‘Crash Bandicoot 4’ Thought Stew

22 years after the release of its previous installment… Crash Bandicoot, the beloved 1990s platforming video game franchise, sees a continuation in Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time. Wait…

For the uninitiated, Crash Bandicoot is something you might remember from decades ago. A bright and appealing platformer with a cartoony marsupial protagonist that arguably had its heyday and then kind of disappeared. Crash Bandicoot, and its two superior sequels, hit the PlayStation and took the gaming world by storm. Mario and Sonic had some legitimate competition here, after years of would-be platform characters trying to share a space with the iconic plumber and speedy hedgehog. It put their fledgling creators, Naughty Dog, on the map. The same Naughty Dog who brought you The Last of Us and Uncharted…

Curiously, the newest Crash Bandicoot game calls itself the fourth entry in the series, when there already was a fourth console entry. And a fifth. And a sixth. And a seventh… And that’s not counting the various handheld games featuring the goofy orange marsupial. Anyways, in 2001, the mainline series resumed with the middling Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, which would be the first to not be developed by Naughty Dog. Naughty Dog wanted to move on from the series upon the arrival of the PlayStation 2 in 2000, and created a similar platforming game called Jak & Daxter. So the Naughty Dog team were in a whole other world, a rich and developed high fantasy realm, far removed from the twisted real-world setting of Crash Bandicoot. Even though Naughty Dog called it quits with Crash, Crash still had plenty of juice left in the tank. The success of the kart spin-off Crash Team Racing and the party game Crash Bash (not developed by ND) more than solidified that, so publisher Universal Interactive sought out another development team to bring the bandicoot into the following generation. The Wrath of Cortex, which was made by Traveller’s Tales, was met with mixed reviews and less-than-stellar sales; the bandicoot’s downhill slump (on consoles) continued with three more titles in addition to some more spin-offs. 2004’s often brilliant Crash Twinsanity attempted to make the proceedings more humorous and wacky, but even solid reviews couldn’t help it sell enough units. Crash then saw a complete visual makeover when the reins were handed over to Radical Entertainment, developers of 2005’s Crash Tag Team Racing, with 2007’s Crash of the Titans, which lead to one sequel, Mind Over Mutant… Development stalled on a third title, and soon Crash was but a distant memory. Even Sonic the Hedgehog could survive a universally-despised game… Interest in Crash just seemed to wane…

Crash Bandicoot and his pals made a hell of a comeback with Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy three years ago, a complete graphical and visual update to the original Naughty Dog trilogy for current-gen consoles developed by Vicarious Visions. Unlike some remakes out there, this “remaster” of the three classic Crash games more than honored the source material. You were playing the same games, recreated from scratch with eye-popping graphics and little visual flourishes that greatly added to the already-great games. This new take on the trilogy thoroughly delighted me from start to finish, as it wasn’t merely a nostalgia trip nor a cheap and cynical re-do of a beloved series. Because video game graphics don’t age like fine wine, a graphical updating was welcome, and thankfully it preserved what we always liked about those games: The colorful and varied locations, the cartoony tone and action, the plethora of fun enemies, the same sense of humor… It wasn’t a dull remake, and it doesn’t outmode the originals, which are still neck-and-neck with these new versions. Satisfying long-time fans such as myself, and earning new fans, the N. Sane trilogy became the best-selling Crash Bandicoot game of all time. Its success not only lead to a similar revamping of another renowned PlayStation platformer trilogy (Spyro the Dragon), but also a sequel.

This time, Toys For Bob was handling development, which surprised many. With that, a new visual direction was taken, but one that does honor what came before… But most notably, outside of the “4” in the title, It’s About Time wants you to know that it is the “true” Crash Bandicoot 4, *not* The Wrath of Cortex. The story explicitly picks up right where Crash Bandicoot: Warped left off in 1998… The villainous Dr. Neo Cortex (Crash Bandicoot’s creator) and Dr. N. Tropy (a time-traveling doctor whom Cortex teamed up with to stop Crash and take over the world) are left stranded in the past with the monstrous witch doctor mask Uka Uka. Years and years later, the trio find their escape in disrupting the space-time continuum, a process which results in Uka Uka pushing himself to brink and subsequently fainting… Cortex and N. Tropy come to the present, but with dueling motivations. Of course, this prompts Crash, his sister Coco (much like in the N. Sane trilogy, you can pick between her and Crash for almost all of the levels/bosses), and the good witch doctor mask Aku Aku to take action. Thus begins an adventure spanning time periods of different dimensions, taking cues from both The Wrath of Cortex and Twisanity‘s plots, while overall playing similarly to Warped.

Plenty of new tricks and mechanics are peppered onto the faithful basic gameplay. One of which is assistance from four powerful masks, that grant the player various power-ups. Right off the bat, this sounds like the antagonistic Elemental Masks from The Wrath of Cortex, but this take on other masks helping out Crash and pals is executed in a unique manner. As expected, several levels are built around the power-ups that they give you. Things get even wilder when other playable characters are added to the mix. Now, this was something that Crash Twinsanity already covered some 16 years ago. In that game, you could play as Cortex, sometimes Crash and Cortex reluctantly (or accidentally) working together, and Cortex’s niece (or is it daughter?) Nina Cortex. In this game, you can play as Cortex, as well as returning villain Dingodile, who is now a diner owner who got pulled out of his dimension. You can also play as an alternate universe version of Tawna Bandicoot (Crash’s ex in the main timeline), but this is a rough-and-tumble, almost Furiosa-esque version who failed to protect Crash and Coco in her dimension. The game goes hog wild (pun shamelessly intended) on the alternate dimension ideas, something that Twinsanity wanted to do, but wasn’t allowed to because of the rushed schedule its developers were slapped with. Soon, we see an alternate universe N. Tropy teaming up with the N. Tropy we’ve known since 1998, who happens to be a woman. N. Tropy turns against Cortex and has bigger ambitions, thus it becomes apparent that this is going to be Twinsanity all over again, where Crash has to team up with his enemy to stop a greater evil. As I was playing it, it made perfect sense, because I always found N. Tropy to be quite formidable in his first appearance. Him being more diabolical than the usually bumbling Cortex was a route I was very much onboard with. Then you defeat N. Tropy and his counterpart, and after all of the inter-dimensional hi-jinx, Crash Bandicoot 4 then abruptly reroutes and stays true to its title. It goes back to the beginning, where present-Cortex tries to stop his past self from creating Crash Bandicoot. So now it becomes a fast-paced race against time.

While a bit short in its execution, Crash Bandicoot 4‘s story is quite satisfying, if a bit repetitive in some themes. It does lean a little too much on nostalgia for the original games, but a lot of the new stuff and the overall presentation make up for that. At first I thought, wait… Time traveling again? Pirate levels? A futuristic city? This was Warped all over again, wasn’t it? Each dimension is a place in a certain part of time: A dystopian Mad Max-like desert wasteland full of gearhead menaces, the high seas in the 18th century with loads of pirates and sea monsters, a New Orleans-esque bayou city, a feudal Japan-inspired land, an arctic location in the ’50s, prehistoric times, a space station, a futuristic food-filled city, and Cortex’s laboratory in 1996, the year the first Crash Bandicoot came out. It really *is* about time, right down to the Flashback Levels, where you play as a newly-created Crash making it through Cortex’s tests and trials in early 1996. Like, January 1, 1996… Lots of great continuity nods like that throughout. Details like those are enough to differentiate It’s About Time from its Naughty Dog predecessor, and it feels as if the developers did want to utilize elements from the post-Naughty Dog games while asserting their game was the real continuation.

Does this mean that the other continuity with Wrath of Cortex, Twinsanity, et al. will become like a sort of Crash Bandicoot EU?

Interestingly, shared universes are slowly giving way to multiverses in this day and age of big franchises. Perhaps it was the excellent Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse that jumpstarted this? I mean, think about it. This game plays around with other universe versions of Crash Bandicoot settings and characters, but you also have Warner Bros. and DC teasing a multiverse with their intentions to bring Michael Keaton’s take on Bruce Wayne into their cinematic universe via the ever-gestating Flash movie, and possibly bring back Ben Affleck’s take as well. You also have the ever-swirling rumors that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going to integrate other live-action Marvel movies not set in that timeline into the mix, notably Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s respective takes on Spider-Man, and maybe even what we’re seeing of what I like to call Sony Pictures’ “Venomverse” (consisting of the 2018 Venom movie, its upcoming sequel, and Morbius). Again, Crash Twinsanity wanted to explore other dimensions. The game ends up taking us to one dimension where everything’s flipped on its head, and an evil Crash inhabits it, but that’s pretty much all we ended up getting in the end. Much more dimensions were planned, but sadly scrapped. Other franchises here and there are teasing this idea as well. Heck, Disney and Lucasfilm could do something with the Expanded Universe Star Wars storylines and re-establish all of them as a legitimate alternate continuity to the mainline one. For one, it gives people an option to pick; two, it means more than one story which makes things more interesting. Comics have done this for years, as have novels (ever hear of Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse?), I’ve been doing this with my own stories for well over a decade. Perhaps Activision, Crash Bandicoot‘s current publisher, can establish two timelines. Or re-imagine various elements from Wrath of Cortex, Twinsanity, and other titles into parts for significantly better games down the line. Twinsanity in particular would really benefit from a full-on remake exploring its wasted potential, as some of its ideas were neatly re-used here.

However, Crash Bandicoot should go ahead by trying new things while honoring its roots. It seems like an uphill battle for a lot of franchises, doesn’t it? How much is too much? Are they staying true to the originals too much? Or are the new things “ruining” what made the thing great in the first place? My general rule of thumb is that should a series try something new, it at least doesn’t completely contradict what came before, but that’s all down to perception. I don’t speak about that space wizards movie series much, because the commentary around that franchise has always been exhausting to me… But, I want to use Star Wars as an example. I’ve always been in the Last Jedi camp, a film that I felt honored the Original Trilogy and did some much-needed new things with that world, those characters, and that universe while cracking the whole damn thing open like it was a chestnut. By contrast, I felt that The Rise of Skywalker was way too beholden to said classic trilogy and in the process created a rushed mess of problems that bog down an otherwise entertaining and sometimes resonant adventure movie, whether their intention was to retcon the previous film or not.

If any area of Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time has trouble honoring a classic Crash element, it’s the collecting of box gems. The developers at Toys For Bob assume that you have been playing any Crash Bandicoot game since 1998 at the very latest, and thus have spiked the difficulty in a few areas of the game. It is certainly not Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, but one of the titles for a remake of *that* particular game – Super Mario Bros. for Super Players, an unlockable in the GameBoy Color port of the original Super Mario Bros. – is a good idea of what’s in store. The game assumes you are a Crash super-pro, especially when it comes to precise platforming and box hunting. Not only does the overall highly challenging level design make it a little difficult to get some boxes, the designers have hid boxes in very unlikely areas that your eyes have to zero in on. The first level *alone* is a great example of this. You jump over a few short walls in the first 1/3 of the level, and there’s one single box on the other side of one of those walls that you can not see. This was never a thing in other Crash Bandicoot games, as you certainly had to use your head if you were running low on boxes to break, but this goes a step beyond and makes things even trickier. Luckily, you can get gems for collecting certain amounts of Wumpa fruits/Bumpa berries, and you can also get classic “death” gems (you get those when you make it through a level without dying more than 3 times) and hidden gems that you have to do some extra scavenging for. Color gems return, and they have their own unique challenges, one of which has you going through an entire level using a tornado power supplied by one of the masks… Without hitting *any* crates. “Crash Bandicoot for N. Sanely Good Players”?

Perhaps the neatest new mode is the N. Verted Mode, which not only mirrors the levels you pick, but also renders them in a different art style. N. Sanity Island, for example, looks like a thermal image in N. Verted mode and you must keep spinning in order to keep the environment around you illuminated. The Hazardous Wastes take on a rough and grid-like filtered look – almost like a blueprint, while Salty Wharf – the home of the pirate levels – becomes colorless, but your spin attacks splash paint everywhere and color the levels as you go along. Tranquility Falls, our feudal Japan-inspired cities, takes on a more desaturated look. Perhaps the best of them is Mosquito Marsh, which becomes a grainy vintage movie-looking experience. The soundtrack – performed on a ragtime piano – sounds like it’s coming off of a beat-up, slightly warped 78rpm record. Even the framerate subtly fluctuates a bit, given that the films they are trying to emulate were made with hand-cranked movie cameras… And of course, the human hand couldn’t always be up to speed. The oddly-named 11th Dimension – home of the 1950s snow levels – becomes a retro comic book, complete with plenty of ben day dots and bubbles communicating what’s going on like an episode of 1960s Batman. Eggipus Dimension takes on a hand-drawn look, while Bermugula’s Orbit looks like a cel-shaded action comic. The Sn@xx Dimension, for some reason in N. Verted, is submerged underwater. Cortex Island goes for a retro, pixelated look. Anything with shifting art styles is always a plus for me, and this fun new mode allows you to re-immerse yourself in levels with new aesthetics.

Despite the rushed pace of the main storyline, there are plenty of laughs to spare, and some pretty sharp dialogue passages. The original Naughty Dog trilogy had some funny, memorable cutscenes and moments, but largely in fits and spurts. Admittedly, Cortex Strikes Back and Warped have multiple scenes of characters talking to you, whether it’s threatening you or giving you objectives. There were a few cutscenes here and there to illustrate some of the story, but not much. Here? Plenty of cutscenes, many of them quite memorable and even laugh-out-loud funny. Taking a page from Twinsanity‘s fun cinematics, I feel like I’m watching segments from a pretty solid animated comedy feature. What also caught my ear was the more adult-oriented talk, in fact when it was revealed months ago that the game was getting its ratings for “language”, I wondered… “Wait, language in a Crash Bandicoot game?” Now, earlier Crash games did have their fair share of edgy humor bits. Upon defeating the final bosses in Warped, a knocked out Cortex speaks of retiring to a “nice big beach” with a “nice big drink” and a woman with “nice, big… Bags of ice for my head!” Rated E for Everyone! In Crash Twinsanity, you use Cortex as a sled and make your way down an icy mountain… And at one point in the level, you and Cortex crash through a *brothel*! And Cortex’s *mother* apparently is in there! Rated E for Everyone! This game? Upfront swearing. Dingodile growls “Bastards!” at a bunch of bats who blow his diner to smithereens, in addition to letting out a “bollocks” at one point. Tawna tells Crash and Coco to give Cortex hell in their pursuit of him. Coco, in the complete ending, becomes an E-sports star with the name “Kickass Coco”. Also, N. Tropy and alternate dimension female N. Tropy have a… Thing… For each other. The other characters react accordingly to this. I would say it does “being edgy” right, rather than some other examples out there. The swearing and the more inappropriate humor feels natural, and not shoehorned into the game in an attempt to make it appeal to a teen audience or people my age who loved the originals back in the day. To me, it’s not necessarily the all-out edgier transition that the Jak & Daxter series made from game one to game two, nor is it the ridiculous mid-aughts angst of Shadow the Hedgehog, it’s just right. Kids can handle a few swear words and a couple of jokes they probably wouldn’t get, I think. I never understood why most animated movies post-1990 avoided these kinds of cuss words like the plague, but lots of live-action “kids” movies regularly threw in swears. Sometimes I’m tempted to write about that… One day, maybe!

They certainly went big here. Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time is quite loaded, on top of being superlative-looking and full of fun levels, characters, and challenges. While some of its more difficult aspects can get in the way, the game’s style grows on you the more you try and re-try it. The level selection is much more linear this time, making for a straightforward narrative rather than a more spontaneous one. It’s a little off-putting at first, but it works fine on its own terms. I hope to see more of these characters in the future, with the same wit and writing and surprises… And hopefully more of the better ideas from the other timeline, integrated into the story in a fresh new way. Toys For Bob’s team really expanded the original Crash trilogy in a neat new way, and it would be a shame if this is a one-time deal, as we should see more of these faces.

I argued back when N. Sane Trilogy came out that the world of Crash Bandicoot actually aged quite nicely. Since Crash Bandicoot drew on classic Golden Age cartoons like Tex Avery shorts and Looney Tunes staples for inspiration, I always felt it was able to live past the coolness and attitude of the ’90s while still remaining virtually the same. Maybe this is why the Radical-era Crash games were passed up, out of hand, by long-time fans. Some folks probably perceived those two mainline titles to be instantly dated, trying too hard to appeal to mid-aughts sensibilities. By contrast, The Wrath of Cortex was dismissed for being a moldy oldies hour instead of an exciting progression from what really worked in those first three games. Crash Twinsanity leaned hard into the cartoony aspects all the while trying to shake things up in a faithful manner. I certainly feel that the TFB team have created that sweet spot kind of Crash game much like Twinsanity, though in some ways it relies a little bit too much on the past. Went back in time, you could say… But thankfully, it does a great job at keeping our marsupial pals relevant and fun once more.