eh?

 

Overall I was at an 8.75 around when I got to Tawna, but all this combined just drops it down to a solid 8. Better than Crash 3 in my eyes (by virtue of having no racing levels like Hog Ride & Road Crash, never liked those.) but just far too bloated with stuff to be better than Crash 2. Theres some stuff I hope come back for a sequel and theres other stuff I hope they yeet into the sun with the fruit bazooka

[Sonicka]

46 minutes ago, BadBehavior said:

Why is there no conveniant way to replay levels other than pressing directions until you get to the world and level you want? They had the foresight to have Flashback tape portals in every world but not a mechanism to teleport from the final world to the 1st one?

Technically it does loop back around, but I get what you are saying. 

But unless you’re after a map feature, the game actually does have an instant level access no fuss function.

If you go to the menu on the world map, or pause the game in any area or level (even whilst playing mid level), you can choose any level available and warp straight to it (without the need to go back to the hub).

I quite like the feature as it still shows all your progress/obtainables for each location which is handy, it also means I can quit a challenge anytime and go elsewhere, and it saves meandering about on the map (as lovely looking as it is).

[BadBehavior]

11 minutes ago, Son-icka said:

Technically it does loop back around, but I get what you are saying. 

But unless you’re after a map feature, the game actually does have an instant level access no fuss function.

If you go to the menu on the world map, or pause the game in any area or level (even whilst playing mid level), you can choose any level available and warp straight to it (without the need to go back to the hub).

I quite like the feature as it still shows all your progress/obtainables for each location which is handy, it also means I can quit a challenge anytime and go elsewhere, and it saves meandering about on the map (as lovely looking as it is).

Yeah I only just discovered that it does loop around recently. Also thanks for the heads up on the level select, though idk why it's buried under a menu I didn't even go in until now. It says "level stats" which teels me its the stat for the levels, maybe if it was renamed Level Select then i'd have noticed it earlier. Even Sonic Forces had a clear menu for selecting levels. You know, for as much that it mattered in Sonic Forces.

I also just discovered how the triple spin works. You don't just mash the Square button, you have to time it just right. And it does give you a burst of speed. Got the gold relic in the 1st level: Rude Awakening. But jeez it's asking me to shave of about 20 seconds of time. Unless theres some cheeky shortcut I missed then how does TfB expect me to improve on that?

[Sonicka]

27 minutes ago, BadBehavior said:

Yeah I only just discovered that it does loop around recently. Also thanks for the heads up on the level select, though idk why it's buried under a menu I didn't even go in until now. It says "level stats" which teels me its the stat for the levels, maybe if it was renamed Level Select then i'd have noticed it earlier. Even Sonic Forces had a clear menu for selecting levels. You know, for as much that it mattered in Sonic Forces.

No worries, I only discovered it partway into the game. There are a few things in here they could have renamed or highlighted to the player for sure.

I mean, I even misunderstood how the overall Gem function/reward unlocks work until the end of the game, so for me it’s got better - BUT I agree that a Mario Odyssey based system would have been preferred or something based on gems as a currency rather than specifics suits tied to each level - that way you can go for what you want.

[Harkofthewaa]

   So I beat the game. If you don't give a crap about 100% and want a good, challenging platformer then this is a game for you. But getting 100%... I was fine with the "beat the level in three lives" gem, that was a reasonable challenge, I mean, you can just get the box gem and the lives gem in separate runs, right? It would be maddening if you had to get every gem in one go, after all some of these levels kinda drag on and no one has the reaction times to get those rail grinding and animal riding crates in one run, right? Oh, what's that? There's a collectable for doing just that? Well then...

   Like, who at TFB thought the Perfectionist Relics were a good idea? I wouldn't care if they were just for fun, a bonus challenge to prove your mastery, but they're not. They count towards 100%. I could stand the hidden crates, and was preparing for having to try to get platinum relics but the these relics just cross the line. It's like the game's saying: "Oh what's that? Ya managed to get through levels like Draggin On and Cortex Castle with less than three deaths? Well up yours pal, do it again! Oh, and get all the boxes this go around without dying, because I hate you."

    Again, I like this game, it's a good game but TFB just went way too far with the completion requirements. I personally feel you would have an easier time beating the Dev times in CTR:NF than just 100%ing this game, and that's just wrong. Also, the Triple Spin is a bad move, the timing is awkward, you need a lot of flat ground to pull it off and the speed you get from it is not worth the effort it takes to pull it off.

[Sonictrainer]

Spoiler

I tried the Blue Gem Challenge in Dragging on today.

I made it to the top and made the mad dash for the exit, before realizing I need to actually touch the Blue Gem before reaching the exit.

EDIT: One of the official game artists, FromHappyRock, made this fusion

[Jango]

Ah, the Crash easter egg in Spyro 4 already leaked

Man, I gotta say I loved the level Bears Repeating, the aesthetics, the music, the Kapuna-wa challenges. But I can already tell that getting all the crates in the Polar riding section in one go will be nightmare-ish (to get the perfect relic). He's okay too control, arguibly a bit too sensitive, but the fucking hit box is laughable. Sometimes I go straight into a pile of crates, only to break half of them, it sucks. It's one thing nailing a long and hard (that's what she said) level, I already have the perfect relic in almost every level thus far (I'm in world 7), but with the Polar section you can EASILY miss crates and there's no way to go back, you have to restart the whole level. You can't go back if you miss crates in rail griding sections aswell, but you don't have to be precise, only react fast. I guess if people comment enough, there's a chance that Toys for Bob can patch it and make Polar's hit box wider. 

Run It Bayou final section (riding the jet board down the river) also has a bunch of crates that you can miss right at the beggining. The jet hitbox is just as narrow as Polar's, BUT, I discovery a trick to slow down and hit those pesky crates more easily. You have to turn around before going down the river and keep boosting against the camera. It's tricky to pull off at first, but it helps a bunch.

[septimus01]

 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

It’s weird how Fake Crash has his N Tranced design.

[Wraith]

Beat this game over the weekend and am still chipping away at the skins I want bit by bit. It's really great when it's firing on all cylinders. Easily the best Crash game I've played (IE just the first 3). 

I thought the new artstyle for the game was a win when I first saw and now that I've actually played it I still mostly agree with that aside from one minor nitpick. Crash's shadow doesn't show very well, so the solution they went with was either turning on this bright yellow circle underneath him or not having a drop drop shadow at all. The circle sticks out like a sore thumb but the alternative was like trying to drive with your feet so I just got used to it. 

Otherwise, yeah, the new look works. The weird, gaudy Crash in Unreal Engine look from NST has been abandoned for something much more fantastic, reminiscent of Toys For Bob's other games. This is honestly the best Crash and Coco have looked since the original games for me, and the top notch animation for their expressions helps a lot. They're just fun to watch no matter what they're doing, and the billion costumes they snuck into the game mostly look good too. I wasn't too hot on Tawna's design when I first saw it but it grew on me. It's a cool modern action heroine take with a couple fun allusions to her original design. 

The main thing it does right is focus the entire game around the series platforming, and forms of platforming that lean into the series strengths instead of vehicles and or chase missions. Even the iconic 'running toward the camera' shit that always got on my nerves has been brought down to a minimum. The masks are a big win for Crash because they're usually just an extra wrinkle to the simple, timing based platforming going on on screen. It's more like giving a rhythm game an extra button instead of a reinvention. They're all pretty good, but I fee like the time mask always a blast to use. Timing the stop maneuvering through a tricky section in time is a lot of fun on it's own, but mix it in with the fun interactions you can have with explosives, bouncing boxes, and enemies and it turns into something that's always great. I was a little iffy on the dark spin because it caused a lot of strange collision/physics interaction, but I enjoyed the hovering challenges and having to switch between it and regular jumps to bounce off of explosives. I really wouldn't mind if they became a mainstay in this era of Crash. Wall running is a little unwieldy but I enjoyed it in the less chaotic sections of the game and kind of wish the game leaned more on it. This is probably the most consistent set of bosses the series has had. They kind of peaked early in terms of framing with the rock concert but they're all pretty intense challenges that I got a kick out of. 

I also generally liked how hard it was even if it could feel cheap at times. The obvious thing to do with a new Crash game is to tone it down a bit but I liked that they just tossed out the lives system and cranked it up instead. Levels are usually fastballing two or three new gimmicks at once at you instead of just slowly rolling out one and I thought this was great. I actually played most of the game with lives on but with how many fruits are in each level it just doesn't make that much of a difference. There's also a lot of incentive to get good if you really want to through the gems system this time around. I have some problems with it that I'll get into later, but the hidden gems or the ones that come from getting a lot of fruit or finishing with less than 3 deaths are  pretty satisfying to collect. 

The biggest problem I had with it was the padding. Crash 4's mainline campaign is a pretty tightly woven 3D platformer that gives you an insane amount of new ideas before tapping out as soon as it runs out. It's surrounded in layers and layers of content designed to wring as many replays out of you as it can, and I don't like it. Costumes, some extra cutscenes and other content are locked behind replaying large chunks of the game over and over to either get perfect runs, time trials or finishing off "Inverted" versions of each level that don't change anything beyond throwing up a filter. The increased amount of boxes doesn't work at all with the blown up size of the levels. You'll be playing over and over again looking for the 10-20 that aren't out in the open. Your choices when it comes to unlocking costumes come down to literally perfecting one run in the main level or doing two "good enough" runs in the regular and inverted levels. I'm just not sure what the point of the inverted stuff is when every version I've played so far has been really similar. They should have just lowered the gem requirement instead. 

The extra characters all feel kind of half baked in their implementation. I think Tawna came out the best because she's basically Crash Lite, but her grappling hook isn't really all that satisfying to use. There's not much to Dingodile's gameplay aside from launching explosives. Cortex probably has the most interesting level design but I can't get over how limited his movement is. 

It basically feels like somebody up high was insecure about the game's length so a lot of content that's not so great slipped in to make up the difference. They were careful enough to make most of this stuff optional so it's not a huge deal, but it's still a shame when you have a game that's otherwise amazing. I would have had a lot of fun 100%ing this if they showed more restraint. 

But yeah, I dunno. I knew it would be great when I first saw it and it mostly delivered. It was nice to play a Crash game that knew exactly what to focus on. It revives and expands on the core gameplay in all the right ways. Hopefully they can keep this up. I wasn't a big Crash guy before this but they may have just made a fan out of me with this one. 

 

 

[Jango]

These are great and extremely close to how Charles Zembillas designed them back in 90's, especially Cortex and Coco. I love what we got in Crash 4, but I also love these! I hope these designs can be used on something, maybe the animated series?

[LukA8]

I wish they had handled the side characters differently. I got very excited over how fun Tawna's and Dingo's introduction levels were and wondered where they'd take their gameplay, but the timeline levels are simply disruptive - why would I want to repeat the Crash section of a stage I just did multiple times (to reach the flashback tapes), only with more Nitro crates? End their stages early if you must instead of having them drag on.

Not to mention, as feared from previews - Cortex' gameplay was simply not fun. I'll take the one Evil Academy stage he has in Twinsanity over anything here, at least using his blaster was mindless fun, here I need ten tries until I get Cortex or the target into the right position and then he just dashes over it by accident anyway.

Overall I really enjoyed the game, the presentation is incredible, characters and levels are beautiful and full of personality (loved the dialogue with Brio and Oxide in particular) but sadly they dropped the ball where it mattered and it's holding the game back. After always ending up with 2 or 3 missing crates because they're hidden off-screen for some stupid reason, I stopped bothering with completion after the first two worlds, replaying levels takes forever to load which is ridiculous for how much you have to do it, and the frustrating level design and difficulty stops me from recommending this to family and friends who I know were psyched for a Crash 4 but wouldn't like this one.

The story also peaks with the N. Tropy boss and then just awkwardly continues anyway, in a way that makes sense but was not very exciting to watch play out. I'd pass on the frustrating last area if it meant more exciting boss battles, especially a grander finale where you actually get to use Dingodile, Tawna and Cortex as the cutscenes imply.

[SonicWind]

The official Crash YouTube just uploaded the entire OST in video form, if you wish to listen to it outside of the game: 

 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

hoo boy

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

I think it pretty much says it all. Crash Bandicoot 4 is one of the most phenomenal Crash Bandicoot experiences.....when you're not trying to complete it.

Hell, even the costume-getting can feel padded too.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

1 minute ago, Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon said:

I think it pretty much says it all. Crash Bandicoot 4 is one of the most phenomenal Crash Bandicoot experiences.....when you're not trying to complete it.

Hell, even the costume-getting can feel padded too.

To be honest, and this is a bit of a hot take - I still prefer Twinsanity over It's About Time. I was getting really tired of the game around the futuristic food world, namely because every single level, I just had an apathetic empty feeling knowing I just didn't have it in me to go for completion. When you're someone like me who plays Crash (and Spyro for that matter) a specific way, and you're essentially just forced to fight against your instincts to complete levels, it just left me feeling disheartened by the end.

Twinsanity is just a good blast of fun start to finish, even if it's shorter in comparison. Maybe my thoughts will change if I give Crash 4 a second run in the future, but for now, I haven't even bothered with the N Verted or Timeline levels.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Just now, Ryannumber1gamer said:

To be honest, and this is a bit of a hot take - I still prefer Twinsanity over It's About Time.

I actually agree with that for several reasons.

First off, I believe that Twinsanity enacted the multiple playable characters better than 4 does. For instance, Tawna is essentially a watered down Nina Cortex who's moves and grapples are arguably more finicky and Cortex definitely isn't as fun to play as in 4 as he was in Twinsanity. Especially with how precise you have to be in his levels. 

Twinsanity's completion and rewards feel more...well, rewarding. Between all the cool concepts, art and stuff you get from getting a single gem, to the funny cutscene you get from 100% completion. Best of all, the gems are incredibly optional and actually feel fun and intuitive trying to think of how to reach them.

Crash 4 on the other hand, feels like it devalues Gems significantly. And what's more, the requirements for completion feel like they gathered the worst aspects from all 3 of the classic trilogy. From having to do everything without dying like in 1, to the worst of relic times needed which 3 thankfully avoided, and worst of all, those ungodly hidden boxes which take inspiration from the worst of 2, Cold Hard Crash, and cranks it up to 12. They're hidden terribly and border on unfair with how badly locked the camera is.

Story-wise? Eh, I guess they're on relatively equal terms. But the main takeaway is that from top to bottom, Twinsanity feels more consistently fun, even when trying to complete the game.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

8 minutes ago, Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon said:

I actually agree with that for several reasons.

First off, I believe that Twinsanity enacted the multiple playable characters better than 4 does. For instance, Tawna is essentially a watered down Nina Cortex who's moves and grapples are arguably more finicky and Cortex definitely isn't as fun to play as in 4 as he was in Twinsanity. Especially with how precise you have to be in his levels. 

Twinsanity's completion and rewards feel more...well, rewarding. Between all the cool concepts, art and stuff you get from getting a single gem, to the funny cutscene you get from 100% completion. Best of all, the gems are incredibly optional and actually feel fun and intuitive trying to think of how to reach them.

Crash 4 on the other hand, feels like it devalues Gems significantly. And what's more, the requirements for completion feel like they gathered the worst aspects from all 3 of the classic trilogy. From having to do everything without dying like in 1, to the worst of relic times needed which 3 thankfully avoided, and worst of all, those ungodly hidden boxes which take inspiration from the worst of 2, Cold Hard Crash, and cranks it up to 12. They're hidden terribly and border on unfair with how badly locked the camera is.

Story-wise? Eh, I guess they're on relatively equal terms. But the main takeaway is that from top to bottom, Twinsanity feels more consistently fun, even when trying to complete the game.

I think Caddicarus has a point when he says it's a greatest hits, but unfortunately, it also manages to devalue several of those greatest hits.

Crash 1's mechanics making a return in 4 isn't fun, or good - it's tedious and makes it more frustrating.

Crash 2's secrets have been flanderised to the point that every single level just isn't fun to play if you want to go for full completion. 

Crash 3's Time Trials aren't handled well whatsoever, between the removal of the Crash Dash, replacing it with a much more dangerous and inferior option, and the ridiculous times required for platinums (when Crash 3 required gold at best).

Twinsanity's multiple playable characters are not handled as well. Tawna and Dingodile can be fun on occasion, but their usual long stretches of levels, mixed with forcing you to do another tedious section of a level with Crash and Coco right after kills it. Cortex in short just isn't much fun at all IMO, I really don't like his playstyle in 4. 

Even Tag Team Racing's costume mechanics is ruined by the gem hunting, and the ridiculous requirements in later parts of the game. It's like it brings back so many aspects that should all be gold when brought together, but they add in these silly caveats that ruin them. The only one I think of that works well is the WoC stuff, and even at that - mask power ups can be fucking infuriating sometimes in some levels.

[Winston]

Crash 4 was disappointing to me in a lot of ways, but I still ended up enjoying it mostly. I agree with many of the points that Caddi brings up. Completing this game fully is just simply not fun, and I've completed all three of the originals both in their N. Sane Trilogy remake form and their originals. Crash 1 is a pain, but at least the levels aren't as long as some of the more annoying ones in Crash 4, and also don't expect you to pick up as many gems as this game does. The biggest difference is when I beat Crash 1, I feel satisfied, like I overcame something. Now I haven't completed Crash 4, but from what I can tell, most people that do seem a bit exhausted at the end of it and have no interest of ever doing it again, nor feel rewarded for doing so.

And as Ryan said, I got to a certain point of the game where I thought "there's no way I'm going to complete this", which just totally bummed me out when playing it. I was just rushing for the end, which just didn't feel right. I'm no completionist by any means, but when it comes to Crash Bandicoot, I always go for the end goal. The only one I've never fully completed is probably Crash Bash, which is pretty terrible to fully complete, and Mind Over Mutant, which I just didn't care enough to fully complete.

The base game is fun, but some of the box placement, the amount of times you need to replay a level, and the difficulty of trying to beat these levels that go on for an eternity fully perfectly is just not fun. Requiring platinums when you don't even have the Crash Dash, and instead some new spin move where it can easily kill you, is just really not that fun. It really wouldn't be fun with gold relics, yet they expect nearly the absolute best. I wouldn't argue it should be easy, but it shouldn't make you feel like you're doing a job to complete it. I complete games if I feel like it's fun, not because I feel like I have to. I'm not the Completionist.

I do agree with the sentiment that Twinsanity was better. The multiple playable characters were more fun to me, the plot was more fun in my opinion, I liked the open world aspect, and I enjoyed the music. Crash 4 by no means has bad music, and I've known plenty of people that find the Twinsanity soundtrack annoying, but I like it more than 4's and I still consider it one of the best soundtracks in the series. The only music from 4 I really enjoyed was music from the previous games that were remixed into the new songs, outside of the level that Caddi said was his favorite. We seem to have pretty much the same opinion when it comes to the music of 4. The premise of Crash 4 falls rather flat for me as well. Why would you use dimensional travel if the only thing you do with other games in the series is have random easter eggs in certain levels? This was the perfect time to have you visit a level from like Twinsanity, Wrath of Cortex, or even Titans. Sure, maybe that wouldn't be fun for the Naughty Dog purists, but Naughty Dog purists are unlikely to even play this game with the new designs. I'm not saying build the whole game around that, and maybe it just didn't work with the plot they were going with, but I think it would've been fun. It's just weird the obsession this game had with Crash Bandicoot 1 above all else, as it's not really people's favorites at all. Some people probably prefer it to what came after CTR, but it's certainly not a lot of people's favorites out of the Naughty Dog games. Borrowing the map from it is perfectly fine, but I don't consider what else they borrowed from it all that great of an idea. I think using a dimensional travel plot and not taking advantage of it to please all fans outside of a single image in a few levels is a bit of a disappointment, as we could have certainly had something in here for everybody.

It still sucks to me that they threw away all of the post-Naughty Dog cast for the most part. I grew up with those games just as much, or even more, than the Naughty Dog games. Hell, most of the Naughty Dog cast don't even show up outside of references in levels. It just seems extremely lame to me to have such a large amount of great characters in the Crash universe, and they only use the scientists and Dingodile. Nothing wrong with using Dingodile, but where are characters like Koala Kong or The Komodo Bros. who have only had one proper boss fight in the series? I don't think anybody was begging for nearly the same boss fight from Crash 1 for Brio. It's great to have Brio, but if that's really all they could think up for him, I certainly would've rather seen somebody else take his place. It's not like he has much plot significance anyway in this game. It's nice to hear his thoughts in his levels, but that's about it. 

Sorry for the rant. I'm glad we're getting new Crash games in general, and I by no means think this is a bad game. Worth $60? Probably not considering how little content you get unless you want to be miserable. I just think this game could've used the idea of dimensional travel a bit better, especially considering this is the first Crash game in over a decade, and had better use of the Crash cast. Not to mention, made things less annoying to complete. The gameplay is great, the level design is mostly good, but it came so close to being the full package. I would happily take the base game over something like Wrath of Cortex, but completing 4 is another story. 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

2 minutes ago, Winston said:

It still sucks to me that they threw away all of the post-Naughty Dog cast for the most part. I grew up with those games just as much, or even more, than the Naughty Dog games. Hell, most of the Naughty Dog cast don't even show up outside of references in levels. It just seems extremely lame to me to have such a large amount of great characters in the Crash universe, and they only use the scientists and Dingodile. Nothing wrong with using Dingodile, but where are characters like Koala Kong or The Komodo Bros. who have only had one proper boss fight in the series? I don't think anybody was begging for nearly the same boss fight from Crash 1 for Brio. It's great to have Brio, but if that's really all they could think up for him, I certainly would've rather seen somebody else take his place. It's not like he has much plot significance anyway in this game. It's nice to hear his thoughts in his levels, but that's about it. 

In fairness to this (100% ending spoiler): 

Spoiler

The 100% ending reveals the post ND characters still do exist. Nina appears in a competition with Coco in one of the ending slides, and both Chuck and Stew spectate it as well.

I do agree with your point though. 3 was my first Crash game, and I grew up on the post ND games, mostly (Since PS1 was my first console, and PS2 was the second one I had, 3, Wrath of Cortex, and Twinsanity were all the main games I had for Crash). Seeing the likes of Crunch, or Nina gone for the time being was pretty damn lame.

I also have to say it feels weird to me that the dimension hopping was a thing. It feels like they wanted to go all-in on time travelling, only to realise "oh shit, Crash 3 was about that, we need something different" and switched it to dimension hopping. 

Like, both the title, and the locales of the game scream time travel. Pirates, Ancient Japan, the future, hell - a revisit to Crash 1, but the game's premise isn't about time travel, it's about dimensions being torn open and flung everywhere, and it doesn't justify that. The dimension rifts don't actually go to different dimensions, the closest thing we get is that the snow world references taking place in one of the dimensions mentioned in Twinsanity (the 11th, I believe). 

I don't mind having all the different time travel locales, but it would've been neat to mix in levels from other games too. Why stop at just referencing Crash 1? Why not have stuff like the rollerball sections from WoC, or hell - even the Crash/Cortex team up levels from Twinsanity? There's even concept art that implies that not only were the mine-cart stages from WoC (one of the best mechanics in that game) was set to come back, but that Crash and Cortex would've done them together ala Twinsanity, and it just got canned: 

 

[Soniman]

Interesting how from an outsider perspective like mine, who played the game semi casually at first, then went back to %100 afterward (not 106 for obvious reasons plus long load times which discourages me attempting to retry levels) it really seemed like the mostly perfect continuation of the OG trilogy but when I take a look at the Fandom response on Twitter and reddit it's mostly been mixed to negative which...really surprises me honestly. Big names in the Fandom like Caddicarus lambast it and and it all goes back to the completion requirements.

Full disclosure I used a guide if I couldn't find crates or gems on my first two run throughs of the level so that significantly reduced my frustrations though they were still there and I only went for perfect relics if they seemed doable. I know completion is a big part of the games appeal with the Fandom and a casual run through wouldn't full satisfy them so it's either, play to completion snd hate the game or play casually and leave unfulfilled I guess.

Either way I'm a casual fan and I thought the game more or less the best ones yet certainly more so than reheated leftovers like WOC abd unfinished glitch fests like  Twinsanity. I'm just happy all the "bad stuff" in this game (besides the polar levels and Rush Hour) is entirely optional 

[Kuzu]

4 hours ago, Soniman said:

Interesting how from an outsider perspective like mine, who played the game semi casually at first, then went back to %100 afterward (not 106 for obvious reasons plus long load times which discourages me attempting to retry levels) it really seemed like the mostly perfect continuation of the OG trilogy but when I take a look at the Fandom response on Twitter and reddit it's mostly been mixed to negative which...really surprises me honestly. Big names in the Fandom like Caddicarus lambast it and and it all goes back to the completion requirements.

Full disclosure I used a guide if I couldn't find crates or gems on my first two run throughs of the level so that significantly reduced my frustrations though they were still there and I only went for perfect relics if they seemed doable. I know completion is a big part of the games appeal with the Fandom and a casual run through wouldn't full satisfy them so it's either, play to completion snd hate the game or play casually and leave unfulfilled I guess.

Either way I'm a casual fan and I thought the game more or less the best ones yet certainly more so than reheated leftovers like WOC abd unfinished glitch fests like  Twinsanity. I'm just happy all the "bad stuff" in this game (besides the polar levels and Rush Hour) is entirely optional 

The general consensus is that the game is actually really good...when you're not trying to 100% it. The game just expects way too much for that, and I honestly don't blame people for not putting up with it. It has the best parts of the original trilogy, but it also brought along the worst parts of them too and YMMV how good of a decision that was. 

For the most part, I'll agree that the game is great on a casual run, but going for 100% is an exercise in patience. It's optional fortunately, but god damn.