It’s about Time. Enrages, as in the 90s

Bandicoot Crash in many ways repeated the story of Sonic the hedgehog. In the 90s, he was the mascot of an entire console and everyone’s favorite. Then he was separated from the original developers, and the character’s further path lay through a series of spin-offs and mini-reboots of varying degrees of success. And now, after many years, the series closes the circle with the fourth numbered part, designed to return to the roots of the once great franchise.

Classic hardcore

As the name suggests, Crash Bandicoot 4 ignores everything that came after the original trilogy from Naughty dog, and confidently follows in her footsteps. Linear levels with small secret branches; many breakable boxes and corridor gameplay: if the action takes place not on a plane, then on a narrow path the width of the screen. The hero can run, jump, tackle, spin and flop down on the ground. Everything is like the good old ones.

There are also several playable heroes awaiting us. The entire story campaign can be played with Crash or Coco, as in N. Sane Trilogy… But as you progress, side levels will open, sharpened for other characters and their skills. Let’s say Cortex is able to dash forward, and his blaster turns enemies into platforms or jumps.

Finally, Crash Bandicoot 4 introduces a number of amenities that the series has long needed: automatic fruit picking and the ability to disable the limited lives mechanic. The latter is especially true: you have to die here a lot. And not only because the bandicoot glues flippers after any mistake.

Due to the fact that the heroes are constantly dying, the desire to collect all the boxes quickly disappears: there are too many actions to be done between checkpoints without the right to make mistakes

Honey and tar

Ironically, the two stages available in the demo shown to the press are unlikely to come to the liking, even with easy controls. In one half of the time it was necessary to run to the camera, and the second level was icy. That is, slippery. And both are closer in complexity to the earliest parts than to the pleasant third. As a result, the acquaintance with the demo of Crash Bandicoot 4 brought much more frustration than fun.

In many platforming games, the second jump provides a convenient opportunity to adjust the trajectory and land more accurately. In Crash Bandicoot 4, the second jump where one was enough usually kills

However, along with the minuses, the pluses are obvious. The levels are varied not only in general, but also in details – the path to the next checkpoint will differ from the one just passed. Also, Crash Bandicoot 4 looks great thanks to the colorful art design and great animation.

The developers emphasize that we were shown an early version of the game, so they have every chance to fix the controls and make it less evil in terms of complexity. Since there is still enough time before the release, the authors of Crash Bandicoot 4 still prefer not to expand on the duration, performance and the possibility of the game being released on the next generation consoles.

So far, the release is scheduled for October 2 – on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.