Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is a platformer from Toys for Bob that follows directly on from the original nineties trilogy, ignoring every entry made in between. The player guides both Crash and Coco through intricate levels full of precise jumping, timing, and item collecting, while the game gradually adds new masks with special abilities - such as slowing down time, phasing through obstacles, or reversing gravity - that change how already-familiar levels are traversed and force players to adapt their technique. The difficulty ranks among the higher end of the genre, and the game also offers alternate paths, hidden secrets, and bonus levels for players who want to squeeze every last bit out of each level.

On Xbox Series X|S the game released as a free next-gen upgrade to the original version, bringing faster loading, higher resolution, and a smoother framerate, which is very welcome during fast platforming sections requiring precise timing and reduces frustration during repeated attempts. The colorful, cartoonish graphics look vivid and sharp on modern TVs, and the soundtrack continues the series' distinctive style familiar since the nineties entries.

Critically the game was received positively, praised especially for returning to the demanding but fair difficulty of the classic entries and for the amount of content, including playable characters with their own movement styles and abilities. For fans of the original trilogy, this is a dignified continuation that retains precise controls on next-gen consoles along with the demanding but rewarding feeling of overcoming levels they remember from the earlier entries on older consoles. The game also offers an optional mode with a limited number of lives for players who want to experience the original, harsher nineties feel, as well as more accessible settings for those who mainly want to get through the story without unnecessary frustration. Individual levels often also offer sections seen through the eyes of characters other than Crash and Coco, bringing pleasant variety to the established gameplay formula and breaking up the repetitive rhythm of jumping across platforms.

Why play it: For fans of the classic trilogy craving a demanding but fair platformer with a large roster of playable characters - with an optional mode for both a harsher and a more relaxed experience.