I imagine this makes the disappointment that is Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart all the more disappointing. How Ratchet lost its edge part 2 feminist boogaloo
@@Mysteriouscloak Wrath of Cortex relies too much on gimmicks and minigames. And the same guy as a boss over and over again. Crash 4 has the mask powers and other characters that amplify or tweak the core gameplay but don't replace it with completely different kind of gameplay. So what if there is fanservice? It's a follow-up to a game from 24 years earlier. I'd be surprised if there wasn't any. But it's not all the game has to offer. Saying that Crash 4 only offers fanservice and nothing else is to downplay a lot of it's achievements.
i think he meant this Crash 4 is the Crash 4 that we needed , a true sequel of sorts , not Wrath of Cortex (which was the technical and actual Crash 4 in Japan)
@Patch's Gaming Channel And some stand up comedy and what's funnier is the Platinum versions of Wrath of Cortex fixed the load times entirely , i have PAL Platinum and it loads levels fast. as for Mutant games yeah , fuck Tribal Crash... its horrendous
You legit blew my mind when you were making the N. Verted analogy of Crash and Sonic + Cortex and Eggman. I've never viewed it like that, so I thought that was a brilliant observation!
@@e-122psi3 Mind Over Mutant was also quite creepy, at least to 6 year old me on my PSP it was, lol. But yeah, I’d love to have some levels with a darker theme to them. However, only a couple, as I’d prefer the majority to be colourful and bright.
That is except wrath of cortex, twinsanity or the mutant games. Oh, weird. That's all of them up to Crash 4. Guess you dunno what you're talking about :P
That Sonic-Crash comparison is what I always think about Crash. Sonic is the cool guy and he think is always in his control meanwhile Crash is just clumsy, lazy and problems always come to him, but he is brave and try to solve everything on his way.
Crash was a mix of both early on. Clumsy and silly, but with a cool '90s radittude. Later games did phase that coolness out in favour of babbling retardation though.
the Quantum Masks are definitely the most creative part of Crash 4 to me. According to Jason Rubin, if Naughty Dog kept making Crash games they wanted to make an open free-roaming Crash game (basically Jak & Daxter) I always wonder how open design would work when Crash is made around linear platforming?
I think a interconnected hubworld like Jak and Daxter The Precursor Legacy with linear levels contained inside them would be the best way for Crash to be open world.
I dont think it would be like: "Jak and Daxter but it's Crash Bandicoot", Jak and Daxter was a new ip so they could make everthing, but they probably would take in consideration the linear nature if it was a Crash game
Crash 4 is one of the few games that consistently gave me headaches, and I think you nailed it. The lack of muted colours mean it's often difficult to know where your attention should be drawn - everything's at 100% all the time. Led to a number of deaths when I didn't realise a foreground object wasn't in the background, or vice versa.
Rather than the colors, I think this is a bit dodgy with Crash because the levels are so busy. They're going for these beautiful, stylized but natural-looking areas where everything's a part of the environment, but as a result of that (and the behind the back camera at times) it feels like some of those cues are harder to catch than others. If you're playing Mario or whatever, that's just not the case because they're going for readable over naturalistic. The new Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a good example, since that went more that naturalistic route this time. In many ways it's similar looking to Mario 3d World and that game's approach, but I promise you you're gonna wonder more about the edges of the stages in Kirby than in 3d World.
3:24 well Crash is from the 90's during an era where the audience love radical cool things, so seeing that Crash looked badass using a bazooka or a motorcycle was very fitting back then.
also he's forgetting (maybe purposedly) that those masks he loves so much are not unlockable that can help you go back levels and get to new places and items with those, no, they can be used only in some places, only in some levels. in predetermined situations, like the super spim from warp, once you got it you could use it anytime
Its kinda funny (but mostly sad) that both Crash and Spyro suffered the same "Stuck with out-of-OG-Dev Sequels, Got Remade/Rebooted To General Acclaim Then Got Screwed Over *Again* " fate together. Spyro didn't even get a *chance* at a proper 4.
I remember being so disgusted with Enter the Dragonfly as a kid that I legitimately thought Insomniac rushed through it because they were focused on Ratchet and Clank. I would wring my 10 year old fist at them over the thought of that game, then immediately sing their praises over how amazing R&C was. It took me a year to realize that Insomniac stopped at Spyro 3 and the "4th" game was by someone else. I was so happy to learn that they weren't responsible for that horrendous game, and even happier to have a brand new favorite series from them.
@@Birthnote How old were you? I was 11 I think when it came out, if it was 2001. I knew Insomniac didn't make it just because their logo wasn't in any of the advertisements. But I saw they were making Ratchet and I was really excited for that at the time.
@@Birthnote Gotcha, you're two years younger than me and so that would make sense why you may not notice the little things right away at 9 years old. I never actually owned Enter the Dragonfly because at that time I moved on to Jak and Ratchet. I finally got it about a couple years ago and whoo boy, is it rough. I'd rather wait for a version that fixes that awful framerate and load times.
@@dapperfan44 The Legend Of Spyro games/continuity is in that weird zone where I loved the story and fan stuff it spawned but *MAN* do they really not hold up gameplay-wise.
My biggest issue with Crash 4 is that the Completion and 100% it feels VERY overwhelming given that the Levels are a lot more larger and Spaced out with a lot of Crates meaning there were more BS secret areas which feels very overwhelming and tedious to an Extent replaying Levels to get over 200 boxes compared to the OG Trilogy
Yeah, I'm surprised he didn't touch on the crates that are hidden where the camera can't show, that's one of the most consistent criticisms of the game. But I dunno if this is a review so, whatever.
@@MrMister681 I feel it tries too hard to be a Replay able with an Abundant amount of Content with a lot to do but can be tiresome just Like Mario Oddysee where you have to get 1000 moons where it should've stuck to being a Contained experience compared to other platformers Less is More
100% in Crash 2 was tough but fair. (Aside from going through a level and collecting 0 boxes for a blue gem) 100% in Crash 4 is: redo this hour long stage because of a box hidden in the corner off-camera
@@Pit1993x It's not that the Challenges weren't engaging but the sole amount of them and how much you gotta collect combined with the Bigger levels can make the completion experience somewhat tedious
I've always considered Crash 3 to be as close to perfect as a video game can be. It's easy enough for casual players to beat, and challenging enough to keep completionists interested for a full playthrough. The abilities are super fun to use, and most of the "gimmick" levels are really enjoyable and add a bunch of variety to the gameplay. All 4 main crash games are great in their own ways, but 3 feels like it had the more interesting ideas. And the music in Crash 3 top tier. That's not up for debate
Yeah crash 3 was definitely my favorite, love the time travel theme, and the music is almost as iconic as a mario game, and it actually had a good story
I agree, I know people have a problem with the vehicles but I think they're all fun. I do agree there is too many of them, for example instead of 4 motorbike and 4 jetski levels it's 2 each and then they could've got replaced with 4 platforming levels.
@@MattTheHuman9 yeah they might have over done it (especially with the bonus levels in the end game) but I definitely agree that they're fun in moderation
>Cortex going back in time to convince himself not to create Crash I think the main thing I wish they added here...I wish they had gotten one of the older voice actors to voice Past Cortex, and make him a bit more confident. Cortex didn't really start to lose his confidence until 3 when Uka Uka showed up, and that didn't really flanderize until the later games, so it would have been funny to have a more confident Clancy Brown Cortex interacting with a broken, repeatedly-defeated Lex Lang Cortex. (I know Clancy Brown didn't voice Cortex in Crash 1, but he's the other iconic Cortex voice, so I would use him anyway)
I haven't gotten that far but all you need is to have Lex Lang going in a different direction for past Cortex. No need for the unnecessary fan service of using old voice actors.
@@Darkfawfulx Lex Lang's Past Cortex acts pretty much the same as his present Cortex (not that that's Lex Lang's doing; that's a writer thing, obviously). I'm sure Lex Lang could do past Cortex fine; he did a decent job in the N. Sane Trilogy. Getting Clancy Brown back would be fanservice, yes, but fanservice is good sometimes and I think it'd be neat.
@@CrypticMantisTX55 Lex Lang said in an interview that Naughty Dog got feedback in the past about Cortex being too scary for kids, so they changed him up a bit. But i definitely agree they should've written the old Cortex in the style of the Original trilogy.
I wish the N Sane Trilogy had the Halo MCC thing of swapping the graphics on the fly, but iirc they literally had to rebuild the games from the ground up because Naughtydog lost the source code
I wish the N Sane Trilogy art style/graphics wasn't so short lived and stayed for Crash 4. Visually its the best evolution of the original PS1 graphics to HD. Best Crash has ever looked among all the other weird variations we've seen.
N Sane Trilogy's art style is the "Naughty Dog hire this man" art style, we technically got 4 whole games out of it and I'm glad it's dead, I honestly think even calling it "art style" is too strong, there's not much there other than HD models. Most "realistic" games are good not because of "good gramphics", that usually requires much more (see RE engine games, for example, DMCV has a great style, RE games have great atmosphere), and I feel like they did not think much about that during NST's development. Honestly, even CTR remake is more stylized, than that game. Original PS1 graphics are still closest to my heart, but I'll take 4 next to that.
@@mart5610 Hell no. N. Sane reliance on realism textures was ass. Crash 4’s art style is far more faithful to the Looney Tune cartoon spirit of the originals.
@@mart5610 Lol, no if you actually know what art styles are and the history of animation then you’ll realize that PS1 Crash was never going for the realistic Disney aesthetic, as all of the character designs pay huge tribute Looney Tunes and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Unlike N Sane, the character models in Crash 4 actually look good by themselves without any lighting. 2D just fits Crash way more than the butt ugly realistic look of N Sane. It’s not trendy, it literally just looks more appealing as time goes on.
I like Crash 4 overall, but I consider it the weakest entry in the series in regards to completion. There's so much to do, not to mention so much to do multiple times, that it ends up feeling like a masochistic chore to do absolutely everything. The original trilogy could get hard, but the difficulty and repetition was never to the point that completion felt out of reach.
Gotta give you props for understanding the appeal of the crates in Crash, it's what truly makes the gameplay unique. It's true that it's underappreciated, you'd think that after this game people would get it but I still see new indie games inspired by Crash like Psylosybil, and they imitate Crash's gameplay to a degree, but never the crazy stuff done with crates. I guess it's one consequence of the series getting diluted as time went on, but this even happened with every clone back in the PS1 era. Even I didn't consider that Cortex's ability in this game is just a more literal extension of turning elements of the level into platforms. You even touch on Crash's personality, while marketing for these games always tried to paint him as "a cooler Sonic", and people that haven't played these games still view him as such. I think that besides the gameplay, this is one reason Crash was able to stand with Mario and Sonic in the 90s and years later kept being the most fondly remembered after thousands of mascot characters came and went, he was different because he was more relatable, not in control of the situations that he's in. Mario has fun jumping around, Sonic shows off and incentivizes the player to get better each time, whereas Crash would look around everywhere nervously and sigh of relief after a level. Nice video.
I love everything about Crash 4... except the ending. I don't want Alt!Tawna to be the older sibling figure to Crash and Coco from now on; I just want my boi Crunch back. =(
My main problem with Crash 4 is the bloat. I've gone back and done 100% playthroughs of the original Crash trilogy multiple times, but I have no desire to 100% Crash 4 even once. There is just too much filler content that isn't worth going through.
Crash 4 is SO GOOD. We covered it on our podcast, but I want to reiterate here: this game is the BEST game on PS Plus right now. So if you have a playstation console, please do yourself a favor and pick this game up on Tuesday when it becomes free.
@@GIR177 If a game that's worth 4 hours of playtime gets stretched into 70 hours of repetition and you have to pay full price for it, that is definitely something to be critical about.
I cannot really agree on how It’s About Time honours the old trilogy’s fast-paced style of levels and gameplay. Far from it, I found myself either punished for going fast with the flow, or constantly stopping to try and figure out how to overcome obstacles. The Bonus Stages are the worst offenders. Especially in the later half of the game, there’s just too much reliance on “Gotcha!” Switch Traps that force you to restart the whole thing or give up on getting that Box Gem. Dare I say, the Bonus Stages felt more like Death Routes than anything. (And even that’s an understatement…) For me, among other problems, It’s About Time doesn’t earn or deserve that “4” in its title as the sequel to one of PlayStation’s most celebrated successes. In fact, I’ve no intention of coming back to it ever again, it was just too hard and repetitive. But don’t get me wrong; I don’t think The Wrath of Cortex earned that number either…
I find it pretty funny how people nowadays just keep throwing Warped under the bus cause of a gameplay element(riding levels) that was a thing since the CB1 and act like just cause Crash is riding on a vehicle it's suddenly very unnatural to the series when it was always part of his adventurous style since the beginning. Seems like most people that keep acting this way towards Warped need to remember why it was so highly praised in the first place despite it not focusing heavily on platforming. Answer is pretty simple: It was more Fun.
@@dislikebomb6680 The level variety indeed kept the platforming stages fresh since the gimmick stages(little joy rides) were basically side dishes to the main course(platforming lvls) which always had more substance & lasted longer than the gimmick levels. So it all felt balanced in Warped especially since the Warp Room system gave players the option of prioritizing which stages they want to play.
The flying, and swimming levels are the oposite of fun and have nothing to do with platforming. The riding levels in CB1 and CB 2 were still focused on skilled platforming, whille the riding levels in CB3 were just racing levels that felt like I was playing a completely diffrent game than a platfromer. Same goes for the Jet Ski levels. CB3 kinda sucks tbh and I'm glad that people are finally starting to realize it after years of undesserved praise.
been following this channel a long time but i dont comment on YT much BUT i HAVE to shout out the fact this guy just delves RIGHT into his actual points. he doesn't sit there like ' Crash Bandicoot was developed by Naughty Dog and released on the playstation in 199-whatever' like you don't need to skip the first minute or two or more like a lot of video essayists, he just goes straight into actual material analysis and it is BREATH OF FRESH AIR
Gotta say I’m liking these short videos you’ve been putting out lately. As much as I love the long ones, like SH3 for example, it’s nice to have these too. Concise and to the point.
Another thing in the comparison between Sonic and Crash: While the classic Sonic games did give you an option to go slow, skilled gameplay was all about getting to the end of each level as quickly as possible through optimal movement and memorization of the fastest routes. Crash on the other hand is the antithesis of this, taking his time to collect everything within a level before reaching the end. While Sonic is blazing for the finish, Crash is thorough with his exploration, and doesn't often concern himself with speed unless the situation calls for it. I like to think of Crash as the balanced in-between playstyle between Sonic and Mario. The emphasis on platforming from Mario, but in more linear stages like from Sonic. His system of using masks as hit points is similar to Mario's mushrooms, but like Sonic's Super Sonic form Crash can gain temporary invincibility from the same source as his ability to take a hit in general. It's almost as though Sonic and Mario's DNA was brought together to create this sketchy crack addict looking Bandicoot.
Sorry bro but Crash 3 rocks. It’s a fun adventure through a more colorful variety of levels with the best bosses in the series. The little shake ups in gameplay are fun as well. Great video though.
Im convinced the people that hated WoC the most were people who didnt know how to play because they never picked up crash before. The monkeyball levels were dope. The underwater levels were better than warpwr and Twinsanity was a key part of my younger days. 2 will always be the Goat. Warped was bøand as hell. And i always had more fun in wrath than warped.
Main problem I had with Crash 4 was that it really was like those ultra hard bonus levels from the original trilogy, thru the whole game. Kinda felt that they wasted potential with that level of difficulty, as the graphics and visual style is fantastic alongside other things. I played it thru once, not even bothering to go thru any bonus stuff due the exhaustion from the challenge. It is a shame, as it had great ingredients for success overall.
Agree. They made the flashback levels, which were already super hard. Why they felt the need to also crank the bonus levels difficulty to eleven is beyond me.
To me, Crash 4 stretches the limit of goodwill to complete it. The past games themselves is fine to finish, but the true challenge is completion. Find all the boxes, find the colored gems, re-do levels with alternate paths, and occasionally find the tricky box. In Crash 4 50% of the boxes are tricky. Box counter is usually in the hundreds, so breaking all of them faithfully and tediously only to find that you missed one box is just lame. And so I had stopped trying to complete the game, but I then I realized the game is pretty bare boned without the completion challenge. Why should I go for the extra box? there are a bunch I missed because they're hidden so well. Why should I go for all the gems? I missed the regular ones. Why should I go for the time trials? These levels are long and doing one from start to finish just ain't that fun. By making Crash 4 way too hard to complete, it had become not fun to play... Also Activision sucks. They're bad, and they can go to hell. I already bought the game, but now it's a principle not to give them any support. Also also, Neckless Crash just looks... weird. That's personal taste, I know, but I prefer Crash with a neck and a defined mouth area...
This so much, a normal playthrough has a nice balance in difficulty, but 100%ing the game feels like hell; some levels are just so unfairly designed for 100% runs, especially the boxes.
The fact that they hide boxes off screen, behind platforms you have no reason to think to look behind, and in areas that are otherwise instant death areas really soured me on trying to 100% complete the game. There are only a small handful of levels in the entire original trilogy that had over 100 crates, while Crash 4 has over 100, and up to 200, on every single level. You just have to watch Caddicarus' video on completing the game 100% to see how mind numbing it becomes.
@@JanusVesta I don't resent the game for tricking me like that. They did things like that in the original trilogy. It's just that here they do it three times per level...
While I agree with the bazooka slowing down the gameplay, I'm okay with the double jump and tornado spin being too OP for the level designs. My defense for that is the existence of the time trials. In the N Sane Trilogy the time trials for the first 2 games were really intense, I managed to get them all at least at gold, but I still have the last 3 levels to get the time trials in Crash 4. In Crash 3, the casual crystal runs may not be that challenging, but the time trials feel like a fun balance of difficulty.
I know B- Mask already said it in his video, but the problem with fully completing the game being time-consuming lies in N.Verted mode and having to replay sections of crash levels at the end of ones in which you play as other characters. If N.Verted mode was something really fleshed out, like the hard mode in Skeleton Boomerang, then I'd be on the same page as you at the very end of this video. Though I can't disagree with your assessment as a whole - Crash 4 is pretty great. I feel I should elaborate on Skeleton Boomerang, as I doubt many have heard of it: I highly recommend it. It's a solid 2D platformer with a great soundtrack. Its Hard Mode is notable for heavily altering the entire game, with stuff like enemies previously exclusive to the final levels now showing up as early as in one of the first 3 available stages; same goes for some stage gimmicks, and heck, there are new gimmicks exclusive to hard mode; new hazards are added all over the place in combinations you won't find in normal mode; bosses are drastically changed, often with new attacks, though a couple bosses have very minor, but still impactful changes instead; and the entire mode is framed as a 'what if?' scenario that branches off of the bad ending of normal mode. It's the kinda thing that has so much care put into it that I couldn't help but wanna complete it out of sheer respect, as opposed to N.Verted, which feels like an afterthought. Not to mention that completion in Skeleton Boomerang is very enticing to begin with. There's a point that reminded me of staring at the closed 'Super Bonus World' portal in Spyro 3, except what was behind the door actually lived up to my expectations and felt like a worthy, satisfying reward. Then in hard mode opening the same door fills you with dread, because you don't even wanna imagine how much tougher it could be. I sure hope the above piques somebody's interest instead of scaring them off or resulting in TL;DR. Ha ha!
It's cool to see you give a shorter review of Crash 4! I'd have expected the TGB insider video, but instead you pulled out an updated take, that's nice to see.
Yes, this game is super underrated. One of the greatest platformers of the past 20 years, the only thing that holds it back in my opinion is the hidden crates. If the developers present the Perfect Relics as the ultimate challenge of getting through these long and difficult levels without dying while collecting eveyr box, then they shouldn't have hidden them so much. The challenge is presented as "can you get every single crate without dying", but the hidden crates add some unnecessary tedium by confusing us with the additional challenge of "can you even FIND all of the crates" that would appear in a easier game more conducive to exploratory gameplay.
Honestly hidden crates are not as bad as Perfect Relics, you can memorize them in the same way we did with "that 1 crate in that one level of Crash 2", so you remember where they are in replays, but Relics make picking up those crates if you fuck up any of other criteria useless. Or those mirror mode levels that I don't even remember the name of, which were basically "you have to replay this same level again, but with minor change" or some timeline levels. I guess that's an attempt to stretch the game into 60 hours, but I'd rather there were none of those or they had more differences.
I can agree with this. While I really like Crash 3 and Twinsanity (and to a certain extent even titans) i've grown increasingly aware at just how much the games after Crash 2 don't seem to have much in the way of evolution to Crash's initial design philosophy. Even though I haven't played it yet, I think Crash 4 strikes a pretty good balance between sticking firmly to the series' roots without going full on sonic the hedgehog in its gimmicks. The 100% probably could've relied less on repeating content but if the levels are fun enough for it I don't see myself being super bummed about that if I stretch it out.
Crash 3 has the highest highs, and sort of lowest lows (i really don't like Crash 1, it's just frustrating to me), the parts of the game based around platforming are excellent, but the parts based around, bike racing, or the plane, just aren't great, they range from tolerable to painful
3:34 No Naughty Dog just knew what they were doing by basically upgrading each sequel in the trilogy with more awesome Crash fun and ended the trilogy with a huge bang (Warped). They started off average with CB1, picked their strides with CB2, and became chads & dominated with Warped.
I quite liked The Wrath of Cortex, I realise it didn't do much to evolve the series, but what was there was pretty good. i really enjoyed the mech you pilot.
I will always love wrath of cortex no matter what anyone says even though it’s very brutal to complete 100% I love that it is like warped because I also like warped so I basically have more of it
Damn that was a compelling video! lol I planned to turn in on as background noise while I draw and ended up putting down my art and just watching the whole video. lol Well done!
Huh? Pretty sure any content creator's opinions are clearly his own. You can disagree with him and he can disagree with yours. Some agree and some don't. Simple as that, what's so hard to understand about that? Everyone's free to feel and think things differently buddy.
With the story, there was one gripe I had with it, which was “past Cortex”. He should’ve been more like his stubborn but motivated self from Crash 1 instead of his more laid back and flamboyant self in Crash 4. Story wise, Cortex has been my favorite character. From being a generic mad scientist in the Crash 1, to getting his character explored more in Crash 2, losing motivation in Crash 3, and just straight up giving up in Crash 4 really gave a sense of character to him. I just really wished that Crash 4’s “past Cortex” was more “generically evil” like he was in Crash 1.
Yeah, I feel like they kinda just got lazy and made Cortex like a Homer Simpson type idiot in the past. Some of his dialogue in the flashback tapes is similarly kinda cringey. I like the idea of Cortex's plan failing because he was too arrogant and stubborn in the past to even accept HIMSELF telling him an idea of his was bad, but past Cortex seems less that and more just.....dumb. There's a feeling they couldn't write a character as comical and flawed without making them outright STUPID (notice the intelligent characters in this game like Tropy and Coco don't have ANY silly qualities anymore, just competent serious foils to Crash and Cortex acting foolish, while in previous games they only THOUGHT they were superior but had loads of weakspots like pride and short temper ruining that layer of dignity they had over them).
@@e-122psi3 That's a pretty glaring inconsistency. It also would've been neat if they used the original model from 1996 They have it as a skin for Crash, so they know how to replicate that effect
@@prometheusmodelow8322 Flamboyent but not....dumb, I guess is the key here. It's a common oversimplification in writing, that all comical characters are one note stupid and incompetent. See Crash in this game and some others, where he's just a bumbling idiot that annoys everyone, while in the originals and some other games he's wacky and clownish, but actually competent in his own silly way (or at least no worse than everyone else).
@@e-122psi3 Bro, THANK YOU! I forgot to mention that. Crash himself wasn’t the smartest guy around, but he wasn’t just a mindless idiot. He solved problems using creativity and outsmarting the enemy, not just dumb luck. And the other characters too, like how Coco wasn’t just the information character, Aku Aku wasn’t just an grumpy and impatient mask either. Cortex is the only character I actually like in Crash 4 because his flamboyancy and uncaring attitude would make sense after 22 years of just being stuck in the past (how they didn’t go insane, or even survive in the first place, who knows, like Uka Uka makes sense, but Cortex and N. Tropy, uh…) And yeah, speaking of Uka Uka, this dude’s been nerfed since the og Crash 3. He’s an cranky old prick in Wrath of Cortex, a lame boss fight in Twinsanity, and God knows what he was in Crash of the Titans and Mind over Mutant. Well, I wouldn’t say he was fully menacing in the og Crash 3, but that was his start. And not much has been explored other than an alternate invincibility mask in CTR and an enemy team in Crash Bash. Hopefully, a potential Crash 5 or the supposed Wumpa League (or whatever they’re gonna call it) can undo the flanderization that started in the N. Sane Trilogy and continued with Crash 4.
I disagree that the jetpack themselves being bad. Once you get used to the controls the Jetpack levels are some of my favourite. It's driven, forward momentum gameplay. Most of that level can be done without stopping, and it feels great moving forward, navigating the obstacles, taking account the full range of 3D movement and momentum, all done to the backing of one of the best songs in the series.
This series was more than just about platforming. It was literally more about the various & challenging ways of moving in the 3D space since Crash, similar to Mario, was one of the earliest examples of 3D adventure gameplay. Since Crash 1, levels always varied based on the different camera perspectives of where you'll mostly be moving Crash in 3D and the detailed environments, hazards, and crazy to intense action made the 3D adventure in this trilogy a lot enjoyable. Platforming in this series was basically just a connection to it all, not the main forefront.
The fact there was a throwback of the ball in Wrath of Cortex in the desert's chase scene is rather pleasing. I feel this is how the balls SHOULD'VE been used there, rather than full stages, complimentary to the chase scene as a running gag being chased by past villains.
I'm not big on 4's execution though, since it kinda plays them off as the ONLY bungling kooks in a serious cast that are moving the story competently, and that if the narrative was a bit more honest, one of the more competent lot like Coco and Tropy would be the real hero and villain duo and Crash and Cortex would just be their comic relief. I kinda preferred the previous games' take where pretty much the whole Crash universe was a cartoony Wonderland where EVERYONE was dysfunctional and comically flawed, just some could put up a better facade of sanity until they got caught off guard. If anything it's kinda true to Sonic rules anyway, since even their 'coolness' was balanced by whimsical cartoony stuff, especially Eggman. The two main characters just being the irrelevent lamewads of an unironically "cool" cast is kinda borng, a bit depressing.
Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn’t Wrath of Cortex called Crash Bandicoot 4 in Japan? So it makes Its about time the second Crash 4 for them, which makes is probably little bit confusing for them unless this one doesn’t have 4 in its title over there, which I don’t know.
Only dealbreaker for me with Crash 4 are three things: 1) How the developers were obsessed with hiding crates everywhere, think of Cold Hard Crash's bonus crate but done with 5 to 20 crates on almost every single 10-minute long stage, it makes getting 106% a complete chore despite the tight and fairly challenging gameplay (they're so hidden that you have to look at guides in order to have an idea of how to beat the stage 100%, and that's simply no fun); 2) The alternate characters are underutilized except for the levels where they're first introduced, with the rest of their levels only letting you play as them for 50% of the level (or in the worst case scenario with Ship Happens and Thar He Blows only let you play as the alt. character for only 20% of the stage), the rest of the levels are just repeats of previous Crash / Coco levels with the only difference being the crate placement, which also leads me to: 3) The N.Verted levels are just exactly the same as the original levels but with a filter slapped on, making it exhausting to complete the game 106% considering that you're playing the same level three times (original level, N.Verted level, and the other huge half of the alt. characters' levels, if you wanna count time trials that makes it five times which is even more jarring, once with the original level and twice with the alt. character level). These three major issues makes it hard for me to enjoy the game, which is a shame because i really like everything else about the game from the controls, to the platforming challenges, to the artstyle even.
I know what you mean about Crash 3, I avoided picking it up for a long time as a little kid because I thought that it was an exclusively vehicular game from the pictures on the back of the box. Turned out to be my favourite when I did finally pick it up though.
The ONLY thing I dislike about Crash 4 is that number. Not that it doesn't earn it but because of the way it seems to almost retcon everything after Crash 3. Not just the games but the characters and events. While the post Naughty Dog games were ROUGH in terms of gameplay, Twinsanity and beyond really nailed the "interactive cartoon" element of Crash and gave it more personality than even the Naughty Dog era stuff. That and it was part of a trend of games doing this like Sonic 4 and Double Dragon IV, both of which did far less to earn those titles. Gameplay-wise it's great and the story is 99% awesome, but I really did hate how it snubbed ALL the post Naughty Dog stuff, something I think they would have done more of if it weren't for the success of CTR: Nitro Fueled which I think caused them to walk back some of their ideas at the last minute. Crash 4 is also weirdly the kind of game we would have never gotten until now. Back when Wrath of Cortex came out, Crash WAS just seen as a Brand and the games were "just some platformers" to a lot of people. Crash's hallway style gameplay would have been seen as "archaic", "dated", and "not relevant" back in the day (yes I am still seething about how hard Star Fox: Assault was bashed for daring to have 3 on-rails stages). NOW though, with us looking back fondly on the original trilogy, it forced a team to analyze why those games were good, what people liked, and how to make a new one that was MORE than "just a platformer" and they succeeded with flying colors.
The whole "forward momentum" thing doesn't ring as true with me for something like Crash 4 or Mega Man that's more digital in their movement, compared to something like Sonic, or Rayman Origins/Legends, or Mario where you get a bigger sense of momentum. It's especially true for boxes, right? Yeah, you gotta keep moving. But you also gotta keep moving slowly, step by step, hitting every tiny platform carefully for that 100%. I don't think the crate puzzling and speedy gameplay go together at all, and compared to something more freeform I think Crash's gameplay can be a little frustrating. Still, it was cool to see Crash 4 return to that form after all this time. I liked those old Crash games alright, but for me the last twenty years of Crash games might as well not have existed - they didn't seem worth paying attention to at all, even less than Sonic's career if you can believe that. I thought it was cool to see some devs come in that gave it a good shot and managed to reach the quality of those older titles, and it's a pity they won't have another shot. On the whole, it's frustrating that 3d platformer series have trouble sticking around. The only ones that keep it going at a regular pace anymore are Sonic, Mario and Ratchet, and out of those Ratchet's been doing more of the same for a decade, Sonic has had like one and a half fun games in 20 years and Mario is the only one putting out regular quality content that also changes up the formula. I'm thankful for revivals like Crash 4 and Psychonauts 2, but life's too short for one Crash per generation.
Perspectives are a wonderful thing. From mine not a single word you said was correct. Mania isn't the best game Sonic has put out in twenty years, it's the second worst after Colours. The only great Naughty Dog Crash game was 1, the series only gotten great and found its comedic identity after they left. Sonic Forces was better than Mario Odyssey on the grounds of both story and music, I don't care about the gameplay. Crash and Mega Man don't have great momentum gameplay if you don't use all your traversal options. X's dashes feel very dynamic foe example. Breaking all boxes and going as fast as possible are different modes of gameplay, no one asked you to mix them. Never cared about Ratchet and Clank, probably never will, no matter how many TheGamingBrit videos about the franchise I'll watch. It doesn't appeal to me. If I want to play a platformer shooter on the PS2, I'll replay Shadow the hedgehog again, it's my favourite Sonic game, and it has Ratchet and Clank beat in terms of visuals and music 100%.
Main reason why I didn't get into the Crash series is because the first game's camera was too close for the gameplay. Gave a hectic/rushed feeling that, in hindsight, was probably intentional. Having watched this, I'd only be open to trying the 4th game 🤔
Just to be clear, while I did do a Patreon-only video about Crash 4 in 2020, this is NOT that video. This is a new video, cheers.
Hey dude are you ok in this video your voice sounds different ?
@@duuudewazzup8296 No, he’s been replaced by a government puppet but they didn’t correctly calibrate his voice box. Sad.
I imagine this makes the disappointment that is Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart all the more disappointing.
How Ratchet lost its edge part 2
feminist boogaloo
I disagree the true crash 4 is the wrath of cortex crash 4 it’s about time is nothing but fanservice pandering to the fanboys
@@Mysteriouscloak Wrath of Cortex relies too much on gimmicks and minigames. And the same guy as a boss over and over again.
Crash 4 has the mask powers and other characters that amplify or tweak the core gameplay but don't replace it with completely different kind of gameplay. So what if there is fanservice? It's a follow-up to a game from 24 years earlier. I'd be surprised if there wasn't any. But it's not all the game has to offer. Saying that Crash 4 only offers fanservice and nothing else is to downplay a lot of it's achievements.
TheGamingBritShow, home to controversial opinions like “JUST action games” and “Crash 4 = Crash 4”
i think he meant this Crash 4 is the Crash 4 that we needed , a true sequel of sorts , not Wrath of Cortex (which was the technical and actual Crash 4 in Japan)
@Patch's Gaming Channel And some stand up comedy and what's funnier is the Platinum versions of Wrath of Cortex fixed the load times entirely , i have PAL Platinum and it loads levels fast. as for Mutant games yeah , fuck Tribal Crash... its horrendous
Wait, then do they call Crash 4 Crash 5?
@@braydengraves4655 Twinsanity is Crash 5 over there. I think it goes even further than that, same with Ratchet and Clank.
You legit blew my mind when you were making the N. Verted analogy of Crash and Sonic + Cortex and Eggman. I've never viewed it like that, so I thought that was a brilliant observation!
Im absolutely loving these frequent shorter video releases. They are so well made and entertaining ur vids are always a treat!
They're from his patreon
@@whodatninja439 the pinned comment suggests otherwise
@@whodatninja439 Not all. This one's a fresh vid.
@@WEndro333 well now he says that, but pinned comment wasnt there when first uploaded
Glad to see someone talk about how the first games had some creepy atmosphere to them. It's something the series hasn't really tried to do since.
Oddly the Titans games had a bit of it, despite how infamously wacky and different they were otherwise.
@@e-122psi3 Yeah that Tree top level, titan bats and Uka Uka boss in Crash of the Titans kinda scared my when I was a kid, lol
@@e-122psi3 Mind Over Mutant was also quite creepy, at least to 6 year old me on my PSP it was, lol. But yeah, I’d love to have some levels with a darker theme to them. However, only a couple, as I’d prefer the majority to be colourful and bright.
Dude the academy of evil and the last world in twinsanity?
That is except wrath of cortex, twinsanity or the mutant games. Oh, weird. That's all of them up to Crash 4. Guess you dunno what you're talking about :P
That Sonic-Crash comparison is what I always think about Crash. Sonic is the cool guy and he think is always in his control meanwhile Crash is just clumsy, lazy and problems always come to him, but he is brave and try to solve everything on his way.
Crash was a mix of both early on. Clumsy and silly, but with a cool '90s radittude. Later games did phase that coolness out in favour of babbling retardation though.
Loving this constant stream of shorter content. It’s a refreshing change of pace between feature length game analysis
I'd rather have the longer videos any day
@@jmarra07 Why not both?
I like your take on the characters of Crash and Cortex, feels like your recent Sonic Marathon streams had an influence!
the Quantum Masks are definitely the most creative part of Crash 4 to me.
According to Jason Rubin, if Naughty Dog kept making Crash games they wanted to make an open free-roaming Crash game (basically Jak & Daxter) I always wonder how open design would work when Crash is made around linear platforming?
It probably wouldn’t have. Let’s hope they keep it linear
Funnily enough twinsanity's initial concept was an open world
Probably would have been akin to either Twinsanity without the various mechanics, or a collectathon like Banjo Kazooie or Jak and Daxter
I think a interconnected hubworld like Jak and Daxter The Precursor Legacy with linear levels contained inside them would be the best way for Crash to be open world.
I dont think it would be like: "Jak and Daxter but it's Crash Bandicoot", Jak and Daxter was a new ip so they could make everthing, but they probably would take in consideration the linear nature if it was a Crash game
Crash 4 is one of the few games that consistently gave me headaches, and I think you nailed it. The lack of muted colours mean it's often difficult to know where your attention should be drawn - everything's at 100% all the time. Led to a number of deaths when I didn't realise a foreground object wasn't in the background, or vice versa.
Rather than the colors, I think this is a bit dodgy with Crash because the levels are so busy. They're going for these beautiful, stylized but natural-looking areas where everything's a part of the environment, but as a result of that (and the behind the back camera at times) it feels like some of those cues are harder to catch than others. If you're playing Mario or whatever, that's just not the case because they're going for readable over naturalistic. The new Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a good example, since that went more that naturalistic route this time. In many ways it's similar looking to Mario 3d World and that game's approach, but I promise you you're gonna wonder more about the edges of the stages in Kirby than in 3d World.
Right
3:24 well Crash is from the 90's during an era where the audience love radical cool things, so seeing that Crash looked badass using a bazooka or a motorcycle was very fitting back then.
also he's forgetting (maybe purposedly) that those masks he loves so much are not unlockable that can help you go back levels and get to new places and items with those, no, they can be used only in some places, only in some levels. in predetermined situations, like the super spim from warp, once you got it you could use it anytime
Idk, if games nowadays started using memes for them to be "more fitting" to the era they're made in then I would stop playing videogames
Its kinda funny (but mostly sad) that both Crash and Spyro suffered the same "Stuck with out-of-OG-Dev Sequels, Got Remade/Rebooted To General Acclaim Then Got Screwed Over *Again* " fate together. Spyro didn't even get a *chance* at a proper 4.
I remember being so disgusted with Enter the Dragonfly as a kid that I legitimately thought Insomniac rushed through it because they were focused on Ratchet and Clank.
I would wring my 10 year old fist at them over the thought of that game, then immediately sing their praises over how amazing R&C was. It took me a year to realize that Insomniac stopped at Spyro 3 and the "4th" game was by someone else. I was so happy to learn that they weren't responsible for that horrendous game, and even happier to have a brand new favorite series from them.
@@Birthnote How old were you? I was 11 I think when it came out, if it was 2001. I knew Insomniac didn't make it just because their logo wasn't in any of the advertisements. But I saw they were making Ratchet and I was really excited for that at the time.
@@dapperfan44
30. Back then I took it for granted that a game was always made by its original creators lol
@@Birthnote Gotcha, you're two years younger than me and so that would make sense why you may not notice the little things right away at 9 years old. I never actually owned Enter the Dragonfly because at that time I moved on to Jak and Ratchet. I finally got it about a couple years ago and whoo boy, is it rough. I'd rather wait for a version that fixes that awful framerate and load times.
@@dapperfan44 The Legend Of Spyro games/continuity is in that weird zone where I loved the story and fan stuff it spawned but *MAN* do they really not hold up gameplay-wise.
Brit, you’re dangerous posting this at 1am knowing we’re all gonna watch immediately
its 8pm pal
@@ItsOver9000Productions are you familiar with the concept of time zones
@@ItsOver9000Productions ...timezones
In the UK its after midnight atm
@@ItsOver9000Productions this is a uk channel yank
USA is the center of the world you tea goblins. Silence about your bloody timezones.
My biggest issue with Crash 4 is that the Completion and 100% it feels VERY overwhelming given that the Levels are a lot more larger and Spaced out with a lot of Crates meaning there were more BS secret areas which feels very overwhelming and tedious to an Extent replaying Levels to get over 200 boxes compared to the OG Trilogy
Yeah, I'm surprised he didn't touch on the crates that are hidden where the camera can't show, that's one of the most consistent criticisms of the game. But I dunno if this is a review so, whatever.
@@MrMister681 I feel it tries too hard to be a Replay able with an Abundant amount of Content with a lot to do but can be tiresome just Like Mario Oddysee where you have to get 1000 moons where it should've stuck to being a Contained experience compared to other platformers
Less is More
Never felt overwhelming to me. I've been waiting for a Crash game of this caliber since CB2. The challenges are super tight and engaging to me. ^^
100% in Crash 2 was tough but fair. (Aside from going through a level and collecting 0 boxes for a blue gem)
100% in Crash 4 is: redo this hour long stage because of a box hidden in the corner off-camera
@@Pit1993x It's not that the Challenges weren't engaging but the sole amount of them and how much you gotta collect combined with the Bigger levels can make the completion experience somewhat tedious
I've always considered Crash 3 to be as close to perfect as a video game can be.
It's easy enough for casual players to beat, and challenging enough to keep completionists interested for a full playthrough.
The abilities are super fun to use, and most of the "gimmick" levels are really enjoyable and add a bunch of variety to the gameplay.
All 4 main crash games are great in their own ways, but 3 feels like it had the more interesting ideas.
And the music in Crash 3 top tier. That's not up for debate
Yeah crash 3 was definitely my favorite, love the time travel theme, and the music is almost as iconic as a mario game, and it actually had a good story
I agree, I know people have a problem with the vehicles but I think they're all fun. I do agree there is too many of them, for example instead of 4 motorbike and 4 jetski levels it's 2 each and then they could've got replaced with 4 platforming levels.
@@MattTheHuman9 yeah they might have over done it (especially with the bonus levels in the end game) but I definitely agree that they're fun in moderation
@@MattTheHuman9 You're not playing all 4 motorbikes in the row cause you're gonna be playing other levels in between them.
Crash 3 has always been my favorite. The time trial relics are the best addition the series has seen
>Cortex going back in time to convince himself not to create Crash
I think the main thing I wish they added here...I wish they had gotten one of the older voice actors to voice Past Cortex, and make him a bit more confident. Cortex didn't really start to lose his confidence until 3 when Uka Uka showed up, and that didn't really flanderize until the later games, so it would have been funny to have a more confident Clancy Brown Cortex interacting with a broken, repeatedly-defeated Lex Lang Cortex.
(I know Clancy Brown didn't voice Cortex in Crash 1, but he's the other iconic Cortex voice, so I would use him anyway)
I haven't gotten that far but all you need is to have Lex Lang going in a different direction for past Cortex. No need for the unnecessary fan service of using old voice actors.
@@Darkfawfulx Lex Lang's Past Cortex acts pretty much the same as his present Cortex (not that that's Lex Lang's doing; that's a writer thing, obviously).
I'm sure Lex Lang could do past Cortex fine; he did a decent job in the N. Sane Trilogy. Getting Clancy Brown back would be fanservice, yes, but fanservice is good sometimes and I think it'd be neat.
@@CrypticMantisTX55 Lex Lang said in an interview that Naughty Dog got feedback in the past about Cortex being too scary for kids, so they changed him up a bit. But i definitely agree they should've written the old Cortex in the style of the Original trilogy.
I wish the N Sane Trilogy had the Halo MCC thing of swapping the graphics on the fly, but iirc they literally had to rebuild the games from the ground up because Naughtydog lost the source code
I wish the N Sane Trilogy art style/graphics wasn't so short lived and stayed for Crash 4. Visually its the best evolution of the original PS1 graphics to HD. Best Crash has ever looked among all the other weird variations we've seen.
N Sane Trilogy's art style is the "Naughty Dog hire this man" art style, we technically got 4 whole games out of it and I'm glad it's dead, I honestly think even calling it "art style" is too strong, there's not much there other than HD models.
Most "realistic" games are good not because of "good gramphics", that usually requires much more (see RE engine games, for example, DMCV has a great style, RE games have great atmosphere), and I feel like they did not think much about that during NST's development. Honestly, even CTR remake is more stylized, than that game.
Original PS1 graphics are still closest to my heart, but I'll take 4 next to that.
I want to play as the original 90s crash render from the original artwork.
@@mart5610 Hell no. N. Sane reliance on realism textures was ass. Crash 4’s art style is far more faithful to the Looney Tune cartoon spirit of the originals.
@@mart5610 Lol, no if you actually know what art styles are and the history of animation then you’ll realize that PS1 Crash was never going for the realistic Disney aesthetic, as all of the character designs pay huge tribute Looney Tunes and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Unlike N Sane, the character models in Crash 4 actually look good by themselves without any lighting. 2D just fits Crash way more than the butt ugly realistic look of N Sane. It’s not trendy, it literally just looks more appealing as time goes on.
I like Crash 4 overall, but I consider it the weakest entry in the series in regards to completion. There's so much to do, not to mention so much to do multiple times, that it ends up feeling like a masochistic chore to do absolutely everything. The original trilogy could get hard, but the difficulty and repetition was never to the point that completion felt out of reach.
Twinsanity still needs a remake with all the cut content.
no
*Yes* !!!!
At this point I am convinced charlie is held at gunpoint forced to upload this regularly.
Crash and Cortex’s dynamic being a comedic twist on Sonic vs. Eggman isn’t something I really thought about but it makes so much sense.
Gotta give you props for understanding the appeal of the crates in Crash, it's what truly makes the gameplay unique. It's true that it's underappreciated, you'd think that after this game people would get it but I still see new indie games inspired by Crash like Psylosybil, and they imitate Crash's gameplay to a degree, but never the crazy stuff done with crates. I guess it's one consequence of the series getting diluted as time went on, but this even happened with every clone back in the PS1 era. Even I didn't consider that Cortex's ability in this game is just a more literal extension of turning elements of the level into platforms.
You even touch on Crash's personality, while marketing for these games always tried to paint him as "a cooler Sonic", and people that haven't played these games still view him as such. I think that besides the gameplay, this is one reason Crash was able to stand with Mario and Sonic in the 90s and years later kept being the most fondly remembered after thousands of mascot characters came and went, he was different because he was more relatable, not in control of the situations that he's in. Mario has fun jumping around, Sonic shows off and incentivizes the player to get better each time, whereas Crash would look around everywhere nervously and sigh of relief after a level.
Nice video.
I love everything about Crash 4... except the ending. I don't want Alt!Tawna to be the older sibling figure to Crash and Coco from now on; I just want my boi Crunch back. =(
Complaining about the Bazooka is a little bit of a weird decision considering you don't get it until damn near the entire game is complete.
My main problem with Crash 4 is the bloat. I've gone back and done 100% playthroughs of the original Crash trilogy multiple times, but I have no desire to 100% Crash 4 even once. There is just too much filler content that isn't worth going through.
Crash 4 is SO GOOD. We covered it on our podcast, but I want to reiterate here: this game is the BEST game on PS Plus right now. So if you have a playstation console, please do yourself a favor and pick this game up on Tuesday when it becomes free.
It's a 4 hour game stretched into a 70 hour one. That's the issue here.
Couldn't have put it better myself
Oh no, my $60 dollar game has too much content, whatever shall I do??
There are literally bigger things to be critical about in this industry.
@@GIR177 If a game that's worth 4 hours of playtime gets stretched into 70 hours of repetition and you have to pay full price for it, that is definitely something to be critical about.
I cannot really agree on how It’s About Time honours the old trilogy’s fast-paced style of levels and gameplay. Far from it, I found myself either punished for going fast with the flow, or constantly stopping to try and figure out how to overcome obstacles.
The Bonus Stages are the worst offenders. Especially in the later half of the game, there’s just too much reliance on “Gotcha!” Switch Traps that force you to restart the whole thing or give up on getting that Box Gem. Dare I say, the Bonus Stages felt more like Death Routes than anything. (And even that’s an understatement…)
For me, among other problems, It’s About Time doesn’t earn or deserve that “4” in its title as the sequel to one of PlayStation’s most celebrated successes. In fact, I’ve no intention of coming back to it ever again, it was just too hard and repetitive.
But don’t get me wrong; I don’t think The Wrath of Cortex earned that number either…
The bonus rounds were a lot of trial and error which wasn't that fun imo
Crash 4 is the Crash Bandicoot of video games
I find it pretty funny how people nowadays just keep throwing Warped under the bus cause of a gameplay element(riding levels) that was a thing since the CB1 and act like just cause Crash is riding on a vehicle it's suddenly very unnatural to the series when it was always part of his adventurous style since the beginning. Seems like most people that keep acting this way towards Warped need to remember why it was so highly praised in the first place despite it not focusing heavily on platforming. Answer is pretty simple: It was more Fun.
I couldn't have said it any better. It's true that Crash got new gameplay elements, but the old developers always prioritized having fun
Fun is also subjective. It’s a two-way street. I personally don’t have as much fun playing the gimmick levels compared to regular platforming levels.
@@Perces1998 Fair enough. I think the level variety keeps things fresh
@@dislikebomb6680 The level variety indeed kept the platforming stages fresh since the gimmick stages(little joy rides) were basically side dishes to the main course(platforming lvls) which always had more substance & lasted longer than the gimmick levels. So it all felt balanced in Warped especially since the Warp Room system gave players the option of prioritizing which stages they want to play.
The flying, and swimming levels are the oposite of fun and have nothing to do with platforming. The riding levels in CB1 and CB 2 were still focused on skilled platforming, whille the riding levels in CB3 were just racing levels that felt like I was playing a completely diffrent game than a platfromer. Same goes for the Jet Ski levels. CB3 kinda sucks tbh and I'm glad that people are finally starting to realize it after years of undesserved praise.
been following this channel a long time but i dont comment on YT much BUT i HAVE to shout out the fact this guy just delves RIGHT into his actual points. he doesn't sit there like ' Crash Bandicoot was developed by Naughty Dog and released on the playstation in 199-whatever' like you don't need to skip the first minute or two or more like a lot of video essayists, he just goes straight into actual material analysis and it is BREATH OF FRESH AIR
Gotta say I’m liking these short videos you’ve been putting out lately. As much as I love the long ones, like SH3 for example, it’s nice to have these too. Concise and to the point.
I know this was a Patreon vid originally but DAMN we are eating good this month
Technically not! (except 1 paragraph lol)
Oops just finished watching and yeah it's a new video, even better!
Another thing in the comparison between Sonic and Crash: While the classic Sonic games did give you an option to go slow, skilled gameplay was all about getting to the end of each level as quickly as possible through optimal movement and memorization of the fastest routes. Crash on the other hand is the antithesis of this, taking his time to collect everything within a level before reaching the end. While Sonic is blazing for the finish, Crash is thorough with his exploration, and doesn't often concern himself with speed unless the situation calls for it.
I like to think of Crash as the balanced in-between playstyle between Sonic and Mario. The emphasis on platforming from Mario, but in more linear stages like from Sonic. His system of using masks as hit points is similar to Mario's mushrooms, but like Sonic's Super Sonic form Crash can gain temporary invincibility from the same source as his ability to take a hit in general. It's almost as though Sonic and Mario's DNA was brought together to create this sketchy crack addict looking Bandicoot.
Sorry bro but Crash 3 rocks. It’s a fun adventure through a more colorful variety of levels with the best bosses in the series. The little shake ups in gameplay are fun as well. Great video though.
Hundo
Im convinced the people that hated WoC the most were people who didnt know how to play because they never picked up crash before. The monkeyball levels were dope. The underwater levels were better than warpwr and Twinsanity was a key part of my younger days. 2 will always be the Goat. Warped was bøand as hell. And i always had more fun in wrath than warped.
Main problem I had with Crash 4 was that it really was like those ultra hard bonus levels from the original trilogy, thru the whole game. Kinda felt that they wasted potential with that level of difficulty, as the graphics and visual style is fantastic alongside other things. I played it thru once, not even bothering to go thru any bonus stuff due the exhaustion from the challenge. It is a shame, as it had great ingredients for success overall.
Agree. They made the flashback levels, which were already super hard. Why they felt the need to also crank the bonus levels difficulty to eleven is beyond me.
Any% is one of the best Platforming games ever made. 100% makes for one of the worst.
@@randomguy6679which sucks because it means you wasted money
@@randomguy6679 I still do believe any% still is annoying.
Crash 2 is like that smell from your childhood that you will never quite smell again because your senses are dulled.
Well, "It's About Time".
To me, Crash 4 stretches the limit of goodwill to complete it. The past games themselves is fine to finish, but the true challenge is completion. Find all the boxes, find the colored gems, re-do levels with alternate paths, and occasionally find the tricky box. In Crash 4 50% of the boxes are tricky. Box counter is usually in the hundreds, so breaking all of them faithfully and tediously only to find that you missed one box is just lame. And so I had stopped trying to complete the game, but I then I realized the game is pretty bare boned without the completion challenge. Why should I go for the extra box? there are a bunch I missed because they're hidden so well. Why should I go for all the gems? I missed the regular ones. Why should I go for the time trials? These levels are long and doing one from start to finish just ain't that fun. By making Crash 4 way too hard to complete, it had become not fun to play...
Also Activision sucks. They're bad, and they can go to hell. I already bought the game, but now it's a principle not to give them any support.
Also also, Neckless Crash just looks... weird. That's personal taste, I know, but I prefer Crash with a neck and a defined mouth area...
This so much, a normal playthrough has a nice balance in difficulty, but 100%ing the game feels like hell; some levels are just so unfairly designed for 100% runs, especially the boxes.
The fact that they hide boxes off screen, behind platforms you have no reason to think to look behind, and in areas that are otherwise instant death areas really soured me on trying to 100% complete the game. There are only a small handful of levels in the entire original trilogy that had over 100 crates, while Crash 4 has over 100, and up to 200, on every single level.
You just have to watch Caddicarus' video on completing the game 100% to see how mind numbing it becomes.
@@JanusVesta I don't resent the game for tricking me like that. They did things like that in the original trilogy. It's just that here they do it three times per level...
But Crash was neckless in the first 3 games as well...
Crash never had a neck
After years of Sonic discourse, seeing momentum being used to just mean flow is so jarring.
Glad you finally made this video public. I was anticipanting it since Crash 4's launch in 2020
While I agree with the bazooka slowing down the gameplay, I'm okay with the double jump and tornado spin being too OP for the level designs. My defense for that is the existence of the time trials. In the N Sane Trilogy the time trials for the first 2 games were really intense, I managed to get them all at least at gold, but I still have the last 3 levels to get the time trials in Crash 4.
In Crash 3, the casual crystal runs may not be that challenging, but the time trials feel like a fun balance of difficulty.
I know B- Mask already said it in his video, but the problem with fully completing the game being time-consuming lies in N.Verted mode and having to replay sections of crash levels at the end of ones in which you play as other characters. If N.Verted mode was something really fleshed out, like the hard mode in Skeleton Boomerang, then I'd be on the same page as you at the very end of this video.
Though I can't disagree with your assessment as a whole - Crash 4 is pretty great.
I feel I should elaborate on Skeleton Boomerang, as I doubt many have heard of it: I highly recommend it. It's a solid 2D platformer with a great soundtrack.
Its Hard Mode is notable for heavily altering the entire game, with stuff like enemies previously exclusive to the final levels now showing up as early as in one of the first 3 available stages; same goes for some stage gimmicks, and heck, there are new gimmicks exclusive to hard mode; new hazards are added all over the place in combinations you won't find in normal mode; bosses are drastically changed, often with new attacks, though a couple bosses have very minor, but still impactful changes instead; and the entire mode is framed as a 'what if?' scenario that branches off of the bad ending of normal mode.
It's the kinda thing that has so much care put into it that I couldn't help but wanna complete it out of sheer respect, as opposed to N.Verted, which feels like an afterthought. Not to mention that completion in Skeleton Boomerang is very enticing to begin with. There's a point that reminded me of staring at the closed 'Super Bonus World' portal in Spyro 3, except what was behind the door actually lived up to my expectations and felt like a worthy, satisfying reward. Then in hard mode opening the same door fills you with dread, because you don't even wanna imagine how much tougher it could be.
I sure hope the above piques somebody's interest instead of scaring them off or resulting in TL;DR. Ha ha!
It's cool to see you give a shorter review of Crash 4! I'd have expected the TGB insider video, but instead you pulled out an updated take, that's nice to see.
These short videos have been amazing
Yes, this game is super underrated. One of the greatest platformers of the past 20 years, the only thing that holds it back in my opinion is the hidden crates. If the developers present the Perfect Relics as the ultimate challenge of getting through these long and difficult levels without dying while collecting eveyr box, then they shouldn't have hidden them so much.
The challenge is presented as "can you get every single crate without dying", but the hidden crates add some unnecessary tedium by confusing us with the additional challenge of "can you even FIND all of the crates" that would appear in a easier game more conducive to exploratory gameplay.
Yeah the original had some tough hidden crates but 4 is just sadistic
@@quatreraberbawinner2628 Yeah it's the first Crash game that I flat out gave up on 100%ing
@@cyberninjazero5659 I'm still trying, I'm chipping away at it slowly
Honestly hidden crates are not as bad as Perfect Relics, you can memorize them in the same way we did with "that 1 crate in that one level of Crash 2", so you remember where they are in replays, but Relics make picking up those crates if you fuck up any of other criteria useless.
Or those mirror mode levels that I don't even remember the name of, which were basically "you have to replay this same level again, but with minor change" or some timeline levels. I guess that's an attempt to stretch the game into 60 hours, but I'd rather there were none of those or they had more differences.
this and level deisgn was what killed the game for me. i literally stopped playing it for those fucking out of bound crates
10:38 Yeah. It's like, if you took a body part from Sonic and tried to mold an entire game series from that.
Like his ass.
Eh? Eh? You get it?
Up top!
I can agree with this. While I really like Crash 3 and Twinsanity (and to a certain extent even titans) i've grown increasingly aware at just how much the games after Crash 2 don't seem to have much in the way of evolution to Crash's initial design philosophy. Even though I haven't played it yet, I think Crash 4 strikes a pretty good balance between sticking firmly to the series' roots without going full on sonic the hedgehog in its gimmicks. The 100% probably could've relied less on repeating content but if the levels are fun enough for it I don't see myself being super bummed about that if I stretch it out.
Crash 3 has the highest highs, and sort of lowest lows (i really don't like Crash 1, it's just frustrating to me), the parts of the game based around platforming are excellent, but the parts based around, bike racing, or the plane, just aren't great, they range from tolerable to painful
3:34 No Naughty Dog just knew what they were doing by basically upgrading each sequel in the trilogy with more awesome Crash fun and ended the trilogy with a huge bang (Warped). They started off average with CB1, picked their strides with CB2, and became chads & dominated with Warped.
I love how much OG release footage Charlie uses instead of HD Remasters or emulators.
I quite liked The Wrath of Cortex, I realise it didn't do much to evolve the series, but what was there was pretty good. i really enjoyed the mech you pilot.
I will always love wrath of cortex no matter what anyone says even though it’s very brutal to complete 100%
I love that it is like warped because I also like warped so I basically have more of it
So many uploads recently I love it
This video was so good they put crash 4 on plus
TheGoatBrit is getting crazy with this upload schedule
Damn that was a compelling video! lol I planned to turn in on as background noise while I draw and ended up putting down my art and just watching the whole video. lol Well done!
Crash 4 is amazing. But maaaaan, does 100 look overwhelming. I'm happy just getting the gems...mostly.
Your increased output is a joy. Whatever fuels this new surge of productivity, please keep doing it.
Love seeing frequent content from you
So many gamingbrit videos in such a short time, this rocks
We really did save video games guys.
NGL I like these short videos more than the hour long ones
I hope Cadicarus takes a look at this.
The approach and perspective here on this series he loves is fascinating
Rewatch Cadicarus'es Shadowman review, and then try to explain why you still watch that whiner who thinks everyone agrees with his idiotic opinions.
Huh? Pretty sure any content creator's opinions are clearly his own. You can disagree with him and he can disagree with yours. Some agree and some don't. Simple as that, what's so hard to understand about that?
Everyone's free to feel and think things differently buddy.
@@genyakozlov1316 also from the look of things they’re old videos, and clearly sometimes people change their views from their older content
While I love seeing the longer analysis videos, it’s good seeing the shorter video takes it’s refreshing
With the story, there was one gripe I had with it, which was “past Cortex”.
He should’ve been more like his stubborn but motivated self from Crash 1 instead of his more laid back and flamboyant self in Crash 4.
Story wise, Cortex has been my favorite character. From being a generic mad scientist in the Crash 1, to getting his character explored more in Crash 2, losing motivation in Crash 3, and just straight up giving up in Crash 4 really gave a sense of character to him. I just really wished that Crash 4’s “past Cortex” was more “generically evil” like he was in Crash 1.
Yeah, I feel like they kinda just got lazy and made Cortex like a Homer Simpson type idiot in the past. Some of his dialogue in the flashback tapes is similarly kinda cringey. I like the idea of Cortex's plan failing because he was too arrogant and stubborn in the past to even accept HIMSELF telling him an idea of his was bad, but past Cortex seems less that and more just.....dumb.
There's a feeling they couldn't write a character as comical and flawed without making them outright STUPID (notice the intelligent characters in this game like Tropy and Coco don't have ANY silly qualities anymore, just competent serious foils to Crash and Cortex acting foolish, while in previous games they only THOUGHT they were superior but had loads of weakspots like pride and short temper ruining that layer of dignity they had over them).
@@e-122psi3 That's a pretty glaring inconsistency. It also would've been neat if they used the original model from 1996
They have it as a skin for Crash, so they know how to replicate that effect
To be fair, they did make him more flamboyant in the remake.
@@prometheusmodelow8322 Flamboyent but not....dumb, I guess is the key here.
It's a common oversimplification in writing, that all comical characters are one note stupid and incompetent. See Crash in this game and some others, where he's just a bumbling idiot that annoys everyone, while in the originals and some other games he's wacky and clownish, but actually competent in his own silly way (or at least no worse than everyone else).
@@e-122psi3
Bro, THANK YOU!
I forgot to mention that.
Crash himself wasn’t the smartest guy around, but he wasn’t just a mindless idiot. He solved problems using creativity and outsmarting the enemy, not just dumb luck.
And the other characters too, like how Coco wasn’t just the information character, Aku Aku wasn’t just an grumpy and impatient mask either.
Cortex is the only character I actually like in Crash 4 because his flamboyancy and uncaring attitude would make sense after 22 years of just being stuck in the past (how they didn’t go insane, or even survive in the first place, who knows, like Uka Uka makes sense, but Cortex and N. Tropy, uh…)
And yeah, speaking of Uka Uka, this dude’s been nerfed since the og Crash 3. He’s an cranky old prick in Wrath of Cortex, a lame boss fight in Twinsanity, and God knows what he was in Crash of the Titans and Mind over Mutant.
Well, I wouldn’t say he was fully menacing in the og Crash 3, but that was his start. And not much has been explored other than an alternate invincibility mask in CTR and an enemy team in Crash Bash.
Hopefully, a potential Crash 5 or the supposed Wumpa League (or whatever they’re gonna call it) can undo the flanderization that started in the N. Sane Trilogy and continued with Crash 4.
Those gimmicky sections make crash crash 😂😭😭
Crash goes bash while looking like he's on tainted hash
Ah yes, the floor is made out of floor
Big fan of these frequent uploads. High quality stuff 👌
I disagree that the jetpack themselves being bad. Once you get used to the controls the Jetpack levels are some of my favourite. It's driven, forward momentum gameplay. Most of that level can be done without stopping, and it feels great moving forward, navigating the obstacles, taking account the full range of 3D movement and momentum, all done to the backing of one of the best songs in the series.
This series was more than just about platforming. It was literally more about the various & challenging ways of moving in the 3D space since Crash, similar to Mario, was one of the earliest examples of 3D adventure gameplay. Since Crash 1, levels always varied based on the different camera perspectives of where you'll mostly be moving Crash in 3D and the detailed environments, hazards, and crazy to intense action made the 3D adventure in this trilogy a lot enjoyable. Platforming in this series was basically just a connection to it all, not the main forefront.
Just to let you know this is one of the best video GAME channel, love your content
The fact there was a throwback of the ball in Wrath of Cortex in the desert's chase scene is rather pleasing. I feel this is how the balls SHOULD'VE been used there, rather than full stages, complimentary to the chase scene as a running gag being chased by past villains.
I liked your take on Crash and Cortex as "fraud" Sonic and Eggman, very fun insight. Great video.
I'm not big on 4's execution though, since it kinda plays them off as the ONLY bungling kooks in a serious cast that are moving the story competently, and that if the narrative was a bit more honest, one of the more competent lot like Coco and Tropy would be the real hero and villain duo and Crash and Cortex would just be their comic relief.
I kinda preferred the previous games' take where pretty much the whole Crash universe was a cartoony Wonderland where EVERYONE was dysfunctional and comically flawed, just some could put up a better facade of sanity until they got caught off guard. If anything it's kinda true to Sonic rules anyway, since even their 'coolness' was balanced by whimsical cartoony stuff, especially Eggman.
The two main characters just being the irrelevent lamewads of an unironically "cool" cast is kinda borng, a bit depressing.
Crash is Sonic if Sonic got addicted to crack and started slacking off
I'd love a video on this aspect of modern art direction 12:49.
this new wave of shorter, more concise videos is so cool. keep up the good work, hoping the algorithm blesses.
Now I feel like replaying The Insane Trilogy again. Just watching the three classic games just makes me want to revisit these again.
Yeah. Crash is a great series because it offers something for everyone. At least, 1-3. Crash 2 is classic, and I love the bike from Crash 3 :)
Dude, great timing! It was leaked that Crash 4 is next Plus freebie.
10:45 Never thought of it like that
Damn, I missed you have starting posting again, sweet. Welcome Back!
Man gaming brit is a role with the whole being dead on about everything right now.
Excellent work as always my friend
I came for the thumbnail, and I stayed for the well written and thoughtful review.
Possibly the most perfectly timed video I've ever seen as Crash 4 was just announced for PS+ for July.
Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn’t Wrath of Cortex called Crash Bandicoot 4 in Japan? So it makes Its about time the second Crash 4 for them, which makes is probably little bit confusing for them unless this one doesn’t have 4 in its title over there, which I don’t know.
Only dealbreaker for me with Crash 4 are three things:
1) How the developers were obsessed with hiding crates everywhere, think of Cold Hard Crash's bonus crate but done with 5 to 20 crates on almost every single 10-minute long stage, it makes getting 106% a complete chore despite the tight and fairly challenging gameplay (they're so hidden that you have to look at guides in order to have an idea of how to beat the stage 100%, and that's simply no fun);
2) The alternate characters are underutilized except for the levels where they're first introduced, with the rest of their levels only letting you play as them for 50% of the level (or in the worst case scenario with Ship Happens and Thar He Blows only let you play as the alt. character for only 20% of the stage), the rest of the levels are just repeats of previous Crash / Coco levels with the only difference being the crate placement, which also leads me to:
3) The N.Verted levels are just exactly the same as the original levels but with a filter slapped on, making it exhausting to complete the game 106% considering that you're playing the same level three times (original level, N.Verted level, and the other huge half of the alt. characters' levels, if you wanna count time trials that makes it five times which is even more jarring, once with the original level and twice with the alt. character level).
These three major issues makes it hard for me to enjoy the game, which is a shame because i really like everything else about the game from the controls, to the platforming challenges, to the artstyle even.
I know what you mean about Crash 3, I avoided picking it up for a long time as a little kid because I thought that it was an exclusively vehicular game from the pictures on the back of the box. Turned out to be my favourite when I did finally pick it up though.
Great to see more from you TGBS
Crash 4 is my favourite Crash 😳
The original versions of the Crash Bandicoot games takes place in an alternate universe to that of the remakes.
2:30 Caddicarus would like to have a word with you 😂😂
The ONLY thing I dislike about Crash 4 is that number. Not that it doesn't earn it but because of the way it seems to almost retcon everything after Crash 3. Not just the games but the characters and events. While the post Naughty Dog games were ROUGH in terms of gameplay, Twinsanity and beyond really nailed the "interactive cartoon" element of Crash and gave it more personality than even the Naughty Dog era stuff. That and it was part of a trend of games doing this like Sonic 4 and Double Dragon IV, both of which did far less to earn those titles. Gameplay-wise it's great and the story is 99% awesome, but I really did hate how it snubbed ALL the post Naughty Dog stuff, something I think they would have done more of if it weren't for the success of CTR: Nitro Fueled which I think caused them to walk back some of their ideas at the last minute.
Crash 4 is also weirdly the kind of game we would have never gotten until now. Back when Wrath of Cortex came out, Crash WAS just seen as a Brand and the games were "just some platformers" to a lot of people. Crash's hallway style gameplay would have been seen as "archaic", "dated", and "not relevant" back in the day (yes I am still seething about how hard Star Fox: Assault was bashed for daring to have 3 on-rails stages). NOW though, with us looking back fondly on the original trilogy, it forced a team to analyze why those games were good, what people liked, and how to make a new one that was MORE than "just a platformer" and they succeeded with flying colors.
What the fuck are you talking about? The on-rails Arwing levels in Assault were the only levels people liked in that game
I feel like I lack closure without credits, like just a post vid chat thing. Right now I feel like I'm getting yanked out of the matrix.
The whole "forward momentum" thing doesn't ring as true with me for something like Crash 4 or Mega Man that's more digital in their movement, compared to something like Sonic, or Rayman Origins/Legends, or Mario where you get a bigger sense of momentum. It's especially true for boxes, right? Yeah, you gotta keep moving. But you also gotta keep moving slowly, step by step, hitting every tiny platform carefully for that 100%. I don't think the crate puzzling and speedy gameplay go together at all, and compared to something more freeform I think Crash's gameplay can be a little frustrating.
Still, it was cool to see Crash 4 return to that form after all this time. I liked those old Crash games alright, but for me the last twenty years of Crash games might as well not have existed - they didn't seem worth paying attention to at all, even less than Sonic's career if you can believe that. I thought it was cool to see some devs come in that gave it a good shot and managed to reach the quality of those older titles, and it's a pity they won't have another shot.
On the whole, it's frustrating that 3d platformer series have trouble sticking around. The only ones that keep it going at a regular pace anymore are Sonic, Mario and Ratchet, and out of those Ratchet's been doing more of the same for a decade, Sonic has had like one and a half fun games in 20 years and Mario is the only one putting out regular quality content that also changes up the formula. I'm thankful for revivals like Crash 4 and Psychonauts 2, but life's too short for one Crash per generation.
Perspectives are a wonderful thing. From mine not a single word you said was correct.
Mania isn't the best game Sonic has put out in twenty years, it's the second worst after Colours.
The only great Naughty Dog Crash game was 1, the series only gotten great and found its comedic identity after they left.
Sonic Forces was better than Mario Odyssey on the grounds of both story and music, I don't care about the gameplay.
Crash and Mega Man don't have great momentum gameplay if you don't use all your traversal options. X's dashes feel very dynamic foe example.
Breaking all boxes and going as fast as possible are different modes of gameplay, no one asked you to mix them.
Never cared about Ratchet and Clank, probably never will, no matter how many TheGamingBrit videos about the franchise I'll watch. It doesn't appeal to me. If I want to play a platformer shooter on the PS2, I'll replay Shadow the hedgehog again, it's my favourite Sonic game, and it has Ratchet and Clank beat in terms of visuals and music 100%.
@@genyakozlov1316 No disrespect my mans, opinions are all subjective and whatnot but you've got some serious brain damage, homie.
@@genyakozlov1316 this dude.
@@genyakozlov1316 Mans really said "I don't care about the gameplay"
Hell yeah! Gamingbrit talking about my childhood game!
These short videos have a Matthewmatosis-like charm.
the thing about the crates is something I never appreciated, now my mind is blown
Main reason why I didn't get into the Crash series is because the first game's camera was too close for the gameplay. Gave a hectic/rushed feeling that, in hindsight, was probably intentional. Having watched this, I'd only be open to trying the 4th game 🤔
This is free on PS Plus next month too, can't wait to play through it again.