I finally just beat "Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time" last night so here's my review and take on it.
And I can safely say that not only is it the best Crash game in the franchise, But one of the best platformers I have ever played definitely up there for me with Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze which I consider the best the platformer genre has to offer both in 2D and 3D and in Crash's case... both.
I''m not gonna lie, I was a little disappointed at first when I found out Vicarious Visions wasn't tasked with a follow up after bringing back Crash back via N.Sane Trilogy, But "Toys for Bob" really understands Crash and absolutely nailed the feel of the game and expanded upon the foundation laid by Naughty Dog 25 years ago.
I really love the artstyle of the game and the portrayal of the characters, Crash and Coco Bandicoot are just absolutely adorable and ooze personality, charm and are expressive, Cortex always had me laughing with his constant banter and dialogue, Dingodile was another one of my favorite parts too, Tawna was ok, But I'll be honest she was my least favorite of the bunch and not really a fan of her design, But just when you thought a Crash Bandicoot game couldn't get any more cartoony than it already is this game turns it up and always had me really looking forward to the very next cutscene and had me feeling like a kid watching a cartoon.
Characters feel, handle and control great and better than ever before especially compared to "N.Sane Trilogy" which still played very well, But at times had those slippey edge hitbox miscues, Didn't get that with "It's About Time", The only noticable change I felt, But quickly adapted to was that the "Slide Jump" slows your momentum down a bit, But you get a lot more hangtime in this game regarding jumps compared to "N.Sane Trilogy", Dingodile plays great too and gave me "Luigi's Mansion" vibes handling him and was fun blowing up stuff with him using TNT Barrels, Tawna played well too and while the hookshot was handy at keeping enemies at bay, it's aiming can be iffy at times.
The quantum masks are implemented very well and serve their purpose, My favorite would probably have to be "Time Manipulation" just because it makes some seemlingly risky impossible task actually possible, Anti-gravity mask feels good too, But can be a little disorientating at times, While I did like the "Death Tornado" mask it's kind of long and slow at times and takes a while to control, But overall all worked very well.
The levels are pretty long, But i actually don't mind it too much, One of my favorite worlds was (Salty Wharf) "Pirate World" which gave me "Donkey Kong Country" vibes, Had some of my favorite enemies and one of my favorite tracks and levels in "Booty Calls" from the entire game besides the main theme and have been humming both themes the past few weeks, The soundtrack was pretty solid overall despite "Some" of the original tracks weren't too memorable, But a lot of good remixes in there from the original trilogy though.
The "Flashback levels" were some of my favorite and were great throwbacks and even shed some funny and interesting backstory regarding Crash and Coco, While they were tough at times, They were really addicting to play and never had me frustrated other than the last 2 levels at times when trying to break all the boxes.
Bosses were somewhat easy, But still pretty fun, Though I think some of them could have been more "Grander" and maybe turned up a level, But still solid.
The only unanimous major gripe that I think most can agree is that the collectibles for over 100% completion is absolutely brutal and not recommended unless you want to torture yourself, I ended up with only 50% completion and my best accomplishment was getting all the "Flashback Tapes" and 100% those with the exception of the last 2 levels because of lack of time, But that didn't stop me from really enjoying the game.
While I have always been fan of Crash Bandicoot ever since the PS1 era despite growing up with the N64 in the late 90's, This game has made me an even bigger fan of Crash Bandicoot and had me appreciate the characters Crash and Coco even more, I just absolutely love their character portrayal which is my most favorite thing about "It's About Time" and I really don't play a lot or have interest in a lot of 3rd party games or franchises as I heavily prefer exclusives and I'm kind of a picky gamer, But Crash Bandicoot has the honor of being really the only major 3rd party franchise (Spyro to a lesser extent too) in my Switch library because of somewhat history with the franchise and love for the character and playing "It's About Time" has just jacked up my interest in wanting Crash in Smash even more.
Pro's:
- Artstyle is more cartoony and superior to N.Sane Trilogy.
- Characters are cartoony, ooze personality, charm and are overly expressive, In game and especially the cutscenes.
- Characters feel great and is the best they have ever been handled in terms of control.
- Worlds and levels are colorful and feel alive.
- Great level design and layout that's tough, But still pretty fair.
Cons:
- Full completion is just straight up brutal and overkill.
- Bosses while good and enjoyable some of them probably could have been better and more spectacle.
- While the soundtrack was overall pretty solid the remixes standout more than "Some" of the original tracks.
Final Rating: 9/10
Here's to our favorite marsupial's chances! If we somehow get a combination of Crash, Shantae, Lloyd, Yuri, Ryu Hayabusa, Master Chief, Spyro or Amaterasu for a double reveal, then I'll consider that a major win!
