Developer: Toys For Bob
Publisher: Activision
Platform: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: PS5
Crash Team Rumble – Review
Crash Bandicoot saw the light of day all the way back in 1996 and the beloved character became PlayStation’s unofficial mascot. The first few games in the series were exclusively released on Sony’s console, and the series gave both Mario and Sonic a run for their money. Sadly, the Crash Bandicoot games somewhat died down in popularity, and many of the series’ spin-off titles weren’t as successful as the mainstream releases. Now after a successful fourth entry in the series in 2020, as well as a remake of a beloved spin-off title, Crash Bandicoot is back in business, albeit in a competitive online format. Crash Team Rumble sounded rather nice on paper, but its severe lack of content dragged down the overall experience.
Story
Crash Team Rumble has no story whatsoever. You basically go from one match to another, and that’s about it. The game has a few unlockable characters, but you don’t really get any information about said characters.
Graphics
Crash Team Rumble truly looks like a Crash Bandicoot game. Everything in the game is very colorful, the different stages look appealing with their own unique themes, and the iconic characters in the game look great. We did notice an overall lack of variety, as there are only a limited number of characters available, and you’ll be playing in the same handful of stages over and over again. Characters can be somewhat customized with different skins and accessories, but that’s about it.
Sound
The game’s sound design is okay. You’ll mainly have to make do with the game’s sound effects, as these will give you audio feedback for what is going on around you. The background music is subtle but decent. At the end of the match, you’ll hear a few more iconic tunes. Other than the announcer during the matches, there is no real voice acting present in the game.
Gameplay
Crash Team Rumble is a 4v4 online multiplayer game where two teams duke it out in an arena while collecting Wumpa fruit to bring back to their own base. The first team to collect 2000 Wumpa fruit wins. The players can choose out of eight characters to play, and these characters have different roles. You’ll have Scorers, Blockers, and Boosters. Scorers are quicker characters, they can carry more Wumpa fruit, and these are often the ones that will focus on scoring points. The Blockers are supposed to make sure that enemy players do not bring in their Wumpa fruit, and these are generally bulkier and somewhat slower. Boosters are great to collect extra relic keys, and these can ensure quicker team boosts by turning their keys in for bonuses.
The overall gameplay loop is actually a lot of fun, but a few issues become clear rather quickly. The game lacks content, as you’ll be playing in the same areas all the time, and there are only eight playable characters. You’ll have to play a few matches in order to unlock all characters and some bonus abilities, but there is just not that much to do. The game also suffers from balancing issues. When certain teams pick a certain blocker three times in combination with the Healing Fridge power-up, then you might be completely blocked for the entirety of a match. This could easily be fixed if the game would not allow a character to be picked twice or more per team. Sadly, if the developers would implement this, the choices become even more limited for players.
Conclusion
Crash Team Rumble has a lot of good things going for it, but the severe lack of content and balancing issues drag the experience down. This game should have been either free to play or it should have come at an extremely low price. After about an hour, you’ll see most of what it has to offer, except for the few characters you may not have unlocked yet. With some additional content and a severe price reduction, this could be an amazing online game, but as it stands now, we find this one hard to recommend at its current asking price.
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