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Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time

Beating the Backlog: Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time

The Toys for Bob-developed game hasn't quite left me as blown away as I would've hoped.

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So far, my backlog beating journey has been a pretty great one. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, A Plague Tale: Innocence, and Final Fantasy VII: Remake have all blown me away, despite the latter at least being something I was rather cautious about going into it. So, looking ahead to this week's instalment, I've been rather excited and confident that this success would continue, especially considering this week I've been focussed on completing Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, a platformer that I have been waiting for a chance to check out and play ever since it launched back in October 2020. Unfortunately, the Toys for Bob-developed game hasn't quite resonated with me in the way that I would've hoped.

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Don't get me wrong, I still appreciate this game for what it is: an impressive platformer. But, I've come to understand that the more retro design of a Crash game hasn't quite managed to captivate me in the same way that other platformers have as of late. The incredibly linear nature combined with the mechanics that demand perfection combine to make for a game that just failed to really draw me in - even though I really, really hoped that it would, because Crash Bandicoot has been one of my favourite game series for a long time.

I knew going in that in a typical Crash fashion, Crash 4 would do pretty much anything it could to make my blood pressure rise, mostly in the form of killing me in cruel and vicious ways. Because of this, the rage that this game often pulled out of me never really phased me, rather I appreciated Crash 4 for being such a ruthless title. But that didn't change the fact that the game started to wear on me early on, more so at the certain instances of dying because of a particularly clunky gap that expected you to leap at a specific time, or having to repeat frustrating parts of a level due to the lengthy distance between checkpoints. It all culminated to a point where I just simply didn't want to play the game anymore, as it was becoming more of a chore than an enjoyable experience.

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Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time

But again, just because Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time didn't quite connect with me in the way that I hoped, this doesn't change the fact that I appreciate that Crash still gets his time in the sun in the modern age of gaming. This style isn't for me anymore, but boy was it a blast from the past to be able to get back into Crash' shoes once again, especially in a game that has been created to such a high quality as this one is.

The level design is fantastic, the visuals and art style top notch, the mechanics ingenious. This really is a fabulous video game for a wealth of reasons, which is why I'm a little bit disappointed that it hasn't rubbed off on me all that much. I loved the remakes of Spyro and I absolutely loved the recent Ratchet & Clank games, two other old school platformers that have been massively influential in my appreciation for all things games today. But, I think it's clear at this point that Crash and me are on separate paths, even if this wily marsupial is still a knockout character and part of a timeless series. In my eyes, that's as clear as day.

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About TimeCrash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
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