It's so good, man.

Crash 2 is one of my favorite 3D platformers, if not the favorite. I always preferred it to 3 because Warped had a bunch of gimmicky levels. I guess they thought 2 peaked on platforming and they'd have to add variety to spice things up, but I always preferred the linear platforming challenges perfected in 2.

Here comes 4. A 4 can have mixed results. Would this be like Sonic 4? Heck no, it's like Sonic Mania. Here's why this is already making my top 10 list:

- It feels super smooth, partially because of 60fps and partially because they nailed the physics (unlike the small changes in the remakes).

- The level design is rock solid. It's challenging and well-paced, and I haven't had a cheap death yet. It's skill-based in a way that modern 3D platformers really aren't anymore.

- The "gimmicks" this time aren't half-assed segments with awful controls. They're masks that change up the levels by giving you a cool ability that allows for entirely new challenges.

- The aesthetic is great, with some killer art and imaginative environments.

- There's a ton to do! You have the regular gem and box stuff, and way more levels. You still have the time trial relics. You have flashback challenge rooms. The ability to replay mirrored levels with crazy new art.

I'm loving the game so far and have plenty more to discover. I was worried that a simple Crash game with 25 straightforward levels wouldn't make sense for a modern audience. But then they went and absolutely nailed it while expanding it in ways that I didn't expect. It's the best platformer I've played since Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair.

Anyone else having a great time?

That’s great to hear! I want to pick this one up in the next few weeks.

Not that it would be a make it/break it scenario for me but is there anything in terms of coop/multiplayer? Even in just the challenge rooms that you mentioned?

@purpleurkel: There's something called Pass N. Play that seems like the old Mario method of taking turns. And a competitive mode that I haven't tried, Bandicoot Battle. I'd say look up a video to see what those are about.

I've been a bit surprised by it, honestly. I'm working on a blog post including my early thoughts on the game so far. I've actually never played any Crash games before ever. It was just a series that I wasn't participating in when it was contemporary. One of my best friends was a huge fan of the original trilogy though and his encouragement led me to try out this new one.

It's a very different flavor of platform collect-a-thon from what I've been used to over the decades and it's got me itching to play more (and more than likely check out the remastered trilogy at some point)

I've bored other threads with this detail, but I'll drop it here too: my first game credit for this game. Exciting to see it in peoples hands. I only jumped on for a month of freelance earlier in the year, but I have fond memories of it as a younger me, so it was nice to be a part of it.

I'm still not sure I'll pick this one up, at least not before a good discount, but the Kotaku review summarized something I'd always struggled to put my finger on when it came to Crash and how weirdly refreshing and different it felt compared to the SNES-era of An Awesome Mario Every Once in a While and a bunch of dime-store platformers of the week.

The Crash series has never been coy about its intentions regarding your ass. Since the first game, way back in 1996, the series has been all about tripping players up. Having the character run into the screen through 3D levels, with enemies and obstacles coming right at the player? That’s intense. Almost as intense as the chase levels, where Crash desperately tries to escape some rampaging beast by running towards the player, with mere seconds to react to suddenly appearing obstacles. Over the years Crash sequels have given us new characters to play with and cute animals to ride, but it’s never stopped being challenging.

I know people have played these games and felt differently about the myriad ways it essentially forces you to play the game the way Naughty Dog wanted you to, but it's a design philosophy I really took to and still immensely enjoy about their games today. Their levels were cinematic and distracting from a core gameplay loop that was intensely simple (some might successfully argue simple to a fault) and they just kept piling on the spectacle throughout the original game and its two sequels without ever really growing out of the left/right, running at the screen or zooming away from it feel of the first one.

So for me Crash games wound up kind of like Tony Hawk games, in that the levels became familiar to the point of pointlessness if that makes sense, and I found a real joy in learning the timing and specificity of their levels in a way that, much like I come to enjoy an Uncharted or Last of Us game on a second playthrough, I start feeling like I'm play-acting as Crash because in most other games of this type I'm clumsily slopping through them wondering whether I should kick the difficulty down to Easy just to make it through (hi, Celeste) whereas in Crash games I'd practically be performing a Ginger Rogers routine on a bunch of hapless boxes, crocodiles and the like. It's why I immediately balked at THPS Remastered, or the Crash Collection, when it was noted that something felt not-quite-right about them, because the feel is all that matters.

...Man, maybe I will go ahead and pick up Crash 4 this weekend...

I... actually didn't know this was coming so soon. I knew it was in development but I thought it would be a 2021 thing and haven't kept up with it.

Anyway, I have actually already played Crash Bandicoot 4, I played it on the Gamecube, here's the Wikipedia page, and I remember thinking it was a good game back then but nowhere near as good as 2 or 3. It's just a little oddity in their naming convention that has bugged me since Crash 4's announcement.

Anyway, I loved these games as a kid and I loved playing the Bandicoot collection a few years ago so yeah, I'll probably pick this up at some point.

@justin258: Outside of the possible reason that they thought naming it Crash 4 would just make it sell better, it’s named that way because story-wise (the most important part of Crash) it continues after 3. Pretty sure one of the trailers also just indirectly jokes about them never having being in any other games since three.

I’ve played a decent chunky by now myself. There has definitely been moments of frustration and I doubt I’ll ever collect even all the crates from every level, let alone do all the time trials and such, but I’ve still enjoyed it plenty.

Waiting for a PC release, but the impression I’ve gotten is that it’s really hard, but in a not fun way, like the CTR remake.

@justin258: Yeah that was a great game, was a good showcase for the PS2 back in the day.

I'm super excited as well. Have only seen videos of this game, but they have totally revamped the game but also kept the charm and what makes it fun. This is how you do a return to an old franchise.

Finally picked it up a few days ago, completely in love! This is the tightest, most fully featured platformer I've seen in ages, and was a complete shock to me after not liking the N-Sane trilogy's weird physics changes. Most fun with a platformer I've had in ages, it has was Odyssey was lacking as far as challenge goes too. Give it a shot if you're on the fence

I love 3D platformers so I may pick this up. I tend to prefer challenge-based platforming like most Galaxy 1/2 levels or the fludd-less levels from Sunshine over most collectathon-type environments. So this seems right up my alley!

@wollywoo: this sounds like a good fit then, there is a crate breaking quota for each level,but it feels more like learning a level and timing than it does a collectathon. Adding unlimited lives (you can turn "lives" back on if you're a sadist) makes the difficulty more surmountable too. Only thing that seems undoable are the platinum time trials

I'm in the last world. And although there have been too many levels where I miss a single crate, these late levels are so imaginative.

@wollywoo: The Crash games are really not collectathons, and the comparison to Mario back in the PS1 days was really just that they were both the 3D mascots.

There was an old review of the PS1 Crash games where they pointed out that the Crash games are basically just 3D versions of Donkey Kong Country and I think that's the most apt comparison you can make. The games are essentially on rails, 100 fruit give you an extra life, the collectibles are mostly optional, etc. Even the world map of the original Crash is ripped straight out of the original DKC with you running around a map of the island.

Crash 2 was my favorite but I haven't really looked into 4 yet. Mostly for money reasons, but it looks like there's a bunch of gimmicky things in the levels. OP says otherwise, though, so maybe I'll check it out sooner than I planned.

@pooch516: Right, that's why I'm interested in this one. I played a few of the Crash games at a friend's place back in the day and my memory of them is that they're most focused on pure platforming challenges which is my favorite type of game, although I prefer Mario's buttery smooth controls.

@wollywoo: this is the most buttery Crash game they've made, the controls are fantastic, which makes the high demand for later challenges feel fair. only a few of the secondary character levels feel a little less precise to me.

Just finished the story, plenty of gems and stuff to get still though. Best platformer I've ever played.