Run, dead, hop, dead, again, dead, damn, dead again and bam, dead. At first this is not necessarily unusual for a “platformer” game. “Crash Bandicoot” takes it to the extreme in the fourth part, “It’s About Time”: It’s more of a “Jump’n’Die” game. Thanks to the “Modern” game mode, in which there is unlimited life, one can assume that the death rates are intentional. And they also ensure outbursts of anger, fits of ambition and shouts of joy.

The bag-badger Crash and his sister Coco rush through time and space in the new PS4 exclusive game, around the villains Neo Cortex and Dr. Imprison N. Tropy. So far, so well known. And also so vague – they could somehow escape through a dimensional crack after the game heroes 1998 in the third part ” Warped “. Crash Bandicoot was never well known for his act. But it doesn’t matter either. At least the story tries to build on the “N. Sane” trilogy. This is how the game starts, like the first edition, on N.Sanity Beach. In the foreground is nostalgia, and you want to play well-known things in a new guise.

“Crash Bandicoot 4” in 100 seconds

The accuracy jumping is known to be bad. Because jumping to death used to cost a lot of nerves, a circle now shows the player where he ends up. Often, however, the problem is that you just don’t know where you want to end up. Sometimes your own bottom blocks your view.

Crash Bandicoot is not designed to hop through the worlds with a few lives. You have to work your way first. Accordingly, there is the modern mode, in which the player starts at the last checkpoint after each death. Anyone who chooses retro fashion with finite lives must have really strong nerves and skill.

Squeaky colorful and full of rhythms Squeaky colorful is also the motto in Crash Bandicoot 4. It has become even more colorful and detailed, which is not least due to the generally better graphics. This is particularly noticeable in small throwbacks: With a found video cassette you can go back in time to practice box hopping like in the early days of crashes. At the same time, they make the “then” even grayer than what the PS1 actually produced.

Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s about Time (5 pictures) Practice levels lead back to the beginnings of Crash Bandicoot – also optically. Speed ​​is the other brand of the game. When hunting for wumpa fruits, which look like a mixture of apple and mango, the player gets into a kind of rhythm. In bad moments there is a rhythm of regular screen deaths, but in good moments a real run also develops. At the latest, the level in which you have to run away or surf, leave no other choice but to let yourself go to the pace.

New powers, figures and ways of playing The help of Quantum masks, which help in bending space and time – but also is new sometimes cause lumps in the brain. The game world changes at the push of a button, this is what the game calls “phase shift”. This ability must be combined with other mechanics: first jump, then initiate the shift in the air, and land precisely after changing the game world. If something goes wrong, you quickly die of screen death.

In addition, the siblings stand a bit more in the foreground, no longer just Crash with his amiable, stupid-damn borderline grin. Figures that have appeared on the sidelines so far have been given special skills in part number 4 that can be used in some levels: For example, solid jumping skills and a lasso. Basically, the level architecture is extremely versatile. Even Guitar-Hero has been transformed into the final boss. But you cannot play directly together.

There are of course a variety of new skins that have to be unlocked if you want them. In addition to the basic goal of getting as many or all of the fruits and boxes as possible, there are branches and S