After the success of the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trylogy remasters, the development of the fourth installment of the platformer series about the irrepressible bandicoot became a matter of time. And now, finally, Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is on sale, and we are ready to tell you in the review what it is.
The development of a new game by Friv2Online in the franchise was given to Toys For Bob, a studio that is already familiar with Crash - it was these game-makers who released the compilation N. Sane Trilogy on Nintendo Switch. Activision didn't miss a beat: the team justified the trust placed in them and produced a great (but damn difficult) platformer.
The subtitle It's About Time hints at what the events of Crash Bandicoot 4 revolve around - yes, it's about time, the course of which has been disrupted by the efforts of villains Neo Cortex and En Tropic. Having broken the universe, they opened portals to different universes and timelines, and now Crash and Coco have to fix everything with the help of four quantum masks scattered across the worlds.
With such a storyline, the developers were given the freedom to create the locations that the characters would explore. Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time throws them between the past, future and present, dividing reality into several islands hovering in the void. Each island is a series of levels, culminating in a boss battle. All in all, nothing unusual for the 3D platformer genre.
Different worlds are not just an excuse to send the heroes to the city of the future or prehistoric period. In accordance with the concept of the multiverse, the inhabitants of other realities are woven into the story, and they differ from the characters familiar to Crash and Coco. For example, instead of a cute blonde, Tavna has become a tough warrior capable of dealing with any enemy. She hurts her enemies, throws a harpoon a long distance (with its help you can be attracted to certain points and break crates in the distance) and can repel from walls like the Prince of Persia.
There are also other playable characters: in some episodes you can even take control of Neo Cortex! He doesn't double-jump like the other characters, but his cannon turns enemies into two kinds of platforms: metal and jelly; pushing off the latter will make the doctor jump higher. And Dingodile uses a vacuum cleaner to attract crates and bombs and soar above the ground. In the main missions of the campaign, the newcomers are given a short time to pilot, but if you want, you can pass the secondary missions dedicated to them, and reveal additional details of the plot.
The main characters are also not left without new abilities: as they pass Crash and Coco (each of them can be freely chosen before the next race) unlock masks with unique friv game mechanics. For example, one of them allows you to switch between dimensions, "pulling" various objects like crates from the alternate reality. The second mask allows you to rotate without stopping: when you spin up, Crash can fly a long distance like a helicopter; however, he gains a noticeable inertia, which should be taken into account during the flight. The third mask briefly stops time, and the fourth switches gravity.
However, these masks can only be used in certain sections of the levels. Mostly the gameplay of Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is the usual for fans of the series: running through linear locations, jumping on platforms and hitting crates and enemies. These mechanics are occasionally diluted with boat and bear rides, rail sliding, and boss battles that consist of multiple phases. All activities are often alternated, so the friv game doesn't feel monotonous: each level can have two or three, or even more types of gameplay mechanics.
The scenery also changes: even within the same island, locations can be very different from each other, offering different challenges. In addition, the levels are full of hidden secrets, and if you want to collect them all - and without it, you can't unlock bonus character costumes - you'll have to try very hard.
And therein lies the main feature of Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time - the game is monstrously difficult. Of course, the campaign can be completed without much effort; you'll encounter difficulties, and the count of restarts in some episodes can exceed the third ten, but in general, to pass the main missions, you don't need supernatural reflexes. In addition, the friv game is gentle to those who often lose: after a certain number of attempts, it gives you a bonus life, and sometimes it can even put an additional control point on the path of the bandicoot.
But if you want to close the content 100%, you can't do without a fire extinguisher. On each level you need to collect all the fruits (and they can be very cleverly hidden), find the hidden crystal and do not lose more than three lives. Missions for additional characters and special retro levels (you can open them by collecting videotapes) are even more difficult, and inverted runs through already passed locations are supplemented with graphic filters and new conditions: for example, one of the worlds became black and white, and Crash must rotate and break objects to color it.
You can complicate your task even more by playing in the canonical mode, where the hero has only three lives, after losing them he goes to the beginning of the level. The second mode is a modern one, with checkpoints and no restarts; I recommend choosing it at least for the first playthrough - it's unlikely that you'll want to play as a child with a limited number of lives. However, there will probably be gamers who will pass It's About Time in one attempt - it's a matter of straightforwardness.
At the same time, we can't say that Crash Bandicoot 4 can somehow prevent the player from achieving his goal. Characters are very responsive to stick movements and button presses, so there are no situations when you press one thing and the hero does another. Claims may arise only to the playback of some animations: for example, when driving on the rails animation of the transition under the rail and back is quite long, and because of this you do not always have time to jump over the impending obstacle. Characteristically, in these episodes I sometimes didn't have enough control, and sometimes - on the contrary, the transitions were instantaneous.
The developers of the friv game took care of its visual component as much as of its gameplay. Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time pleases with detailed locations and rich animations. Unreal Engine 4 engine fully reflects its name - the platformer gives an unreal feeling of being in one of the modern cartoons from the leading studios like Pixar or DreamWorks.
From a medieval world to a post-apocalyptic wasteland, every reality looks great, and the frame rate doesn't sag even on a basic PS4. However, it's worth considering that the game runs in 1080p, and on a large TV with 4K resolution, the picture is a bit blurry. However, due to the cartoon style it doesn't seem to be a serious problem, and the intense gameplay doesn't give time to look at the details.
Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is definitely the best platformer of 2020 and a great friv game that will appeal to gamers of all ages. The lengthy campaign is complemented by a huge number of Challenges that can challenge even the most experienced players, and the lack of multiplayer is compensated for by a local mode in which participants pass the gamepad to each other in an attempt to beat the opponent's record. And that's enough to enjoy the friv game.