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

[Your Vest Friend]

Really petty complaint about Crash 4; really don't like the fact Dingo Diner has been flanderised in importance to the point that's Dingodile's whole thing in this game.

Like, in Crash 3 it was clear the diner was just one of the ways the baddies were taking over (N.Gin had a gas station in the same levels, and Dingodile was depicted in hieroglyphs in the Egyptian levels, another way he was taking over). It was pretty clear he was just staking claims and his main mission was being an invasive twat like the others (and a more mercenary one at that). His main thing was being an evil bastard who was also a sadistic pyromaniac, which every other game kept to a certain degree.
It got a bit more spotlight in CTR: NF when it appeared in Dingo Canyon, but since that level was based on the road levels it came from, it was a cute callback and addition to reference the franchise history more.

Here's, he's...completely retired from being evil to run it? And gone to a stereotypical bayou to do so because I guess when they think of crocodilians they think of alligators (which does not fit a saltie and especially not a dingo)? Such a waste, especially when his character outside of that framing is hilarious. I hope it's more of a one-time thing for this game and we get more proper evil Dingodile again after.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

17 minutes ago, Your Vest Friend said:

I hope it's more of a one-time thing for this game and we get more proper evil Dingodile again after.

Well, if the 100% ending is anything to go by

Spoiler

He's out of the restaurant business by the end.

 

[Sonicka]

The love for Twinsanity here is what intrigues me the most. I've never played it but also never really been that impressed by any of what I've seen. Maybe it's a "just play don't watch" kinda approach I need to take somehow? Is it that good or is this more of an SA2 rose tinted fan vibe? (which is no bad thing mind you - the game you like is the game you like at the end of the day).    

As for Crash 4? I agree, a Casual Run through and I find this to be the most comprehensively fun and challenging Crash game ever - skin unlockables are sweet, new characters are fun, the story was awesome, the graphics and art style was beautiful, and the N-verted modes and tapes are great for replay value here.

But yeah.. a completionists run? I won't go for 106% (full on) knowing the upheaval. I'm going to have to have a part-time affair with this game as so not to annoy myself or waste my evenings when I have other titles to play. It's nice that it's somewhat optional, but the ask is a bit much (especially for the endings) - things like this should just be for challenge and not to get the proper endings.

So overall my personal take is that I do still believe that this is the best Crash game to date (completion-run set aside). I found I actually enjoyed EVERY level in this game, the platforming had some of the best (and fun) challenges I've ever come across for this kind of game, the new characters were all great to play as (apart from some annoyances in control and shooting with Cortex, who was quite fiddly). I do wish the "alternate take" levels didn't continue after the Tawna/Dingodile/Cortex sections as well... but I'd be pretty happy to have Alt Tawna / Dingodile be fully playable with more levels next time around.

I paid the full £49.99 price for this game and do feel like I got my monies worth at least which was a big concern for me initially. In general I believe platformers like this shouldn't really be more than £34.99... but they put in a hell of a lot of effort here - even if it's waaaay too tough for a completionists game.

[mayday2592]

Tbh, I hope Dingodile stays an anti hero of sorts. Its something this series really hasn't tried. Besides, the series has serious lack of friendlier faces for Crash to interact with, and an overabundance of villains. Plus it helps that this the most entertaining he's been in a long time.

 

Also, seems like a mysterious logo was found on the TV at the start of the game when you fully complete it...

[septimus01]

4 hours ago, mayday2592 said:

Tbh, I hope Dingodile stays an anti hero of sorts. Its something this series really hasn't tried. Besides, the series has serious lack of friendlier faces for Crash to interact with, and an overabundance of villains. Plus it helps that this the most entertaining he's been in a long time.

 

Also, seems like a mysterious logo was found on the TV at the start of the game when you fully complete it...

The logo for those who haven't seen it and don't want to do the 106% needed for it to appear:

Spoiler

 

[E-122-Psi]

7 hours ago, mayday2592 said:

Tbh, I hope Dingodile stays an anti hero of sorts. Its something this series really hasn't tried. Besides, the series has serious lack of friendlier faces for Crash to interact with, and an overabundance of villains. Plus it helps that this the most entertaining he's been in a long time.

I don't mind Dingodile being a wild card, but I admit he always felt kind of like a slimeball. First thing he does in Warped is try to torch Penta, while in Twinsanity he turns on Cortex for money. He felt more like a Fang the Sniper type sleazy mercenary who was only in it for himself, if still kinda charming from how bungling and doofy he was.

The sad thing is that Dingo's probably the one that came out most uniquely well in 4. Everyone kinda feels flanderised to one note. Crash and Coco went from having a really cute unique bond to just being a stock 'bungling loser male vs Mary Sue humourless female' dynamic, Tawna is the aloof strong female with a dark past (something I question whether we needed at all in a Crash game, played completely unironically anyway) while Cortex is kinda stuck in the same shtick Eggman suffered due to Tropy being upgraded into the stock 'token sinister villain'. It's actually perhaps the least appealing take on the characters for me, all played to one predictable stock note that often doesn't really mesh well with how the series works, even compared to the Radical games that at least had some fun dynamic ideas within all their weird characterisation and humour ideas.

Crash and Cortex being reduced to irrelevant comic relief so as to shill 'serious badass' characters to me is just WRONG. The Crash series thrives on the whole universe being comedic and surreal and how they weaponised that. I'm fine with other characters getting their chance to shine but I sure as hell don't want 'Crash's shitty friends' to become a thing.

[mayday2592]

I don't see why we can't have some levity and legitimately darker story elements in a Crash game. Several other extremely goofy TV shows and games have this nailed to a tee, like Ratchet and Steven Universe. If anything balance is key, and to be fair Crash 4 did that to a passable extent. We've already seen what happens when the series tries to rely exclusively on humor and nothing else in the narrative in Twinsanity and the Radical era, lame pop culture references and unfunny jokes forced everywhere just because.

[E-122-Psi]

1 hour ago, mayday2592 said:

I don't see why we can't have some levity and legitimately darker story elements in a Crash game. Several other extremely goofy TV shows and games have this nailed to a tee, like Ratchet and Steven Universe. If anything balance is key, and to be fair Crash 4 did that to a passable extent. We've already seen what happens when the series tries to rely exclusively on humor and nothing else in the narrative in Twinsanity and the Radical era, lame pop culture references and unfunny jokes forced everywhere just because.

I don't mind dark elements being included as a whole, but they have to mesh with how the universe works. I think this is why I got increasingly annoyed with dark elements in the Sonic games for example. Sonic Adventure's examples with Tikal and E-102 Gamma worked fine because they were still so in a way that tied to Sonic's cartoon mythos and actually developed them in an impressive way that didn't feel like an in-your-face attempt to be a 'big kid' story. That was a moment poignancy worked. Then in later games we got...eh...photo realistic militaries gunning down everyone in a space colony and then executing the one survivor.

Stuff like Tawna's backstory with the Tropys didn't feel balanced or even that interesting, a lot of it felt like a word for word thing you could rip out a fanfiction for nearly any media with a 'brooding anti hero' character. It also made the mistake of putting the 'serious' characters on a pedestal higher than the comical ones and flanderizing the latter to just undercooked comic relief that didn't really mesh with the story. This was annoying when Sonic did it (see how Knuckles suddenly didn't matter because he didn't have the same dignified mystique as Shadow, or how Eggman got swatted away by some stock kaiju every game), but for Crash this includes THE MAIN CHARACTER. They more or less made Coco a more 'serious', competent and plot relevent version of him just so they have a protagonist that can interact with all this with dignity. Crash himself? Oh well who cares about him. You know comical guys, they can't have any depth, right? Kung Fu Panda? What the fuck was that?

I'd rather we got a light hearted but still enjoyable story that made cathartic use of it's cast, than a pretentious one that tries to fone in fake 'drama', forced cussing, segregates everyone to 'serious' or 'comical' herds and just falls into all the other cliche problems when trying to make a more 'mature' storyline. Crash just doesn't work that way, I loved those games because they lacked a shred of pretentiousness and basked in how silly they were. And it's hardly like depth is impossible in that format either. Games like Nitro Kart and even Titans at least made me care about the cast and had SOME level of earnest storytelling within all its silly gags, and Crash if anything was one of the most heartfelt elements of those stories. Stuff like him giving Krunk his yo-yo, turning down ruling an entire planet, being adamant on saving his little sister. He was a clown but he still had a brain in there. in 4, well he can't do exposition or isn't high brow enough to be played into the mood whiplash, so he's stuck as background jester.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

2 hours ago, septimus01 said:

The logo for those who haven't seen it and don't want to do the 106% needed for it to appear:

  Reveal hidden contents

What exactly is so mysterious about it?

16 hours ago, Son-icka said:

The love for Twinsanity here is what intrigues me the most.

Crash Twinsanity is something of an interesting case. It's beloved by fans as quite possibly, the best all-around package of Crash in the Post-Naughty Dog games, and for good reason.

The game is brimming with high brow humor, ranging from meta to in-story galore. It introduced the fan-favorite character Nina, and gave fans a lot of what they did want in regards to stuff like expanding on the formula. It also introduced a lot of new concepts such as the idea of an open world, connected with more linear platforming like the classics of course, working to fine-tune control and even give us multiple playable characters, outside of just typical vehicle sections or flip-flopping between Crash and Coco (who was kinda just a neutered Crash in WoC).

Twinsanity to this day is generally looked at positively, for being quite possibly the most ambitious Crash game for a lot of time, and despite having a tumultuous development period, came out relatively swell. An immensely funny, but still gripping narrative, mixed with new lore bits, Twinsanity was quite the package.

As mentioned earlier, you might notice that Crash 4 feels like it takes a few cues from Twinsanity. Though, how it stacks up compared to it, your mileage may vary.

21 hours ago, Son-icka said:

Is it that good or is this more of an SA2 rose tinted fan vibe?

It's a genuinely good game on the whole, but can be rough around the edges. It's a diamond in the rough and one that fans have longed to see be remade so it can reach its true potential.

[Harkofthewaa]

@Son-icka

    If one is to compare Crash Twinsanity to Sonic game, it best compares to Sonic 06. Both games are horribly unfinished buggy messes that caused massive paradigm shifts within their respective franchises. However, the reason for those shifts is different; while Sonic 06 sold well enough to get the "Best Seller" rerelease box (at least on Xbox 360) CT failed to sell anything causing Travellers Tales to be pulled from Crash and the next games never even tried to do much of anything.

   While Sonic 06 is awful, what game there is of Crash Twinsanity is genuinely good, with the best writing the series has seen to this day (and with how many plot holes the story has thanks to the rushing, that says a lot), fluid controls, eye catching graphics and great level design. For about four hours if you don't bother with Gem hunting, and even that will only add about an hour and a half more. Again though, it lacks polish and a lot of things had to be cut to make release, to the point to where Cortex flat out says "Come! As we enter a new dimension! it should have been two new dimensions, but we ran out of time...".

  TL;DR What we got of Crash Twinsanity is a good game and it not being finished hurts all the worse. If it had been finisbed it would have been a genuine contender for best Crash game, right up there with the OG trilogy.

 

 

 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I feel like Twinsanity’s buginess is severely overstated. It’s not an unfinished game because of it being unpolished, what is there is mostly stable in my opinion, it’s an unfinished game due to how rushed it was and how much content was ultimately cut, and even at - Crash Twinsanity’s narrative - which having plot holes - isn’t a total mess or anything. Comparing it to 06 is too far IMO. 

[Jango]

Well, that was fast.

The orange / blue wumpa logo, now this. Notice the "Wumpa League" sign in the background and a traffic light too. New racing game? Or Crash Bash remake/spiritual successor?

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

2 hours ago, Jango said:

Well, that was fast.

The orange / blue wumpa logo, now this. Notice the "Wumpa League" sign in the background and a traffic light too. New racing game? Or Crash Bash remake/spiritual successor?

With the mention of a traffic light, it just might be a new racing game.

[Winston]

I'm personally hoping for a Crash Bash sequel more than a remake, although a brand new original game or a new racer would be great too. Crash Bash sequel should bring over the more fun minigames from the original, and then add like a hundred more minigames. Give it Mario Party-like game boards, and then include online multiplayer. Hopefully Beenox are the ones developing it because I'm sure they'd deliver. 

[blueblur98]

Okay, that's absolutely a tease of some kind.

Maybe it's a completely original multiplayer title, a Bash remake/follow up, or even a wholly original sequel to Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled?

After all, the rumored MP game has just been referred to as "PvP Crash Bandicoot game" which is a rather broad descriptor. All of those are technically PvP in one way or another.

Personally I think it's most likely to be a completely new spinoff. The image discovered in Rude Awakening has blue and orange stripe imagery that evokes thoughts of teams, possibly hinting towards a team-based multiplayer game. Plus, that would make for a pattern of sorts for console Crash games; Platformer remake > spinoff remake > brand-new platformer > brand-new spinoff.

[Winston]

1 hour ago, jingleblurs98 said:

Personally I think it's most likely to be a completely new spinoff. The image discovered in Rude Awakening has blue and orange stripe imagery that evokes thoughts of teams, possibly hinting towards a team-based multiplayer game. Plus, that would make for a pattern of sorts for console Crash games; Platformer remake > spinoff remake > brand-new platformer > brand-new spinoff.

Crash Bash technically is team-based, with Team Aku Aku and Team Uka Uka, although I don't think it's a team based game really that much outside of a story aspect. It really doesn't impact the gameplay at all. They could be putting more emphasis on the teams of it if it is indeed a Bash sequel. Maybe it's a sports game? That'd be somewhat interesting. 

[Jango]

8 minutes ago, Winston said:

Crash Bash technically is team-based, with Team Aku Aku and Team Uka Uka, although I don't think it's a team based game really that much outside of a story aspect. It really doesn't impact the gameplay at all. They could be putting more emphasis on the teams of it if it is indeed a Bash sequel. Maybe it's a sports game? That'd be somewhat interesting. 

Crash Team Bashing.

[Your Vest Friend]

Crash Bash-tle Royale.

[Jango]

I don't think anyone pointed out that the name of that chapter in Uncharted 4 is "Hidden in Plain Sight". They could've picked any other scene/chapter, but they decided to go with that because of the suggestive name I believe. I'm pretty sure this is indeed a teaser and not just a funny video. My bet is at The Game Awards later this week. Probably another hint will drop soon.

ALSO.

THIS. Please TFB, don't do that. I can't handle.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I sincerely wish people would stop taking random easter eggs, and try to claim that it's somehow some kind of big tease towards the next game in the series, and trying to get everyone's hopes up in the process.

Spyro and Skylanders had multiple easter eggs in Crash 4, Toys for Bob putting a Spyro easter egg into the concept art doesn't mean much of anything, not more than the Spyro floatie, or both the Spyro and Eruptor appearing as balloons.

On top of that, I'd imagine a Spyro announcement at the Game Awards is very unlikely given that every single time they have done a announcement for one of these games in the past, it was proceeded by various news outlets and reviewers receiving items teasing the games. The purple eggs, the fuzzy dice, and even Crash 4's mask jigsaw puzzle.

Unless they've randomly decided to completely break the trend now, I very much doubt there will be anything at the Game Awards given it's in four days, and no one has received any kind of Spyro themed items.

[Jango]

3 hours ago, Ryannumber1Santa said:

I sincerely wish people would stop taking random easter eggs

Content creators man, you know, they got a family to feed, eh.

[MetalSkulkBane]

I just realized something funny about Crash 4.

- All latter Crash games are no longer canonical. They are alternative timeline that no longer concerns us.
- Last 2 Crash games had everyone redesigned. But neither Tawna or N. Tropy showed in those games.
- New Tawna is from timeline where Crash is dead, killed by N. Tropy.

Do you you see where I'm going with this? Heck, it's you can make it symbolical: Tawna is from world where Crash franchise died due to movement of time (also called "entropy").

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Ugh, look, I know I may get pelted for it, but I still stick to what I said about how the new Tawna here might as well have just been a new character altogether. Especially if she's set to replace the old Tawna.

I really do like Crash 4, but I can't deny that it does feel like it's clashing heavily with the direction that the series seemed to be going for quite some time, bringing back the characters and revamping them, but not warping them outright.

And yes, I know that this Tawna is from a different dimension, but it just feels off in that regard. And yeah, I'll admit, in quite a few cases, I do prefer some of the alternate designs that characters would've had that would've overall been more consistent with the past 2 remakes.

[Wraith]

 I have some quams with new Tawna but I think it's just a much better design overall.  It actually feels like a return to her original(much nicer) color scheme that VV threw out. 

The Nsane version was just...kind of off looking to me. I don't know if it was the lighting or what but the new color scheme doesn't help. Nsane animates much worse than 4 in general though. Compare how stone faced and expressionless everyone is in Nsane to how expressive every cutscene and animation in Crash 4 is. It's like night and day. 

Getting rid of the unnecessary details like Coco's weird eyeshadow and the huge outline on Crash's lips make these winners for me. I could nitpick some details on the 4 designs but they're a lot easier on the eyes. 
 

[Jango]

On 1/8/2021 at 11:36 AM, Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon said:

Ugh, look, I know I may get pelted for it, but I still stick to what I said about how the new Tawna here might as well have just been a new character altogether. Especially if she's set to replace the old Tawna.

I really do like Crash 4, but I can't deny that it does feel like it's clashing heavily with the direction that the series seemed to be going for quite some time, bringing back the characters and revamping them, but not warping them outright.

And yes, I know that this Tawna is from a different dimension, but it just feels off in that regard. And yeah, I'll admit, in quite a few cases, I do prefer some of the alternate designs that characters would've had that would've overall been more consistent with the past 2 remakes.

I wish they can bring the Crash-universe Tawna in C5 and give her a part in the story, aswell as Pinstripe and the other classic villains, I really wanna see what they're up to. In my very humble opinion, what they did to Dingodile in C4 was great. All those mutants worked either for Cortex, Uka or N.Brio before, so it made perfect sense for them to pursue something else after their masters' departure/failures. Imagine Pinstripe and Tawna pullings heists and shit ala Bonnie and Clyde, or the Kodomo Bros opening a dojo. Surely they don't have to make a repeat of Dingo's story in the sequel were these characters were just minding their own business before getting dragged into the quest, but still, I'm super eager to see what crazy shit TFB can come up to re-introduce them.

 

Also bring my boy Ripper Roo back. It was bad enough he was cut from Crash 4, don't do that again!