Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (Part 1)

Crash Bandicoot 1 – 2: Cortex Strikes Back – 3: Warped!

4: It’s About Time (Part 1) – (Part 2) – (Part 3)

After its first three installments, the Crash Bandicoot franchise seemingly hit a lull. Plenty of games came out, with some following the Mario Spinoff formula: Make ‘em race! Make ‘em go around a board and play mini-games! Platformers still happened amidst all these new concepts, with varying levels of quality. However, fans felt like there was no true return to form until the N. Sane Trilogy came out. This renewed vigor eventually led to the making of a new, proper, “official” sequel to the OG trilogy.

We're starting on known ground.
Don't worry, that's gonna change real soon.

And yes, I played and talked about the N. Sane Trilogy these past three weeks exclusively so I could have the necessary background to talk about this one. Fans had to wait 22 years after Crash Bandicoot: Warped! for it to come out. But it finally did, with a release for PS4 and Xbox One on October 2nd, 2020, then to Switch, PS5 and XSXS on March 12th, 2021, then two weeks later on PC. You’ve already seen this game’s title at the top of this article, and it’s very tongue-in-cheek, considering the long time between this entry and the one that precedes it in the strange chronology of the Crash series. For the needs of this story, it acts like no new games happened between the franchise's third and fourth installments; you can bet they will make a joke or two about that. Well then! It’s about time we cover the conclusion of this epic! (…Unless a Crash 5 comes out eventually.) For the record, I am playing this one on Switch.

They’re Back

N. Tropy is a surprisingly much darker villain in this game
than just about any other enemy Crash has ever faced.

Following their defeat in Crash 3, Neo Cortex, N. Tropy, Uka Uka, N. Gin, and for some reason, N. Brio as well, are stuck in a place out of time. They’ve been stuck there for what feels like decades. (I mean… at least two of ‘em). Cortex keeps self-pitying over his repeated failures, while Uka Uka attempts to open a portal to get them out of this place and back to the world they desperately want to take control of. In a stroke of luck, the evil mask finally makes a tear through the fabric of reality that will allow them to return, but the task is so exhausting that it falls unconscious. The scientists opt to escape while leaving the commanding, nasty mask behind. In its place, Nefarious Tropy, the time master, takes leadership of the group. He’s already seeing far beyond full control of the world…

You’ll notice that I put a lot more focus on the plot to this one than the others – not that Crash 1 through 3 were lacking in that department, but there was much more to say about gameplay and I was limiting myself to one article per game. Gotta cut somewhere. This time, though, no messing around; if you’ve played the previous three games, then you’re seeing a direct continuation of that plot, despite the time that’s passed since. I am so glad I played the N. Sane Trilogy beforehand. I would have been so confused otherwise.

Wake up Crash, your heroic... uh... disposition is needed!

This is going to get tough, but at least, the worlds will never
not be beautiful to watch. Speaking of, the playthrough
I am using for this one was made by FA Games.

Aku Aku senses this disturbance in the force… and wakes up Crash, who would rather laze about. They must reach N. Sanity Peak and investigate. This is the first level, so we get a good peek at the available abilities. First, regarding the new skills from Warped!: The Wumpa fruit bazooka is gone, and so is (at first) the ability to spin in place for a long duration. However, the double jump has stuck, and I think so has the shockwave-inducing body slam. The boosted slide jump returns as well, though I feel like it has become a little more finicky to accomplish, and I don’t know if the different platform is causing that for me.

Pick your level of challenge. Or your poison.

Also important: Crash 4 starts with a prompt asking you to choose between a modern playstyle (meaning that you have infinite lives and continue at the latest checkpoint, wherever it is) or something retro, more in line with the original Crash games (You have lives, and if you lose them all, you must start the level over). If it’s your first time through, I strongly recommend the modern option. You’re going to die a lot. I’m told that Retro Mode is very generous with lives, but don’t be fooled, you'll lose them just as fast.

Also, this game loves rail-grinding sequences. With lots of
crates to smash at specific times, and Nitros to avoid.
Fun sequences on their own, but genuine nightmares when
you are trying to get every single crate to get a Gem.

My first observation: The levels are looong! They feel much longer than they were in the original three games. This increases the margin for error and deaths, to the point where I can’t even see how one could play this game with a classic lives system, other than already knowing it inside and out. The difficulty climbs up significantly early on and doesn’t let up afterwards; combine that with the lengthy levels, and you will die a lot finishing pretty much any level past the first world. Early levels regularly contain upwards of 100 crates, which is something we’d see in the final stretch of other Crash games. Hell, further down the line, you have tallies of anywhere from 150 to 500 damn crates, depending on the character you’re using!

This game uses the same system as other Crash entries;
Collect an Aku Aku Mask for one or two extra hit
points. With a third, you gain temporary invincibility.

And I recall often seeing 4 or 5 Checkpoint crates across a single level. If not more. And that’s even with the knowledge of the franchise’s dynamic difficulty, where the game will give you a free Aku Aku hit point, and might even turn regular crates into Checkpoints, if it registers that you’re dying too often. Thankfully, one changea was also to the greater system. One option was added to turn the player character’s shadow into a black circle with a yellow outline, likely to make it easier to notice, even on a smaller screen (if you’re playing with the portable screen of your Switch).

The Quantum Masks

Only the first hint of something much trickier that is
coming up reeeeaaaaal soon.

As far as having to outrun a threat goes, this is
bolder than a boulder.

In the second level, Crash comes across platforms that appear and disappear, turning into blue silhouettes, in a rhythm. Within the cave at the top of N. Sane Peak, he finds a new living mask sleeping. He grabs it, but that triggers a trap that sends them both down a trap door. They end up chased by a vengeful spirit in one of the franchise’s famous outrun sequences. This sends them all the way back to the beach, where Coco and Aku Aku are monitoring a strange rift.

This guardian is Lani-Loli, the first of four Quantum Masks that regulate space and time. Lani-Loli, a nervous wreck, panics at the sight of the rift, which is a door between dimensions. Its mere existence has terrible implications. The new mask says that they must go in, find his siblings, and save reality from whoever causes this rift to exist.

Try not to phase things back into reality while you're
inside of them. Just saying.

Lani-Loli, the Mask of Phase, can phase things in and out of reality – hence the appearing and vanishing platforms. He adds a puzzle platformer aspect to this franchise that didn’t need it previously. The new masks’ abilities are activated on Switch with a press of the X button. In a lot of cases, this means not just using Crash or Coco’s wide array of moves, but also triggering that ability at the perfect moment when necessary. Your timing will have to be top-notch. You will frequently have very little margin for error. The masks appear in areas where they will be needed, equip themselves instantly to your Bandicoot, and go away once you reach the end of that area.

Seriously, this game is hard. When I wrote the current paragraph, I was not even at the middle point and I was already dying an average of 20 times per level. These first run-throughs are brutal, somehow way more so than they were in the previous three Crash Bandicoot games (as they existed in the remaster, anyway). Crash 4 is using all the quality-of-life upgrades brought forth by that remaster – and then decides that you’ve had it too easy, come on now, so it doubles down on difficulty instead.

Woo! All found!

This game ditches Crystals in favor of a new spin, pun intended, on the Gems. There’s no fewer than SIX to collect in every level. Three of them are found by collecting 40%, 60% and 80% of the total limit of Wumpa fruits that can be found in it. After that, you get another one for breaking all the crates. The fifth is obtained by reaching the end goal with three lives or fewer lost; good frigging luck with that. The sixth is hidden somewhere on your path; just gotta get your hands on it (that Gem will remain collected even if you die, as long as you still finish the level without a Game Over).

The Alternate

Mad Crash: A furry on the road.

The Bandicoots and their new ally jump into the rift, landing in a Mad Max-esque desert world. Literally 2084. The quartet makes its way amidst the wreckage and the haphazardly built fortresses, occasionally encountering Cortex’s ally N. Gin. One notable moment has them get chased down by a gigantic vehicle driven by the diminutive scientist, though it takes a moment to rev due to what the enemy calls a sabotage.

Jumper Hero: Wreck Band

This world ends in a boss fight against N. Gin, and it involves spinning at a giant humanoid robot, which can only be reached after avoiding the robot’s blast waves, which are sent towards Crash or Coco across three rows next to each other – I can’t help but feel this like a reference to specific music games. When the mecha overheats, Crash must reach it for an attack by crossing a body of water with platforms moving left or right – maybe an homage to Frogger? By this point, the game has already shown its hand, and the difficulty is clear. This battle was tough, and yet it’s just the first! Good thing bosses now have mid-battle checkpoints now!

Oh, cool, a world of planks and tricorn hats.
Even the octopi have taken up swordfighting!

After that world, we move on to Salty Wharf, 1717. The age of piracy. (I think we’re gonna enter a new one, if major gaming companies keep pulling their crap!) Sea creatures and other rapscallions await here, blocking our path to valuable booty. I do mention time and place, but the truth is that few of these worlds are set in the same universe; they are all considered different dimensions. It’s very easy to mistake them for trips across time however, an impression not helped by one later world being set “a few days ago”!

She is gonna kick every ass that deserves it! One
dimension at a time! Take a number, she's coming soon!

Before the second level here, Crash and Coco are captured by pirates, wrapped in rope, and left to hang. Worry not! Out from a dimensional rift comes a hero to save them! The new playable character, another bandicoot, rocks punky hair with blue highlights and adventuring clothes with rips and tears. She’s been through a lot. The new gal cannot spin; her close attack is a kick. She can’t slide either, but she can double jump, wall jump on specific surfaces, and her body slam is a kick downwards. Her weapon is a hookshot, which she can use to defeat enemies and smash crates from afar; though she’ll frequently use it to cross large chasms, like in this level where she travels from a pirate ship to the next on her quest to rescue the main characters.

Oh, she'll be following. Very closely.

She gets to our two heroes and frees them, and they recognize her… as Tawna Bandicoot. Remember her? Yeah, I don’t think I would have, had I not played the first Crash game beforehand. There was a long gap in time where Tawna, despite being the damsel in distress of Crash’s humble beginnings, was basically forgotten about. She did appear in some spin-offs, but that’s it. Kind of a missed opportunity, really. This new Tawna hails from a dimension where Cortex did defeat the hero, leaving her to rescue herself instead. She’s very happy to see Crash and Coco again; those from her world are dead… Not that she’d dare mention it around them!

The wall jump, now that's new to the franchise.
And of course, once you know how to do it, this game
suddenly finds ways to make it dangerous to pull of.
Like intermittently-electrified wall spaces.

This Tawna has already been on a journey across dimensions, implying that her own enemies went the extradimensional route before the Cortex we know. In fact, she has been changing things in the Bandicoots’ journey; as a first example, she was the one who sabotaged N. Gin’s skull truck. After this level, we unlock “timeline” stages, in which we control Tawna. These are alternate versions of previous levels, in which you first play as Tawna in a whole new segment; at some point, Tawna will trigger an event that will change something on that level’s regular pathway. After that, you switch back to Crash or Coco, and go through a modified version of the second half of the level you’ve already played. The biggest change there will be the placement of crates, though some parts may also be harder than they were your first time through. Even in non-timeline stages, you’ll often seen platforms activate on their own, implying that Tawna or someone else has activated them for you. And yes, I did say “someone else”...

There's a ton more to discuss, so I will need two more parts. See you on Monday for the second!