well i'm finally free. i've had enough brain worms from this game so i'm not going to scrap together anything cohesive. will just leave scattered thoughts.
- somewhat approaches passable if just mainlined through the game but i and i assume a lot of other series fans who have enjoyed going for gems in the past know that leaves a bit of an empty experience.
- the visuals across the board are well done even if things sometimes get very busy on screen making it hard to read what's happening. as with literally every other Crash game, depth perception is difficult even with the drop shadow.
- excess is a problem for a large amount of contemporary games but i didn't expect it to show up here or even if it did for it to be so fucking bad. you've got three gems for getting X amount of wumpa fruit, one for all the crates, a hidden gem, and one for less than three deaths. this isn't even getting into the perfect relics which make things like the less than 3 deaths gem redundant. all i could find myself asking is just "why?". it feels like those stupid meme images people make mocking the busy UI in games but spread across everything down to its core.
- the levels in this game are too fucking LONG. 90% of them could've been broken in half or in egregious cases thirds and nothing would've been lost. i mean they were so clearly concerned with having Content™ that could've been a way to boast a larger level count.
- tying into the above, the long levels make everything in the game whether it's time trials, getting all the crates with most of the wumpa fruit, or all of the crates while not dying for a perfect relic a miserable slog. nothing like getting to the end of a 5+ minute level only to find out you missed a crate in the most diabolical of locations that you probably won't find without looking it up.
- the extra character gameplay types range from mediocre to dumpster fire tier. Tawna gets the best of it whereas Dingodile has finicky vacuum mechanics and Cortex gets shit laser gun aiming (which will end up getting stuck on invisible level geometry all the time) with the worst movement in the game.
- for something that felt like it was making a statement with the title of Crash 4, it's like they learned literally nothing from Wrath of Cortex or the other poorly received sequels. so much of the complaints that could be brought up for the conventional platforming ones apply here, sometimes even worse.
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i want to come back to this many years down the line with some time away and less baggage. hopefully when viewing it as just something to get through (even though i still stand by that not being the ideal way to play a Crash game and it sure as hell doesn't absolve any of the shit i said) i might be able to enjoy it a bit more.
- somewhat approaches passable if just mainlined through the game but i and i assume a lot of other series fans who have enjoyed going for gems in the past know that leaves a bit of an empty experience.
- the visuals across the board are well done even if things sometimes get very busy on screen making it hard to read what's happening. as with literally every other Crash game, depth perception is difficult even with the drop shadow.
- excess is a problem for a large amount of contemporary games but i didn't expect it to show up here or even if it did for it to be so fucking bad. you've got three gems for getting X amount of wumpa fruit, one for all the crates, a hidden gem, and one for less than three deaths. this isn't even getting into the perfect relics which make things like the less than 3 deaths gem redundant. all i could find myself asking is just "why?". it feels like those stupid meme images people make mocking the busy UI in games but spread across everything down to its core.
- the levels in this game are too fucking LONG. 90% of them could've been broken in half or in egregious cases thirds and nothing would've been lost. i mean they were so clearly concerned with having Content™ that could've been a way to boast a larger level count.
- tying into the above, the long levels make everything in the game whether it's time trials, getting all the crates with most of the wumpa fruit, or all of the crates while not dying for a perfect relic a miserable slog. nothing like getting to the end of a 5+ minute level only to find out you missed a crate in the most diabolical of locations that you probably won't find without looking it up.
- the extra character gameplay types range from mediocre to dumpster fire tier. Tawna gets the best of it whereas Dingodile has finicky vacuum mechanics and Cortex gets shit laser gun aiming (which will end up getting stuck on invisible level geometry all the time) with the worst movement in the game.
- for something that felt like it was making a statement with the title of Crash 4, it's like they learned literally nothing from Wrath of Cortex or the other poorly received sequels. so much of the complaints that could be brought up for the conventional platforming ones apply here, sometimes even worse.
---
i want to come back to this many years down the line with some time away and less baggage. hopefully when viewing it as just something to get through (even though i still stand by that not being the ideal way to play a Crash game and it sure as hell doesn't absolve any of the shit i said) i might be able to enjoy it a bit more.