Fun platforming, but painful to complete.

amazing platformer 80% of the time, with a huge, huge quality and consistency drop-off as you reach the end of the game; the developers thought it wise to keep introducing new game mechanics to the final second, instead of expanding upon and tightening up those that they already used previously. i think my biggest criticism of this game is that you can definitely tell that it wasn’t made by the original team, with a close second being a very long, long essay on how awfully inconsistent the design choices are in this game from top to bottom (apart from the art; the artists and animators for this game knocked it clear out of the park). if crash 5 happens, stop thinking more/longer level = more game = more fun or more mechanic = more game = more fun; you’re making it way too easy to burn out on this game (i wanted to 100% it, but not so much anymore. the levels are just so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ LONG, coupled with fifty billion separate “no death” challenges by devs that are just so smart, so very smart, you get a healthy dose of gfy). the original trilogy was simple, and its simplicity is what gave it the popularity that put you all in the jobs to work on this new entry; don’t act like you can do better (you’ve proven that you can’t!).

oh, also, let this game be a lesson to anyone who wants to make a platformer: there is a MASSIVE difference between difficulty due to constraint and enforced difficulty. this game is a nightmare of “hehe try THIS on for size >:)” whilst being designed by developers seemingly with the motto of “eh, that’ll do”. you need to be intricate when designing difficulty to still make it **FUN**, and these devs really bottled it here by being lazy and inconsistent but thinking they were the smartest in the room. worse still, how are you going to design any platformer if your hitboxes and controls are this wildly inconsistent? missing inputs constantly, sliding off solid objects, jumping one mm off the beaten path and dying? dude, come on

the game can still be fun (at times), and the artists made this game GORGEOUS, but the gameplay doesn’t compare to the originals due to the devs being way too overzealous. if it was just the masks, then i think it would’ve worked, but having to learn, remember, and TOLERATE new mechanic/concept after new mechanic/concept welllllll into the late levels, the latter half of this game just feels like a wet fart more than anything. i actually don’t think there’s a single mechanic or concept that they truly perfected in this game, as every single iota of gameplay has some “gotcha” attached that is so evidently due to the devs assuming quantity over quality/not giving a ♥♥♥♥. every time i beat a level in the last three worlds, it felt more like “thank christ that’s finally over” instead of a victory. oh, and be ready to say “IT’S STILL GOING?” every time you think you’ve reached the end of the game before another world sporadically appears. it happens A LOT. i wish this was a “we’d have done XYZ if we had the time” situation, but you can really, really, REALLY tell that they had all the time in the world and just decided to use it poorly, cuz “hey WE brought crash bandicoot back!!” right? devs being “lazy” is such a dog whistle these days for people who don’t rly know what they’re talking about, but this is a rare example where it is nigh impossible to blame the incompetence on this game on just ignorance. what even happened to TFB after this actually? just googled it, and TFB got reassigned to call of duty after this launched?? yeah, no, that checks; brought that one easily on yourselves. your hubris, most foul

forgot to mention the level design, could take up three paragraphs with my complaints. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ get it together, you’re not nearly as clever or fun as you think you are. and, for the love of all that is alive and well on this planet, SPLIT THE STAGES INTO PARTS. like, not only does not doing this add to the inconsistent, cluttered mess that’s already there, but it’s just not fun at all to have to slog, inch by inch, through the galaxy-brained choices of the interns of toys for bob lmfao. like, why is there a level for tawna AND DINGO THAT IS THE LENGTH OF WAR AND PEACE WITH LIKE FIFTY MILLION IDEAS THAT COULD’VE BEEN MADE INTO TEN SEPARATE WORLDS, EACH WITH FIVE LEVELS OR MORE? oh and whilst we’re here, ZOOM THE ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ CAMERA OUT OR ANGLE IT BY FIVE MORE DEGREES???? you had to add a cartoon-ass circle beneath crash that doesn’t help 90% of the time to solve an issue with ONE variable in your unreal engine nintendo hire this man environment bruh what the ♥♥♥♥ lmfao

again, it’s fun, but it’s more fun in the sense of “i have the flu and can’t really do anything else but this” kind of fun instead of “i can’t wait to clock off work and play some crash bandicoot” kinda fun. y’know? and, no, this isn’t “the dark souls of platformers”. that’s a huge insult to dark souls. this game is moreeeee…the subway surfers of the crash bandicoot series

Really good but the levels are too long. Some have 500+ boxes, I've spent literal hours trying to beat some levels.