Following the success of remakes of the original platformer trilogy and arcade racing game from Naughty dog announcement of a new game in the universe Crash Bandicoot was a matter of time. But no one expected that Activision decides to forget about the existence of projects of the era PS2 and will release a direct sequel to the classics with PS1 – Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time… The company was appointed to the post of developer Toys for bob (Spyro reignited trilogy / Skylanders), which presented a small demo for the press. We were able to familiarize ourselves with three levels.
The game has two modes of passage. Modern mode is the default and offers infinite lives, while Retro mode adds a life counter. If you spend everything, you will start the level again.
The gameplay is based on the principles of the first parts and involves a challenge. Narrow and wobbly platforms over the abyss, slippery surfaces and enemies can instantly destroy the bandicoot. Therefore, it is obvious that the modern regime seems to be an appropriate solution. While veteran fans of the series will go for the classic version.
The gameplay largely copies the original trilogy, adding some innovations. In the first level of Snow Way Out, the player needs to quickly run through a series of falling platforms and slip across the ice floes that float along the river. This is where a magic mask comes to the rescue, which allows you to temporarily slow down time. It also helps to solve additional puzzles where you need to break invisible fruit crates or go through a side section with dynamite. Moreover, all actions must be done quickly and in the correct order.
The use of masks works well with the basic game design concept of the series, allowing the developers to exploit old ideas in new ways. At some point you need to slow down time in order to fix the platforms falling down the waterfall in order to go further. The main difficulty here is the correct order of actions and accurate timing.
At the Dino Dash level, another new mask is available that allows you to switch between different phases of the world, activating some platforms, but removing others. Something similar was in the game Guacamelee! and other platformers.
In Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, Crash has a constant double jump, and for convenience, the developers show a circle exactly under the character, but the controls still feel outdated. Apparently, the game runs at 30 FPS, and the character clearly lacks advanced acrobatics, such as jumping from walls and more complex mechanics, which are present in many modern games of the genre.
The developers got rid of the problem of Crash sliding off the edge of the platform, but the character sometimes just gets stuck in invisible polygons. This is compounded by the camera, which often chooses not the best angle, limiting the view. As a result, you fall into an abyss and die, or do not have time to run away from the enemy’s attack, as you are stuck in the railing.
In addition to Crash, in the demo you can play as Cortex, the main villain of the series. His skills are different from those of the main character. The evil scientist is armed with a blaster, thanks to which you can turn any living creature into a platform or a trampoline, as well as destroy boxes from a distance. Cortex also knows how to make a short dash forward. For his set of skills, the developers have created separate versions of the levels, which brings additional variety to the game.
It’s funny that after an unsuccessful collision with an enemy or falling into an abyss, Cortex turns into a devil, not an angel, like Crash. Such attention to detail is undoubtedly pleasing.
The game works on Unreal Engine and looks cute. The striking design should appeal to fans of the series. The character was redrawn a little, but it is almost imperceptible.
Based on the demo version, Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time does not try to bring something new to the genre, relying primarily on the mechanics familiar to the series. So far, the game feels like additional levels for N. Sane Trilogy, which in principle is not bad, especially for fans of projects with Playstation 1…
Authors: Azamat Tegaev (Azzy) and Mikhail Shaginyan (ACE),
Editing: Denis Korolev (SkyerIst).
See also: What will happen to the Marvel universe after the “Avengers Endgame”.
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