'Crash Bandicoot 4' doesn’t add anything to the platforming genre

Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time marks the first core sequel of the venerated platformer series since 1998’s Crash Bandicoot 3. You’d think after all that time it would feel fresh or interesting, but it’s little more than the same old, same old.

In hopping and spinning through Crash Bandicoot 4’s stunning and vibrant levels, it wasn’t long before the visual charm wore off and tedium began to set in. Video games, especially platformers, have come a long way since the ‘90s, but Crash Bandicoot 4 feels like it was left in the dust.

Starring the titular bandicoot named Crash and a handful of animalia cohorts, Crash Bandicoot 4 takes the 3D platforming style established in the series’ first three games and gives it a fresh, 4K coat of paint on modern consoles a few years after the original trilogy was remastered. It sticks to mostly familiar territory as you crash through hundreds and hundreds of Wumpa fruit crates, jump along platforms that test your precision and timing, and die instantly, repeatedly, over and over again.

Unrelenting death

Death looms heavily over almost every level. Dying a dozen or dozens of times in a single level isn’t too uncommon, especially when trying to collect every crate possible and some of them are floating precariously over bottomless pits. On top of these deadly pitfalls, Crash also dies in a single hit if he’s struck by an enemy or comes into contact with an explosive crate unless he has a temporary shield. There aren’t many of those.

It’s all part of the Crash DNA that separated the series from the rest of the 3D platformer competition in the ‘90s. Crash Bandicoot is unforgiving and requires players to get a handle on movement quickly. That hasn’t changed in Crash 4, which is frustrating at times, but that’s what the game is going for.

Chases are fun diversions from the otherwise slow game. Credit: activision

Luckily this fourth entry in the series isn’t quite as unforgiving as the older games. The default, suggested difficulty level makes it so you don’t have to restart entire levels if you die enough times, and instead just perpetually puts you back at the last checkpoint until you finally prevail.

The space between checkpoints can be pretty long, though, and repeating the same section over and over again can sometimes feel annoying. In one section in the game’s third, East Asian-themed world, I had to navigate across extra-wide gaps while avoiding TNT crates and I kept either falling or exploding. After just a couple attempts, I wanted to stop because it wasn’t particularly fun or satisfying even when I was progressing further, and needing to repeat the plodding start of that section again and again was grating.

All of this serves to slow down a game where the maximum speed isn't particularly fast in the first place.

Not enough stuff

While progressing through Crash Bandicoot 4, it became clear in the third world, just a couple hours in, that there wasn’t much to this game. You jump, you spin, you do the occasional chase level or boss fight, and that’s about it.

Enemy threats stay relatively stagnant, platforming challenges don’t change much, and I never feel like I’m improving my skills. There’s very little that alters the game in a substantial way, except the masks.

Even levels with lots of grinding don't feel much different. Credit: activision

In Crash 4, as you progress through the game you find different masks that grant you different abilities, like the ability to alter reality (turning crates and platforms on and off, basically), briefly slow down time, or use a spin move that allows Crash to jump really high but also always propels him forward on the ground so you don’t want to turn it on right next to a ledge.

The thing is, you can only use these special masks at specific times. You don’t get to keep them in your utility belt and bust them out at any moment. They’re built into specific parts of levels, which makes them feel gimmicky at best.

Crash 4 also tries to switch things up with different playable characters that have their own unique abilities, like Tawna and her grappling hook. But they don’t play differently enough to be particularly interesting compared to Crash. Similarly, the “N. Verted” versions of levels that can be played after beating them aren’t different enough from their normal counterparts to be compelling.

The lack of real differentiation throughout the game makes all of Crash 4 feel stagnant. It’s not doing anything particularly interesting, and when that fact is paired with its sometimes frustrating difficulty, what you end up with is a game that just isn’t particularly enjoyable to play.

Sure, it’s pretty to look at, but there needs to be more than that.

Crash Bandicoot 4 is out now on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.