Tag Archives: Platformer

Digimon World 4 Review

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This has been a game I had on my backburner for an incredibly long time. I remember playing this for the Gamecube so many years ago but never got past world 2. Well, I went back and played the game from start to finish. It’s a pretty fun title but I do have to say that the story was a little on the disappointing side. There are a lot of moments where the story feels like it was skipped or was off screen. There is just barely a plot holding this together so much so that when you beat the final boss the credits just roll. There’s no final cutscene or any final dialogue. The game’s just over and it shoos you away to the next one. I feel like maybe it got a bit rushed.

The basic plot of the game though is that a virus is spreading and going to destroy the entire Digital World soon. The heroes naturally have to stop this so you’re sent out to finish them all. That’s about it for the story. Go to all 4 worlds and blow up the enemy Digimon. Doing so will be a good move and you’ll also get to feel heroic so that’s not a bad deal is it? It’s what you’ve always wanted to do. While there are only 4 worlds I would say the length of the game is still pretty decent. I’d estimate about 8 hours of gameplay more or less. The difficulty of the game is definitely what could extend this one. It’s clear that the game was made with multiple fighters in mind since the game supports 4 player co-op. You can counter the fact that the EXP goes at a slow rate by overwhelming the enemies with sheer numbers. In particular I found the first and last levels to be very tough. I had to do a lot of leveling up and retries in order to clear the final hurdle.

The game has an overhead combat style similar to Marvel’s Ultimate Alliance. You can choose from a few weapons such as a sword, axe, spear, or a gun. I highly recommend the gun. Attacking with the swords is just really dangerous because of how close you have to get to the enemies and how they keep moving while you are hitting them. You get a lot of attack power from close combat weapons but I don’t think it’s really worth it. The drawbacks are still too numerous next to the gun which really has no big weakness. You can spam it from afar and that will take care of the enemies no sweat. You can hold onto 3 weapons while you’re on the field though so feel free to bring one of each.

In this game you do need to improve your weapon levels to use them though. For example, if you have a gun level of 100 you can only use guns up to that level. So you couldn’t equip a level 105 gun. Then if you only use guns your sword level will be at 1 so even if you find an amazing one it’ll take a while to use it. TO improve your weapon level you need to keep using your weapon on enemies. Pretty self explanatory eh? There’s not a whole lot to explain on it so you’ll just get it right away. One thing to note is this is one of the first RPGs I’ve played where you can’t just use weapons you pick up. So if you pick up a weapon on the field then you will need to go back to base and go to the Digi Lab in order to equip it. that means you can expect a lot of back and forth trips. Additionally, you can’t hold too many items so get ready to sell some. You can only sell items one at a time though.

I think that’s really at the heart of the issues for Digimon. The game doesn’t seem all that polished. A lot of the elements here just take up way too much time. We’re just talking about small delays but they’re actions you have to repeat over and over again so the time starts to quickly add up. This occurs whenever you need to change a weapon, equip a mod, etc. It gets to the point where you don’t want to bother with equipment all that much. Just get a good loadout and then get ready to head out. The Hub World is also quite huge with 3 different areas one of which has 2 floors. There are various shops and such to be found here so you should memorize which area has which shops early on so you don’t go to the wrong place too often.

The game is at its best when it’s focusing on the actual dungeon exploration gameplay. You take out all of the enemies in your way and evntually head to wherever the boss Digimon is. Each world has 4 dungeons in it except for the last one which has 3. The dungeons typically have scores of enemies that will try to get in your way until you meet the boss to take him out. The boss is usually a lot easier to deal with than the minions so I don’t expect you will have any real issues there. The final boss is a handful though so my recommendation is a lot of run and gun tactics. If he hits you with the thunder palm it’s game over. If he hits you with the shadow balls then it’s game over. You really can’t let him hit you at all so just keep on running. If you think you can squeeze in another attack…don’t. It’s just not worth it at that point. You want to live because dying means you have to go through the entire dungeon again which can take a little while.

Also pro-tip, don’t trust the quick save. You have the ability to use a gate card to make a shortcut deep in the dungeon that takes you home. Thing is, the shortcut expires as soon as you quit the game so if you save and exit then that’s it for that. I got burned on that once. I guess it’s meant as just something fun to have on hand for long play batches but it’s definitely not something you want to take chances with. My other tip is to really use the healing attack a lot. You cant to have it keep improving since you recover more health that way and eventually you’ll never even need to use potions. It’s a great help not having to depend on the items. You can use that space for something else.

The graphics here are pretty good. It’s definitely got that nice Gamecube feel to it and looks very nostalgic. The boss designs are on point and the stages all look pretty different. The soundtrack is fairly standard and not too memorable but it works well enough I’d say. As mentioned the game length is fairly decent. There’s not really much in the way of replay value though. I suppose you could go and learn all of the evolutions to have fun with. I believe they take you back to level 1 though and since leveling up isn’t very fast in this game I’m guessing you won’t want to put so much time into doing things all over again.

Overall, Digimon World 4 is a fun game. It’s just one that feels like it was rushed quite massively towards the end. A lot of the gameplay mechanics take longer than they should and the story was nonexistent. The actual dungeon gameplay was fun though and having to go up against such large numbers of enemies can be pretty thrilling. You know that you can’t lower your guard for an instant or it’ll be over. I also appreciate the fact that this was made as a 4 player co-op game as you don’t really see that anymore. If you want to check out a Digimon game this is a good one to get but I would sooner recommend Cyber Sleuth or Rumble Arena.

Overall 6/10

Casper: Spirit Dimensions Review

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Casper is one of those characters that I don’t know nearly as well as I should. The ghost’s a bit of a mystery to be honest but I do know that he’s about as friendly a guy as you’ll ever meet. The game was sitting on my backlog for an incredibly long amount of time in part because the first few levels weren’t great and also because the old TV had a really hard time with loading up old graphics. Well, now I was finally ready to give this another go. The game isn’t very long at all and makes for a decent playthrough. I’d say the game still has some gameplay elements holding it back but you should still have a good time for a few hours until you complete it.

The game starts with Casper noticing that the house is rather empty. Wendy shows up and lets him know that a powerful being known as Kibosh has appeared and taken all of the ghosts down. Casper is the only ghost left who is not enslaved or now working for the villain. She pleads with Casper to help but the young hero is reluctant since he believes that a friendly ghost won’t be enough for this mission. He keeps bringing up the fact that he is a friendly ghost as if it was a weakness. If only he knew that this was what made him strong. Still, in the end he does decide to help. Can Casper take this guy down?

The game has 4 worlds. Most of the worlds are pretty quick. In general you can even beat the game in around 2 hours based on videos that I’ve seen. It took me considerably longer than that though, I want to say around 5 hours or so. Mainly it can always be tough to find some of the collectibles. This game is a 3D platformer but at its core a lot of emphasis is put on collecting things. Whether it’s buttons, cannons, or something like that you’ll always be trying to find something. Keep on searching long enough and eventually you will be able to get at it. Usually the final collectible is hidden in a rather unique place like through a tunnel or past a gate somewhere. So just don’t give up.

Each level has a similar formula like that. Someone will tell you to locate the 5 pieces and once you do then he’ll give you a piece of the next collectible. Once you get the rest of the items then you’ll be able to challenge the boss of that world. Most of the bosses are pretty straight forward. Just spam your energy blast and you’ll be okay. Alternately some bosses will have you focus on a weak spot first. That’s the case in the final boss. Make sure you blast at him so he drops some energy which will power Casper up and allow future blasts to hit him.

As Casper you have quite a few attacks. You can charge into enemies to deal some pretty solid damage that way. You can fire classic energy blasts, fire blasts, and ice moves. You can also use some energy to shoot a charged blast or an electric move. Then you’ve got the ability to turn intangible for a few seconds which will prevent enemies from hurting you. It’s pretty handy in the final boss but otherwise you’ll just be using this for puzzles and to find more collectibles. The fact that you can fly without any time limits is nice. It feels like a lot of games don’t let you do this so I’m glad Casper didn’t think of some crazy reason for why we wouldn’t be able to do this. It absolutely would have felt very forced, I can guarantee that.

The difficulty is pretty reasonable. I wouldn’t say the game is all that hard but you can’t be sloppy either. If you just fly into the opponents and start blasting at random then you will absolutely be defeated. You have to go in with a certain degree of caution. The best thing to do in the game is strafe around the opponents. Hold R as you move and you won’t get hit in a 1 on 1 battle. You’ll always be around the corner and that’s pretty key here. If you keep that in mind and also the bit about the collectibles then you’ll be good. Please note that if you fall into a portal during a mission then you have to start from scratch so don’t let that happen to you. I’m guessing it saves the game some memory doing this but it can be pretty easy to fall into one, that’s for sure. Slow and steady wins the race here.

There isn’t a lot of replay value though. I guess you could go back to try and gain some more gems to improve your overall completion% but I don’t see how it helps at all. There don’t appear to be any rewards for doing so which definitely seems like a mess. If you really enjoy the gameplay then it’s still something at least. The campaign is around 4-5 hours since I don’t think you’ll be able to crack all of the puzzles immediately. I certainly wasn’t able to at least. You can typically find this game for really cheap nowadays so that’s something to keep in mind.

Overall, Casper: Spirit Dimensions ended better than it began. I do think the gameplay was rather ambitious. It may not have been super polished and little things here and there like the collecting mechanics not being explained very well or the portals erasing progress can be pretty annoying but the core gameplay itself was good. Kibosh definitely made for a decent villain and I dare say that he may have been Casper’s deadliest opponent. It’s hard to top that guy at least. Make sure you stick around for the ending as well. It was definitely leading up to a sequel but I suppose we never quite got that one. Too bad, it could have been really interesting if you ask me. If you see this in stores I’d recommend checking it out if you want to play a nostalgic platformer.

Overall 6/10

Pryzm: Chapter One: The Dark Unicorn Review

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Pryzm is one of the oldest games I have on my backlog. I remember playing level 1 many years ago and quickly diving out of the game because of how crazy it was. Well, I finally went back to it and I can’t say that the game has aged very well. The main problem here is really just the fact that the gameplay is not explained very well at all. This leads to a whole lot of guessing/trial and error until you get the right combination down. Then you have a move that you’re taught in the tutorial but never works in the actual game. Did they forget to program that in? Wouldn’t surprise me.

The world has been split into many factions due to a plague spreading across the land. Everyone believes that a Unicorn started this global pandemic and so they have not been doing very well. Or at least that’s implied but the only kingdom we actually see is ruled by Unicorns so…I dunno. Well, Pryzm has decided to go and put a stop to this and she is accompanied by an old Dwarf who isn’t thrilled about the partnership but wants to prove that the Unicorns did start this mess. The duo will have to go and purify all of the countries in the land and may also have to go up against the embodiment of darkness itself.

The gameplay is in a 3D perspective. You ride around on your Unicorn as you search for flowers. Each level has 5 flowers to destroy which then allows you to get to the core plant. Destroying that purifies the land. There are 4 worlds and each of them have 5 levels to conquer. Once you have done that then you will unlock the final boss. The objectives in each level are the same but that doesn’t mean it’ll be easy. The flowers are completely invincible unless you destroy the minions powering them up. Some are immune to your sword so you’ll have to hit them with energy. You also have to do this quickly because the minions respawn in under a minute so taking out the flower is your best bet. You also don’t have a lot of energy and the only way to refill it is to lose a life or run back to the last purified area.

For your attack options you have the sword, magical energy blasts, and then the Unicorn’s horn blast. You’ve also got a charge attack but as far as I could tell it doesn’t deal any damage to any of the enemies you fight in the game so I’m not sure what that’s all about. You can also hold your sword out to sense where the next flower is which is nice…or you could just press R3 which brings up the map and shows you exactly where it is without relying on a magical compass of sorts. Personally that’s the option I recommend. So when you face an enemy with a red barrier then you need to use energy blasts. Against the plants the sword is the best bet and for bosses you need to shoot your magical blasts at it and then use the unicorn blast to deal damage. Does the game tell you any of this? No, so try and pick up on things as much as possible.

There are also some flowers where it is impossible to beat all of the enemies with the limited magic you have. The trick is to weaken all of them without dying and then run back to the last save point which restores your magic. Go back to the flower and then finish them all off. It’s a bit tedious of course but it’s really the only way to do it. Once you’ve got these tricks up your sleeve then you’ll be ready for the game. It’s just that finding all of this out the hard way doesn’t make for a very entertaining experience. By the time you’ve died 50+ times you’ll just be ready to move on. You’ve got unlimited lives at least so that helps a lot.

The game is rather short. With only 20 levels and each one being completable in around 10 minutes or so this can be about 3 hours. You do have to factor in the fact that it’ll take time to get used to these controls though. I’d say that the game took me around 6 hours or so. There isn’t any replay value here though so what you see is what you get. You can replay old levels of course but that’s it. There are no collectibles, upgrades, or anything of that nature. So hopefully you’re on board with the story. I didn’t consider the story to be all that bad. There aren’t a lot of cutscenes as most levels just end with some stock narration from the characters you saved. Occasionally you’ll have the dark unicorn show up to taunt you a bit or even to beg for mercy. He can never decide if he is a hero or not. I suppose the darkness just had too hard of a grip on him.

In terms of graphics the game is going for a very different arttyle. It’s fairly dark and I would say that the Dark Unicorn’s design really looks impressive. The gameplay is not quite as good as the cutscenes though and I would have to give that one a thumbs down. There just doesn’t seem to be a lot of effort put into the game. The soundtrack is quite limited as well and it should be noted that during gameplay you will be hearing the same lines as the characters argue over and over again. It was a nice touch that in the final levels they spam lines where they actually get along a little better now. At least the game was trying something unique there.

Overall, This is one of the few games that I would not recommend. I’ve played hundreds of games and there are probably only a dozen or fewer games that I’d say were just not good. This is one of them. In a way it’s regrettable since once you get used to the gameplay you may find it enjoyable but it takes way too long to get to that point. The game also fails to actually tell you the rules of the title so you’ll need to find other sources to help you out there. That should never happen in a game, but especially not for a platformer which is more of a basic genre as is. Just tell us what the objectives and controls are and we’ll be able to do the rest. I can see why we never got a chapter 2.

Overall 4/10

Little Big Planet 3 Review

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The Little Big Planet series started off rather rocky with the first game and then really jumped with the second one. This final installment in the trilogy manages to keep that same energy and keeps the series on an upwards trajectory. I wouldn’t say it quite matches the second game which still had the most intense plot but the fact that the game has a pretty serious story with clear plot progression is always a good thing. Sackboy has really done everything he could in order to save the world at this point. He may get nervous but he’s always ready.

So there’s a guy named Newton who has decided to awaken the Titans. He had the best of intentions initially as he just wanted to help the world with energy and such. Unfortunately the power corrupts him as everyone warned it would and he aims to destroy the world. Sackboy will have to resurrect the 3 legendary warriors to back him up and claim victory now. It’ll be dangerous but if he has these guys back him up then now he has a real shot at success. Naturally that means Sackboy will have to get past the Titans though so he can’t afford to lower his guard at all or it may be game over here.

There are 3 worlds in the game and each one has around 5 levels. The campaign is a little on the short side as you’ll have it completed in around 3 hours. There is a lot of replay value to be had here though as you can go back and play online levels, grab collectibles, and earn PS4 trophies. There are a lot of these to grab so that should extend the game to around 10 hours or longer I would expect. There are also a bunch of extra levels that aren’t required to beat the game but are present in each world. You can also get the game for a pretty good price so that helps even out the length concerns. Part of why it goes a lot faster than the other games is because the game is a lot easier than the second one. Perhaps people weren’t thrilled with the difficulty of the last one? It could get surprisingly tough that’s for sure, I remember being pretty surprised at that myself.

The story itself is pretty fun though. Newton makes for a fun villain who even has an emotional backstory. You can’t help but feel a little bad for him because he’s had it tough. Not “Gotta destroy the world” tough but still I’ll give him some props. Meanwhile the graphics are definitely solid. The levels have a lot of really solid backgrounds to it and each of the worlds are pretty unique. The soundtrack is also nice with an iconic Christmas song thrown in and then you’ve got another lively one during the credits. A good amount of work was put into this. I wonder if the songs were free domain at this point or if they had to pay for them. Either way it’s pretty nice to have though.

The gameplay is your classic 2D platformer. You want to run and jump past obstacles to make it to the end of the game. This time around you have multiple playable characters though and each of them have some slight differences. The dog for example can move faster than Sackboy. He can’t grab things but he can run on walls. Then you have the bird who can fly at high speeds. He makes for some of the tougher bits in the game since when you go into free drive it can be difficult to dodge the lasers and such. Then you have the power player of the group who can shrink into a tiny form to go under platforms or into the huge form in order to punch through obstacles.

One thing that’s always been a big point of emphasis for the Little Big Planet games is how much customization there is in the gameplay. Aside from level creating you can also equip your Sackboy with hundreds of different clothing options. You can make him an explorer, superhero, monster, etc. I gave him a basic Indiana Jones type costume this time. Initially when you start the game the two options are that one and Red Riding Hood but there are tons of materials to find in every level. After the first level you can probably combine for a bunch of different uniforms as well. So Sackboy can really appear as you want him to be.

Overall, Little Big Planet 3 is a pretty fun game. You can’t ask for much more from a classic platformer. The gameplay is strong with no glitches in sight, the soundtrack is on point with a lot of variety and solid tunes, finally you have really good graphics with a lot of character designs that are on point. It doesn’t lose in any technical aspects. The only real factor working against the game is the length of the story and even then there are a lot of bonus options you can do to keep up the replay value. I’m looking forward to seeing how the 4th Little Big Planet turns out. If it does well then it may be time for Sony to more aggressively think of spinoffs putting Sackboy in different gameplay styles and situations. I think there’s a lot of potential there. If you like platformers then this should be somewhere on your list.

Overall 7/10

Little Big Planet 3 Stats and Records

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Stats time!

PS4 Trophies 4/32

World Stats

World 0 56% Complete
World 1 34% Complete
World 2 28% Complete
World 3 235 Complete

Level Stats (%Complete)

Belly of the Beast 42%
Masque Maker’s Tower 19%
Cloud Caravan 31%
Even Bosses Wear Hats Sometimes 76%
Benkum Lagoon 9%
The Great Escape 30%

Crash Twinsanity Review

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It’s time to look at one of the classic Crash games from the PS2 era. I knew right away that it was going to be time to give this a shot after going through the newer Crash game. It’s always fun to take a peak at the classic games and Twinsanity definitely has that charm. In some ways I would even say that the plot may beat the newer one. It definitely has a lot of fun embracing the crazyness of the series and a certain guest star’s cameo at the end of the game was brilliant. It’s not something that can be topped very easily.

So the game starts with Cortex hatching another plan of his. He dresses up as Coco and is able to even trick Crash with his disguise. It’s not Crash’s best moment but you could also make the case that it’s pretty much par for the course with this Bandicoot. Unfortunately for Cortex there are other players at work here. A pair of aliens have shown up and they want revenge on Cortex for something he did to them as a child. They certainly don’t tend to forgive and forget the way that other characters do. Cortex is basically forces to work with Crash as a result so that he doesn’t get destroyed. Along the way all of Crash’s other enemies pop up including the iconic Dark Crash. Will the heroes be able to win?

The plot is pretty bonkers but that’s part of why the game succeeds so well. Things just happen out of nowhere and the story goes crazy. Dark Crash literally jumps out of nowhere to chase Cortex and vanishes as soon as he shows up. It’s almost like how Shadow just suddenly showed up in Sonic Boom the game. Dark Crash has a pretty terrifying final scene though so he’s still someone you don’t want to mess with. Cortex certainly does look very good here so I can see why he was a fan favorite. We learn a bit about his backstory like in his school days and more of his motivations for dealing with Crash. The guy may not be a very serious Crash villain most of the time but he is still a genius so you really don’t want to be on his bad side. He can deal out quite a bit of pain when he really wants to. Even by the end of the game he still tries his usual tricks.

For a villain like Cortex you do gotta find the right blend of comedy and action for his character to work. Cortex is just skilled enough where you can picture him destroying Crash but a nice enough guy where they could team up on the regular. I’m always up for a team up so that part of the plot was definitely a blast. The ending also leaves a lot of potential for future games even if it’s unlikely. Perhaps the most emotional part of the game is that Crash clearly still wants to be friends with Cortex. he doesn’t let any of this get to him personally as seen by his attempt to be Cortex’s friend in the end. The betrayal hits really close to home as a result and you may even shed a tear.

As for the gameplay, this is your classic 3D Platformer. You jump across obstacles and try to get to the end. While it’s a simple style, the execution wasn’t nearly on the same level as what I’m used to seeing in the series. Some jumps that should be very easy end up being quite tricky thanks to the various camera angles. It’s hard to see where you’re going and in the levels where you’re running towards the screen you better have lightning fast reflexes. The gameplay changes at times when you play as a different character. I was sad that the robot style gameplay only showed up for part of one level but that was certainly fun. Maybe it just comes down to the physics engine not being very good which messes with the jumps. I don’t know, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly but making the experience a little smoother would go a long way.

The graphics are excellent here. The character animations are often way out of model but I believe it’s on purpose. Sonic DX for example was very authentic in the graphics and it just so happened that it would become very humorous in the future. For this game I think they were trying to make it as out there as possible and I would say that it really succeeded. I love the designs and mixing that in with the dialogue is perfect. The scene where Cortex’s voice cracks as he talks to his teacher mixed in with the animation was brilliant.

The soundtrack can also be pretty fun. It’s a really crazy one for sure though. Sometimes you’ll have a very tropical theme and then you’ll quickly switch to something that’s pure rock. The changes happen quite suddenly and you can never guess what the next tune will sound like. The shock value may not be enough to make this one of the all time greats, but I would definitely call it a pretty solid array of themes.

There isn’t a lot of replay value here but enough to keep you going. Each level has some gems which look like Chaos Emeralds. So you can go back to the old levels and try to grab them. The hub world is also quite large so you can have a lot of fun exploring. I almost wonder why the game bothered with the hub world since you never really get to walk around it during the story. It was nice that they put in the effort to set it up though so that’s definitely pretty neat. I suppose I would recommend giving it a shot at some point. The game is pretty cheap so it’s well worth the purchase.

Overall, Crash Twinsanity is a pretty fun game. I do feel like the gameplay wasn’t very polished though and that’s what would keep it under the main 3 as well as the recent time travel story. You gotta have clean gameplay to accompany the rest of the title. Still, it’s a fun adventure. The game may be short but you should die enough times to stretch out the length a bit. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how Crash fares in the next installments. It’s not like the enemies are going to be getting any easier so Crash will really have to focus himself. One thing’s for sure, this Bandicoot is never afraid of charging in since he can’t understand the danger.

Overall 7/10

Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time Review

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It’s time to take a look at the new Crash game that just came out. It’s About Time was definitely a title that got a lot of hype because it has been a very long time since we got a brand new Crash adventure. Throwing in time travel is always a good idea and in the press releases before the game they were showing off quite a lot of content. You really couldn’t go wrong here and not surprisingly the game is quite fun. It’s a worthy successor to the other games and continues the series on a solid note. It’s not very long but I’d say it’s about average length for a platformer. Additionally there is a lot of replay value with the various bonus levels and reverse modes present. Those’ll help this game last for quite a while.

The game starts off with the villains working to escape the pocket dimension they’re in. Uka Uka is able to break the villains out but they leave him to die. Nefarious decides to mess with the timestream quite a bit so now Crash will have to gather 4 of the legendary masks to counter this. Fortunately Crash isn’t alone this time. He has his sister Coco and a mysterious new heroine to help him out in the quest. With time travel and alternate dimensions to factor in, this won’t be an easy adventure for Crash. Cortex also isn’t thrilled at how things are going right now so expect some big things to occur as the game goes on.

The plot is fairly simple but does throw some wrinkles at you. I do always enjoy some good time travel so this helped the plot get to the next level. For the most part the game doesn’t use any big trips to the past but near the end there is one chapter that delves into this a bit. It’s also my favorite part of the game because I really liked the banter here. Time travel opens up unique situations like that which are a lot of fun. The Crash games wouldn’t have a whole lot more to bring up since the cast isn’t huge so that helped them pick the best character to do this with right away.

Crash as always isn’t the best main character but I suppose he just isn’t able to think a whole lot. He’s certainly better here than in some other titles I suppose though. It’s hard for me to call him a hero since I don’t even think he knows what he is doing but at the end of the day he does help save the world in his own way so I have to give him some props there. His sister Coco looks good here as well. She is definitely the brains of the operation and being a playable character was certainly cool. The new heroine is the best of the heroes though. She reminds the others that sometimes fighting on your own is the best way to go about things. She’s certainly been through a lot and I would have been game with having her appear more. Perhaps even as a boss fight trying to get the main characters to give up their quest. One thing’s for sure, I’m hoping she sticks around for future games.

Then we have the villains. Nefarious is the main villain here as he definitely gets the biggest role. He’s fun although he doesn’t quite have Cortex or Uka Uka’s charisma. He’s one of the weaker main villains in the series. Fortunately Cortex gets a big role either way. You can never keep this guy on the backburner. He’s always got to force himself into the plot one way or another and he definitely makes sure to do that here. In some ways you may even feel bad for him here. He’s the kind of villain that is almost pretty likable because of the fact that you know he is doomed each time but he always keeps on trying. You have to at least give him credit for his resilience.

The gameplay here is pretty smooth. The levels are 3D Platforming types where you jump past obstacles and take down enemies while approaching the goal. As Crash you can spin and double jump as always. The other characters have different moves though like how the heroine has a grappling hook and Cortex just blasts his enemies into submission. There’s also another character whose moveset is pretty different. The game helps to give you a lot more variety with the movesets this way which is a good thing. They’re all polished as well so none of them were just squeezed into the title.

The graphics here are definitely very good as you would expect. Everything is in HD and the character models+stages really pop out at you. I was glad that classic Crash was a costume option as well. That was definitely pretty neat and as soon as I unlocked that I never went back. The soundtrack isn’t super memorable but the stage themes had a lo of variety. One sad thing is if you die in a level then the character’s dialogue in the background is cut off and you don’t hear it again. I feel like you lose out on a lot of dialogue if you lose quickly. This was probably to make sure you don’t get annoyed by a line playing over and over again if you die a lot but I feel like they should have it set up so that only happens if the line is completed.

Overall, Crash 4: It’s About Time is definitely very good. It’s really a complete Crash adventure and has all of the classic elements from the first games that you will enjoy. The levels are reasonably difficult so you also won’t just breeze past each level without difficulty. You’ll definitely have to work hard at this to make sure you pace yourself and have good fundamentals. Without that you certainly won’t be prepared to conquer this title. Hopefully they keep on rolling new Crash games eventually. There’s always more you can do with the series after all. Maybe we can have the team warp to a dystopian future next time but of course we need to have Cortex on the team for a quick team up with Crash. Then he’ll see once and for all how conquering the planet could put people in danger. It may even cause him to change his ways or at least I’m sure he could trick Crash about that.

Overall 7/10