The other day Activision And Toys for Bob organized a closed online event dedicated to Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time. Producer Lou Studdert (Louis Studdert) showed the new levels and abilities of the orange bandicoot and answered questions from journalists. In addition Toys for Bob shared a demo of the platformer, so I personally found out how difficult the fourth part is compared to the trilogy Naughty Dog and whether the veteran of the low-poly era was exhausted even before the start.
A mess over time
Although It’s About Time – the eighth game in the main series about Crash, it continues the plot of the third, Warped. Villains Neo Cortex, Uka Uka and Nefarious Tropic break out of the "extra-dimensional" prison. Because of their desperate escape, a paradox occurs: universes that previously existed in parallel collide. It’s up to Crash and Coco to return time and space to normal. You can freely switch between bandicoots, because they have the same techniques: double jump, roll, spin and fall belly down. These moves are available from the very beginning – you don’t have to unlock them.
So, in Crash Bandicoot 4 we have to visit dimensions from different eras, as in Warped: there is the middle of the 20th century, the prehistoric period with dinosaurs, some kind of science fiction with flying turtles… The structure of the platformer is reminiscent of the first part, that is, the sequence of stages is pre-planned. Toys for Bob wants to gradually introduce users to the nuances of gameplay.
Linear levels are made with a classic side and third-person view (we look at the character’s back or elongated face as he runs away from the tyrannosaurus). The perspective is a little wider than in the arcades Naughty Dog, you can move the camera – move the right stick and see what’s going on around you.
Four quantum masks will help Crash/Coco cope with the Cortex and save the world from destruction. During the announcement Toys for Bob told about two: Kupuna-Wa slows down time for a short period, and Ika-Ika allows you to jump on the ceiling, which brings to mind the ending DARQ.
Crash as Kupuna-Wa. The outfits of each mask are different. By the way, Aku-Aku has not gone away: if you collect three masks, you will gain invulnerability.
About the third, Lani-Loli, https://stonevegas.uk/games/ Lou Studdert told at the presentation. Lani-Loli will come in handy when sliding along the “rails”. Let’s say our marsupial klutz is rushing along a vine, with overgrown mushrooms ahead. What to do? Turn on the mask (press Triangle or R2), and the mushroom dissolves in the air. The way is clear!
Masks are not stored somewhere in the inventory, but appear in front of segments of locations that cannot be overcome without them.
Die 2020 times
The demo included three mid-game stages: Snow Way Out, Dino Dash and Cortex’s Timeline of Snow Way Out. About the torment of Cortex – a little lower, but now let’s concentrate on the first two.
In Snow Way Out, a zombie fishing village, Crash gets his hands on Kupuna-Wa. With it, it became possible to walk through Nitro boxes, which previously would have instantly exploded, slow down falling pieces of ice and climb onto quickly disappearing platforms. When jumping, the place where Crash lands is highlighted with a circle. It seems easier to navigate, but the fixed camera confuses you over and over again. It is not always obvious whether the hero will reach the ground or fall into the unknown. Similar to old releases, It’s About Time forces you to carefully memorize the levels, perform tricks seriously, and not relax. The platformer, oddly enough, turns into… a pleasant musical game – more than once I caught myself thinking that I was “getting into the rhythm” and thanks to this I was passing a difficult section.
IN CB4 Crash constantly teeters on the brink of death. To make life easier for players, Toys for Bob introduced two modes: Modern and Retro. In the final build, you can switch between them in the options menu (in the “demo” – on the location selection screen).
Both are equally difficult, but in Modern you are free to die at every turn. It’s okay – you’ll resurrect at the nearest checkpoint. In Retro, lives are finite: lose everyone – Toys for Bob will send you to the beginning of the stage. In Retro, a hundred collected wampa fruits give one life, but in Modern it is only a collectible item. Also, a reason to carefully clear a location in “modern” mode will be the death counter – if there are few of them, they will award a certain prize. An example of a less noticeable difference between modes: a box with a golden fruit in Retro will bring an extra life, and in Modern it will bring 25 “apples”.
In addition to sliding along “rails” and abilities granted by masks, the red-haired hero will learn to run along walls and swing on a rope, like Yarny from Unravel.
The developers also took care of other new boxes. You will come across a box that shoots out jets of flame. If he burns the bandicoot, a strange death animation will follow. Let’s chalk this up to the fact that this is far from the final build. In pursuit – the ridiculous jumps of a marsupial on lava. It immediately dawned on me that the bandicoot is not a survivor, why show twice how it soars into the air?
There are also plenty of elements from old games – secrets, bonus areas, counting boxes at the finish line, races with a timer, ping-pong with enemy bodies… Finally, among the bosses in CB4 familiar faces come across. Battle with Doctor N. Gin furnished in style Guitar Hero – Crash is confronted by a robot striker controlled by Neo Cortex’s assistant.
So we got to the Cortex. Playing for him is like a puzzle. The vengeful scientist is not trained to double jump, but in his arsenal he has a long dash and a blaster that turns oncoming animals and fish into platforms (regular and springy). We plan to move from point A to B, test the theory, try again.
Stages with Cortex and other minor characters are designed to diversify the passage. They intersect with and influence the adventures of the bandicoot. In the demo, Cortex blew up a ship that Crash could use to cross the abyss. I’ll say more: the levels under the Timeline guise are divided into two halves. First you control a minor character, then Crash/Coco, and the second half is a complicated version of a previously completed location.
CB4 soundtrack composed by Walter Mair, involved in Total War and Killzone. For each measurement, he prepared special instruments – such as a bone flute for the era of dinosaurs.
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time will be understandable to beginners, and not just to regulars of hardcore platformers. The trademark grin of the series is preserved, gameplay injections are on point. Number of levels Lou Studdert didn’t name – for Toys for Bob their variability is more important. The producer did not specify whether the arcade will run at 30 or 60 frames/s. The team intends to iron out technical aspects before release. Subtitles in Russian are officially confirmed. “There are no microtransactions and are not planned,” he emphasized separately Studdert. We believe and are waiting for the premiere on October 2 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.