In order to distract myself from the hell that is the real world, I figured I'd put on my rosiest glasses and indulge in a bit of nostalgia. And since the Crash Bandicoot series represents a big part of my childhood, I finally decided to give Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time a proper bash. A Crash Bash if you will! (Though don't actually go play Crash Bash, because that one's kinda bad!) And you know what? I deeply regret not doing this before because Crash 4 is astonishingly good... as long as you don't actually try to complete it!
I'll go into more details about that nonsense later, but to begin let's answer what Crash 4 is even about. To put it simply, it's a moderately to fairly challenging action-platformer with a heavy emphasis on gathering collectibles and completing a variety of tasks in each level. If you just run through the levels ignoring all of the side objectives you can probably finish the whole thing in a couple of hours. It'll be incredibly boring and not worth your money, but you can definitely do that - the same way you can totally go to a football game purely to sample the hotdogs and then go home before the match even starts.
The expected way of playing Crash 4, or any Crash game for that matter, is to approach it with a 'cross the checklist' sort of mindset. If there are still collectibles or objectives left in a mission, don't move on until you've managed to conquer them all. This will not only give you a lot more bang for your buck, but it'll also make the whole experience a lot more fulfilling as overcoming these tricky, carefully designed obstacle courses is exactly what makes the Crash series so compelling.
Video version of this article (~14 minutes)
A hop, skip and a jump
Besides the usual Crash mechanics like double jumping, sliding and spinning, Crash 4 introduces four Quantum Masks that give you temporary yet level-warping powers. These include the ability to change gravity, slow down time, turn your spin into an actual tornado, as well as the power to make certain objects phase in and out of reality. The Quantum Masks feel like a natural extension of Crash's move set and thus don't require any sort of tutorializing. As soon as you've seen what each of them does you're fully on board, yet despite this there's enough complexity to their usage to make mastering each one satisfying.
They're also only ever used in obstacle courses designed specifically around them, and only sparingly so they remain an interesting novelty all the way to the end of the game. So as far as adding new mechanics to a well established platformer like Crash Bandicoot goes, I'd say the four new masks are a smash hit.
The reason all of this works so well is because the controls in Crash 4 are buttery smooth. Outside of the damnable jet ski sections which have been annoying every single time they've appeared throughout the series, you're going to be in full control of your character. Everything that happens to you, be it good or bad, is going to be entirely on your shoulders. By getting comfortable with the controls you'll be able to do death-defying platforming without even a single worry about landing on the wrong spot. This is a feature the developers have then used to create some truly insane gauntlets that might seem straight up impossible on the first go around, yet become as routine as a Sunday stroll after a couple of attempts.
Solid ground is overrated
It's this process of becoming good at Crash 4 that has managed to completely and utterly consume my past two weeks. The cycle of being confused at the start, slightly frustrated after numerous failed attempts, and then finally elated and triumphant after a glorious performance is very addictive gameplay loop. And Crash 4 is chock full of these moments - even in the very early stages of the campaign!
At this point I feel like it's important to mention that things don't have to become hard unless you want them to. If you're happy with only doing 90% of a tough map and then leaving instead of trying to perfect everything, that's perfectly fine. The only tangible rewards you get for fully completing maps are cosmetic skins, and you can always get a few missing gems to unlock those by doing the alternate, style-shifted 'N. Verted' versions of each level. Still, I would recommend trying to tough it out and giving each basic level a proper bash as the process of clearing the checklist truly is the core of the experience.
Now THAT feels satisfying!
Completion is a road to madness
This applies only to the basic levels, however, as trying to fully complete Crash 4 will likely drive you stark raving mad. You see, Crash 4 has a very unique and bizarre problem - it features a frankly absurd amount of content for you to chew on, so much so that you'll probably start to choke on it. And however much content you're thinking about right now, I can guarantee you that you're one or two orders of magnitude off the mark! It's a lot!
If you want to see the first special ending you'll need to 100% every single level and it's N. Verted variant, which is a slightly reshuffled version of the same level with a generally unpleasant full screen filter applied to it. As such, even if you play perfectly you're going to have to do every single level at least two times. However, you're probably not a top tier Crash 4 speedrunner that knows where all of the boxes and hidden gems are, so chances are that's going to be at least two to three tries on every single level, and then just as many for the N. Verted variants which can be much more devious. Because of this, pursuing 100% completion means that you're going to be spending an immense amount of time playing and replaying the same levels over and over again, which is great news if you want to make your gaming time feel like actual work.
But wait, there's more! If you want to get the super-duper special ending you'll need to undertake an even more harrowing challenge. You'll need to complete every level perfectly in one shot without dying a single time or missing a single box, do a near perfect speedrun of every single level, as well as fully complete all of the challenging Flashback tapes. It's a brutal and miserable grind, it's completely and utterly excessive, and most baffling of all, it's just plain ol' unnecessary!
Crash 4 in its most basic form has enough interesting, challenging and beautifully designed levels to not need any of this pointless padding. If you simply treat Crash 4 like you would any of the previous games and try to 100% complete each normal level, collect each colored gem and complete all of the platforming focused Flashback Tapes you'll get a highly enjoyable, 30-hour adventure that will have you gallivant across a wide variety of different settings, meet or play as a menagerie of oddball characters, and also rip your hair out in all sorts of challenge gauntlets. All of this without ever overstaying its welcome or feeling rushed. It's so good, in fact, that I'm gonna stop rambling about all of this and get back to what really matters - gushing about Crash 4!
Seriously, who settled on these puke-o-vision filters?
A tale of dinosaurs and xylophones
You know what rhymes with gushing? Rushing, which is not something you'll want to do with Crash 4 as its presentation is downright gorgeous. Every single level is full of fun little details that must've taken ages to create, yet they're often visible for only a couple of seconds while you manically run away from a t-rex or something similarly silly. But when you do stop to take in the scenery and notice all of the small nods to older games, it becomes plainly obvious that the developers genuinely loved the Crash Bandicoot series and wanted to do it justice.
The best part, however, is the sheer variety when it comes to the themes and levels. There's a shark-infested pirate cove, an alien world with flying turtles, a planet-wide festival, and even my childhood dream come true - a giant volcano with all sorts of dinosaurs on it! None of these locations ever overstay their welcome either. You're only there for a couple of distinct levels and that's it. Combine this with the aforementioned attention to detail and I simply didn't have a chance to get bored with any specific level. By the time I was sick of it I was already moving to somewhere completely different which would then immediately cleanse my pallet and get me ready for even more platforming goodness. The one downside of this is that you are at risk of suddenly losing a lot of hours while jumping around in Crash 4, so do be careful if you intend to play around bedtime!
Volcanos are cool. Dinosaurs are cool. Put them together and *voilà*
The only aspect of the presentation that I found to be simply OK was the music. It's not bad by any stretch, but when compared to the original trilogy's soundtrack I feel like it lacks a bit of 'oomph'. There's quite a few tracks that rely too heavily on the xylophone to give them that Crash Bandicoot feeling, only to then become nearly indistinguishable from one another because of it.
That isn't to say that Crash 4 doesn't have any memorable music. Quite the contrary! The main theme is phenomenal, as is my favorite track out of the whole bunch - Off Beat. That one plays during the Mardi Gras level and not only is it a banger all on its own, but level itself is designed around the rhythm which gives the whole thing a very fun vibe. If we just had a few more standout pieces like that instead of some of the more atmospheric tracks I think this could've been an all-star soundtrack.
Definitely one of the coolest levels
Mods to the rescue
The final thing worth mentioning is something that a lot of people might not care about, yet something that I value a great deal - modability. In a world where most games are locked down tighter than Fort Knox, Crash 4 allows its players to add or modify all sorts of stuff like custom skins, sounds, challenges and even full levels.
So if you're like me and you don't like the idea of relentless repetition, rejoice as the modding community has your back! The N.Hanced mod makes all of the N. Verted stages optional, tones down the hidden crate and pixel hunt aspects of the original collectibles, and even adds a few extra checkpoints to make 100% completing some of the more agonizing levels less... well, agonizing! The super difficult stuff like the perfection relics or platinum time relics are still there, but they have thankfully been made optional so you can do them if you desire the extra challenge, but you don't have to tackle them in order to actually finish the game and get the 'proper' ending. And if you're feeling really spicy, you can also turn Crash into Mario and get the extra thrill of having to dodge bottomless pits in addition to Nintendo lawyers!
Day 12: I don't think the natives have seen through my disguise yet
Closing thoughts
With tight gameplay, charming visuals and a plethora of levels to smash your face against, Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is a modern platforming classic, and I don't say that lightly. It's only real flaw is the fact that the developers really, desperately wanted to get you your money's worth so they added way, waaaaaaaaay too much stuff to the game. However, once you're aware of that fact it's easy to ignore all of the extra fluff and focus on the juicy core at the center of it all.
So if you're a fan of action-platformers, or simply enjoy a nice challenge every now and then, I'd heartily recommend giving Crash 4 a try. With a bit of luck its continued success might even convince Toys for Bob to make an even better Crash 5 at some point in the future! Now that would be a treat!