Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is a direct sequel to the classic Crash Bandicoot 1-3 games, ignoring all the side titles and continuing the story long after the original nineties trilogy. The player once again returns to fast, precise 3D/2.5D platforming, where perfect timing of jumps, spin attacks, and slides is needed to get Crash and Coco past increasingly demanding traps, chasms, and enemies scattered across several different dimensions and time periods. The new addition is the so-called Quantum Masks, which alter the main character's gravity, mass, or phase of matter, adding new puzzle and movement elements to the established formula that the player gradually unlocks throughout the campaign. The level structure also offers alternate timelines, where the player returns to the same environment but with a different goal and a different route, extending the challenge even after first completing a given chapter.

The graphical presentation on PS4 is clean and colorful, with high resolution and stable performance, while the music continues the series' traditional tone with energetic tracks accompanying the acrobatic runs through each level. The game's difficulty is deliberately high, especially when collecting all the crates and completing bonus challenges or optional retro levels in the style of the original games, which was appreciated by players looking for a genuine challenge comparable to the difficulty of nineties platformers, just with modern technical execution and more precise controls. The game also offers local co-op for a second player in the role of supporting characters, adding a pleasant shared-play option to an otherwise strictly solo platformer.

The game was well received at launch as a successful return to the series' roots after the more experimental titles of previous years, and fans appreciated that the developers at Toys for Bob weren't afraid to return to tough, precise platforming action instead of simplifying things. It is still considered one of the most demanding and elaborately crafted 3D platformers of the PS4 generation, and proof that Crash's classic formula can hold up against more modern genre competitors when approached with respect for its roots.

Why play it: For players who want tough, precise platforming action without simplification - one of the most demanding and elaborately crafted 3D platformers of the PS4 generation, faithful to the series' roots.