Lets be real. Crash Bandicoot has had a bumpy ride ever since Naughty Dog had to ditch him because Universal were so unbearable to work for back in the day. We saw Crash get tossed around to different developers like a hot potato and not only that but they were given unrealistic development quota times from Universal which meant, rushed and unpolished products. Once Universal was no more, Activision got the license and had slowly revived Crash from obscurity with better developers and more reasonable development times. Crash really took the spotlight again when the three original, best games were remastered from scratch to great acclaim. Perhaps even better was when Crash Team Racing was brought back and not just brought back better but had so much new content added, it was practically a new game. So it has been a while since we got a brand new Crash game, 12 years to be exact.
How did this game turn out? Well to start Activision has developers (Toys for Bob in this case) who not only are talented and passionate about the Crash IP, but these developers played the Crash games as kids themselves so it's as if the biggest fans are the ones who are developing the game. It's very clear from the beginning that there's a lot of effort put in. This new Crash title is kind of like a do over after Crash 3. Everyone knows the original Crash 4 (Wrath of Cortex) was a disaster and pretty much was the big downfall of the franchise. They call this game Crash 4 very intentionally because its like the developers wanted to take the franchise in a new, better direction. A total redo and it's a true sequel to Crash 3. The humor here is really good too because most hardcore Crash fans will get the jokes about that and the new story involving more time travel and dimensions doesn't mean the original games after 3 are gone for good but that this game is a new alternative timeline so for the few who liked Wrath of Cortex, it still exists but in an alternative timeline.
Honestly the question is who was this game developed for? The hardcore fans who wanted a true new Crash game or for new fans? The answer is obvious. It's suppose to be for both but honestly, it falls a bit short in execution for a pretty big reason. The difficulty. Now anyone who has played Crash in the past know it doesn't come without it's fair share of difficulty. The original game proved to be a pretty brutal challenge and many gamers relived that with Insane Trilogy. However, the difficulty in this game goes much further than that. To be honest, it's actually the hardest Crash game yet and not for the right reasons. The problem is the difficulty is very high right out of the gate and getting all boxes is much harder, and the chances of dying actually is elevated to the extreme. Now the developers did add a small way to alleviate that. You can chose a modern mode which means there's no lives and you can keep trying again, no matter how many times you die. Now that definitely was warranted because the game is designed to die...….a lot!!! But the main issue is there's no learning curve. The game is going to alienate a lot of new gamers and remember that Crash is suppose to appeal to children and adults a like. The deaths are much more frequent, much cheaper, and honestly, trying to get all the boxes feels like a chore. It's almost as if you're suppose to just get through the level first, and then try to get all the boxes later. Even the original Crash had a better learning curve. It gets frustrating when you die 30 times a level. Heck, the new mode shows the amount of times you die. Now perhaps this sounds like a rant that the game is too hard. It's more like it didn't do a good enough job balancing it out for everyone from a brand new Crash player to the hardcore fan alike. This game should have taken a page from Crash 3 for it's the best received Crash in the franchise for a lot of reasons. It was the most well balanced Crash. Inviting enough where anyone could pick it up and play but it still had plenty of challenges and hidden goodies for those who wanted that challenge. Here this game doesn't do that. It should have maybe gone the route many games have by adding multiple difficulty levels. Even a kids mode would suffice here but it didn't do that. It's a game I cannot introduce to my young, nephew.
The game is well developed and it certainly is good to see Crash developed by people who are passionate and actually care about the IP and that's great to see but the balancing issues makes it at times a chore to play and sometimes it's more frustrating than fun.