Crash Bandicoot™ 4: It’s About Time

Too short for those interested in a casual playthrough, and too much of a chore for a completionist. The sheer amount of crate vomit is so horrible, it makes me wish Vicarious Visions (The people who did the N.Sane Trilogy) were in charge of this game instead. I understand that their only original Crash level was Future Tense, but that stage alone proves to me that they understand what makes a better crash level design wise than Toys for Bob. I really hate this unhealthy mindset that big developers have of "stuff the game with as much useless and recycled content to pad out the runtime to justify the price." As someone who has not only 100 percented the N.Sane Trilogy, but has also gotten the platinum time trial relics, as well as completed my fair share of other platformers, they should be one of those games that can be easy to pick up, and put down, and completing them should be a fun and rewarding challenge that necessitates a thorough understanding of the game's mechanics., and I'm confident that others would agree. Complete at your own risk. Get it while it's on sale or play it if you have Game Pass if you're so inclined.

As a short review, this was simply an un-fun and un-engaging experience that feels more like a tepid copy of a Crash game than it does as some sort of continuation of the original games. I do not recommend this game even on sale, and to be perfectly honest I wish I had refunded it when I had the chance to. As a long review, there are several factors, both big and small, that ultimately led to this negative review; difficulty has often been cited as massive factor for other players, and while I certainly do agree that is an issue I think that's a small part of the problem that is ultimately made worse by another massive gameplay flaw, which is the level design and level length. It may seem odd to complain about how long a level is, ultimately shouldn't that be more content? Perhaps, but this does introduce two key issues as a result: · The longer any one given level is, the less it feels like there's any throughline theme or mechanic behind that level; some of the more standout levels in the original Crash trilogy weren't necessarily long but mechanically thorough, always having one or two consistent design themes that ultimately dictates the flow of the level that is easy to get a groove in, but here the level length is compounded by several mixes of gameplay styles to a point where it never feels like a level is any one thing. · Level length does mean that the more difficult nature of the game's collecathon elements feel that more stretched out; if you miss a box for instance this doesn't just mean replaying the level, it means replaying an excessive amount of level just to get to the point where you had missed that box, and believe me you will. It's very clear the game's challenges were designed in a way to try and extend and stretch out the experience as long as possible to emulate the idea that this is the biggest Crash game to date; to it's credit, this is probably the game with the most out-and-out levels of any Crash game, but I wouldn't consider any of them to have been particularly fun or engaging, more often not they felt very tedious and frustrating. What's funny about the difficulty isn't even so much the idea of "Oh, I can't get through the game", as the game loves to throw lives at you such that it is very easy to brute force your way through the experience; rather, the way in which this game is difficult doesn't compliment the type of platformer the Crash games are. It's clear in the original trilogy especially after the first game that because of the corridor viewpoint that precision platforming doesn't suit this style of game, in part because it is very difficult to gauge depth in this type of 2.5D environment, which is why Crash 2 & 3 did try to tone down the precision platforming elements outside of the very late game challenges, which because those were towards the very end and also limited didn't feel overstated. On the other hand it seemed like Toys for Bob felt pressured to create a much more challenging experience with the idea that this would be a continuation of those original games, which makes sense in that I don't see this type of game appealing to a kid audience the way the original games did. That said, as mentioned before this type of precision platforming is never a good idea in a 2.5D perspective game, and while by default there is a new reticle option that does always show where you are expected to land while in the air, it is inconsistent in its presenstation and some levels are pulled back so far that there would be no way to actually to see this indicator until its too late. Perhaps this could be forgiven if the games style was at least in some way intriguing enough to want to keep going to see more (what level/biome will they do next, for instance), I have put up with other more frustrating titles simply because the game had a sense of charm or edge to it that made me want to at least see more. However, to put nicely, the art style in this game is atrocious; much like the Spyro Reignited trilogy, this particular art style seems almost perfect in its ability to a) have environments that are filled with so many elements that it all blends together into a bland mess, and b) have character design that always seem to hit at my core in terms of revulsion. This is to say nothing about the writing and voice acting which, listen, I'm not gonna sit here and tell you a lie like "Oh, the original games had a soulful story" which is definitely not the case, what little writing there was in the original games was adequate at best, and I'm not expecting a game like this to have high brow or clever writing, I just wish that if they were going to go with this Wheddonesque dialogue that they had instead just done no writing whatsoever, complete silence or even gibberish sounds from the characters would be less groanworthy than what you get here. Sound is another element though which was a massive issue in the N Sane Trilogy (which other than sound was otherwise a solid package), in Crash 4 none of the music really pops or comes into its own, in fact quite a bit of the music here ends up being weird remixes of songs from the original games that just feel devoid of any energy. That's another issue that is compounded by the level length, when in the past you had shorter levels you could write a rather simple but fitting 60 second looping clip that would match well the overall aesthetics of the level and even match the pace you are expected to be moving at, but when you have such long levels with stretched out segments it gets difficult to compose any piece that feels like it is fitting the entire overall experience. Lastly, I do want to point out that while, yes, it is true that this Crash perhaps has the most amount of levels of previous games, I don't think that's appropriate to award to this title given the number of levels you are also a) just replaying the same level again but with a different character for the first half before a copy paste of the second half of the level, and b) when half of these levels are actually as advertised just the same level again but flipped to one side as opposed to the other. In conclusion, I struggled to find anything redeeming or enjoyable with this game, and frankly I wish I had realized that sooner so that I could have refunded the game. As I said at the beginning, I do not recommend this title at all even on the deepest of discounts.

This game was super fun half the time. The other half a annoying. I hated how ToysForBob hid boxes off screen. No wonder Crash 5 got cancelled. It felt like developers played crash 1 for a couple of hours and said it was too easy. Ramped up the difficulty, but forgetting the game still needs to be fun. No way would I have completed this as a kid. *There target audience. I would have raged and returned the game to Blockbuster. 4 hours of entertainment. 4 hours of fighting annoying level design. The rest of my hours was afk. It's not worth $40. Get it while it's on sale. The game ran fine for me. No crashes. Was getting max fps @1080p. This is why I don't want a Jak 4. The original developers are long gone. The new people can only imitate.

Just way too annoying.

How in the F*ck did the developers think dying 50+ times in almost every level is fun? This is just heavily overloaded with visuals, unforgivingly difficult passages and a pure study about player's frustration tolerance. WTF? It's beautiful graphically, they came to cool new ideas, but it's just zero fun playing since you will find yourself spending 30min+ per level because of the many deaths and therfore required repetitions of passages.

This game is exactly what I was hoping for. It stays true to the classic formula while adding enough new ideas to make it feel fresh. The level design is fantastic, the different masks add fun mechanics, and the visuals are gorgeous from beginning to end. The difficulty is definitely higher than the older games, especially if you're aiming for 100% completion. Some levels can be frustrating, but finally getting through them feels incredibly rewarding. The controls are responsive, and most deaths feel like they come from your own mistakes rather than unfair design. The only thing that held it back for me was how demanding the completion requirements are. Collecting every gem, relic, and perfect run can become more exhausting than enjoyable. Even with that, it's one of the best platformers released in recent years. If you enjoy challenging platformers with creative level design and plenty of content, this is an easy recommendation.

[h1][b]Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time[/b][/h1] [h3][b]Time Played:[/b][/h3] 8.7 hours [h3][b]Last Played:[/b][/h3] 7th of July, 2026 [hr] Technically this is Crash Bandicoot...what...9? Either way, as someone with every achievement in the N. Sane Trilogy who was both wanting something summery to play, and something to test my newly-acquired Posh, Pleasing, Pretty, Powerful, Plum-Porple Play Platform™ (Gamesir G7 Pro Gen 2 in Plum Purple), I dived into this with high hopes... ...and initially gave this a very-negative review, but opted to continue it after getting some sleep, just in case it was a case of unfavourable-start syndrome, or otherwise something amiss with me. Lo and behold...my opinion shifted for the better, then went lower than it was initially, the day before this update. [h3][b]Yay:[/b][/h3] + Ran beyond 240 FPS for me. + Has what I deem to be a huge amount of love poured into it. + Super-colourful. + Rather atmospheric in some of the levels, too. + You can swap between Coco, and Crash. + [Spoiler]Other unexpectedly-playable characters are also present.[/Spoiler] + [Spoiler]Unexplained occurrences in the main stages are also given context by these.[/Spoiler] + [Spoiler] ...annnd after you do this, you get to play altered versions of the rest of the level proceeding the intervention of the other character.[/spoiler] + Numerous unlockable skins. + Many new mechanics introduced, thanks to the masks. I found the second of these particularly-enjoyable. + Picks up right where 3 left off. + Several completionist metrics for each level. + I deemed the presentation to be “enjoyable”. + Multiple collectible types. + ...and unlockable stages. + [Spoiler]Once you defeat N. Brio, you unlock N. Verted Levels, literally doubling the amount of non-Flashback stages.[/Spoiler] + [Spoiler]Each world also has its own gimmick in N. Verted mode.[/Spoiler] + Some of which were more puzzle (like the bonus levels) than platformer. + Having a shadow where you land was very helpful. + Some of the stages/sections elicited an “Ooooo!” from me, especially in cluster 4. + Though they initially seemed to be derivative, dimension 3 shows many levels do have original ideas. + I found the bosses to be both clever, and enjoyable. [h3][b]Meh:[/b][/h3] ~ You're not able to 100% All levels first time through, though they thankfully make this somewhat-obvious. ~ Starting splashscreens cannot be skipped, but the game doesn't pause when you tab out, so other things can be done until they're over. ~ While the title has the double-entendre of commenting both on the fan reaction to this game's reveal, as well as the plot of the game, unlike Warped, none of the time periods really feel like they're taking place when the game says they are. They could easily-be different dimensions without literally anything being lost, or raising eyebrows. ~ Technology that should not exist in these periods also does without explanation. ~ Character handling takes a bit to get used to, and even with the shadow, I borked more than a few jumps. [h3][b]Nay:[/b][/h3] - At comfortable-to-my-hyper-sensitive-autistic-ears-volume for other apps, and in-game mixing at “maximised for everything”, the music was completely-unintelligible. - [Spoiler]Alt-Universe Tawna's Hook[/Spoiler] does not snap to the item you need to use it on the moment the prompt appears, leading to many misses and deaths because you need to be aligned perfectly. - [Spoiler]Akano's Dark Matter Spin[/spoiler] was also needlessly-difficult to control, putting forward momentum on everything, and leading to more than a few cheap-feeling deaths. - I wouldn't consider this a “completionist's nightmare” so much as a “completionist's night terror” due to how cheap they get with things, and how much they expect from you to get every gem, and achievement. - At first, it seems as though you only need to beat every level with at least 80% of all fruits, all boxes, under 4 deaths, then find a hidden gem, before Time Trial Platinuming it. On going to look at the achievements, though, nope! You need to do everything without dying once to get the N. Sanely-Perfect medals. - Some of the crates are barely-on-screen, even when peeking about with the camera. - Others are hidden in places that look like they're off-map. - When coupled with the much-longer levels, this means you can go for more than 5 minutes, miss something, then need to replay the entire thing up to that point again to grab it. - Multiple replays of every level is pretty much a given, which started to fatigue me just 2.6 hours in. - Even without that, checkpoints reset the next segment to the state they were in when you broke the box, resulting in multiple instances of tricky segments' crates needing to be re-broken multiple times before I finally got to the next C box... - “because we can” crates that occasionally spout fire, adding unnecessary waiting onto the monumental task of “see, find, and break every crate in every level”. - The very-first time trial I attempted seems to require abilities given way later in the game to get. - Distance from things you need to slide under was also hard for me to gauge in behind-back level segments. - [Spoiler]Wall running[/Spoiler], when it arose, was found to also be horrifically-unreliable, me sailing into a pit no less than 8 times from what felt like jank, rather than lack of skill, or anything that was my fault. - Whether or not it even feels like Crash Bandicoot is very-much hit-or-miss...the first level does by virtue of the fact it's basically N. Sanity Beach, but many of the enemies here did not strike me as having fit the universe. All of area 2 kinda did for me. Area 3? Debatable. 4 was not giving me Crash vibes...and area 5's first level suddenly becomes a cartoony film (Pixar + Illumination, if you will) that's not so much “Crash”, as “Clash”...or rather “What series are we making levels for again? I gave up a 4th time after that level. [hr] [h3][b]Verdict:[/b][/h3] Unfortunately, day 2 did not reverse my opinion on this. For every complaint I had reversed, another dragon kicked any good I found out the window, and started hurling Molotov Cocktails about the room. The visuals did impress more than a few times, but when the pretty comes with 86 stab wounds that make you dismiss the mere concept of the game, I don't deem it worth suffering through for the next hit of visual favourability. As such, when 3 hugely-favourable games (at least during the Summer 2026 sale) are $4 less than this personally-deemed bloated, cheap, cruel, listless fog of a game, I'd recommend going for the N. Sane Trilogy over this, and simply treating the ending to Warped as the end of the franchise. I thus hope Toys For Bob can get Spyro right, seeing as how Activision cancelled Crash 5/their opportunity to address the criticisms with this one in the next instalment, and if/when another entry in this series comes out, it also continues the plot from 3...or otherwise treats it as an isolated adventure. [h3][b]Placed in:[/b][/h3] 5: Dourly-Dismissed.

Comecei despretensiosamente e, logo de cara, passei mais de duas horas direto jogando. Me diverti a cada segundo e soube ali mesmo que iria até o final. O visual é impecável e a experiência é perfeita para quem busca apenas um bom passatempo. Problema é que gostei tanto que acabei indo em busca da platina. Confesso que testou os limites da minha sanidade mental, mas, no fim das contas, valeu cada minuto porque a experiência geral é incrível. Se estiver pensando em platinar, respire fundo e pense umas cinquenta vezes antes de tentar de fato, por que é loucura!

dio porco

I like this one. For me, it's no Warped or The Wrath of Cortex (Why are you looking at me like that? I still love that game.) but it's still Bandicoot formula. Yes, there is the difficulty spike and the grind to get to 100%, but those, who love the mechanics, will love this game. I'd say I prefer the weight of Crash and the more realistic looking style of N.Sane Trilogy, but the art in this one is excellent. Definitely deserves the Bandicoot name and Toys For Bob did a great job.