The Crash Bandicoot series has never been afraid to jump genres. Though primarily associated with the platforming genre, Crash has jumped into the racing, party and endless runner genres through the years. He even had a cross-over game with Spyro. Now, developer Toys for Bob is taking everyone’s favorite Bandicoot into uncharted territory: online competitive multiplayer. Does Crash Team Rumble successfully convert the classic formula into a successful multiplayer game or is this a genre the Bandicoot should never have touched?
Crash Team Rumble is a purely multiplayer game with no story or single-player campaign to speak of. While there’s an offline tutorial and private matches, the vast majority of the game is played online. Those hoping for a story or some context about what’s happening within Crash Team Rumble are out of luck. Toys for Bob’s focus was clearly on delivering a solid competitive multiplayer experience, so buyer beware if you’re looking for a single-player experience.
As a solely multiplayer experience, Crash Team Rumble mostly delivers on converting the Crash Bandicoot formula into a comprehensible multiplayer experience. Crash Team Rumble is a 4v4 competitive multiplayer title with combat spread across nine multiplayer maps inspired by locations from the main games. The goal of each match is to stockpile Wumpa Fruit, which is collected from the series' iconic crates. Meanwhile, each team can activate iconic items and powers pulled from each game.
The nine maps themselves are beautifully and thoughtfully designed to encourage fairness and mechanic utilization. To win, players will need to focus not only on collecting Wumpa Fruit but also on securing Gem Pads to boost scoring, Relic Stations to gain advantages or receive disadvantages, and Epic Relic Stations, which summon game-changing allies, such as Uka Uka and Nitrous Oxide. It’s the team that’s best able to balance these mechanics that usually wins, though wild card events like Uka Uka raining down asteroids can help tip the balance.
Crash Team Rumble is designed to be fun and heavily replayable. There are many customization items to unlock, and each character has levels to grind. That idea of replayability is hit hard, however, once you realize there’s not much else to do outside of Competitive. There’s a tutorial and private match option, but the main crux of the game is the single gameplay mode provided. While nine launch maps is a decent amount, the relative quickness of each (4-6 minutes) combined with just one game mode means variety dies out fast.
Gameplay adds variety to the proceedings. Crash Team Rumble marries the gameplay of the single-player games with competitive action to great success. Series veterans will be spinning, platforming and collecting Wumpa Fruit like this is a regular entry in the franchise. What sets Crash Team Rumble apart from other games is how it handles characters and powers.
Crash Team Rumble launches with a disappointing eight characters (an additional two will be added as part of Season One) split into three focuses. Scorers (Crash, Tawna and Catbat) are best at collecting Wumpa Fruit and platforming. Meanwhile, Blockers (Dingodile, N. Brio and N. Tropy) focus on stopping enemies from scoring. Finally, Boosters (Coco, Neo Cortex) help the team by capturing Gem Pads and activating Relic Stations. Even within the roles are unique attributes that make every character feel unique and valuable. For example, Dingodile’s vacuum makes him great for slowing down enemies and stealing their Wumpa. Meanwhile, N. Trophy’s staff allows for area-of-effect attacks. There’s a good amount of synergy when working with friends. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t include more than eight launch characters. The constraints of the singular game mode and quick match length ensure you’ll have cycled through every character too quickly.
Powers add an additional wrinkle to the gameplay, with players pre-selecting one before going into battle. These include offensive options like the Fly Trap Spitter, supportive options like the Healing Fridge that heals enemies in the vicinity, scoring options like the Wumpa Stash, or defensive options like the Gasmoxian Guard, which is extra deadly when placed on your opponent’s goal. They’re all great and help add some sorely needed variety to Crash Team Rumble.
Crash Team Rumble is a fun experience when the right synergy is created. The right blend of characters, powers, great map design and quick matches make for an exhilarating experience. The main problem is that there’s just not enough meat on the bones to keep the game interesting. You’ll have experienced everything Crash Team Rumble offers within just a few matches. What’s on offer is fun, but the lack of variety in game modes, characters and map objectives begins to wear that away. Considering the game aims for replayability, costs $29.99 ($39.99 for the Deluxe Edition) and has future Battle Passes planned, this considerable lack of variety and content isn’t cutting it.
Crash Team Rumble does at least look and sound good. Pulling from the visual style ofCrash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, Crash Team Rumble is colorful and beautiful to look at, with good attention to detail. All the sound effects, music and themes you’d expect to appear in a Crash Bandicoot game are here. The game is especially impressive when significant events like Uka-Uka’s asteroids rain across the screen or when Nitrous Oxide’s ship comes to level the playing field. While Crash Team Rumble may need to catch up in the variety and content camps, it hits the bullseye in its presentation.
Closing Comments
The dream of marrying the classic Crash Bandicoot formula with a competitive multiplayer experience is a good one. It’s actually quite fun, as Crash Team Rumble proves. The unique blend of characters, powers, mechanics and maps can lead to wacky matches that prove the foundation for an incredible multiplayer experience is there. The problem is that Toys for Bob needed to fill that foundation to create an experience whose fun can last more than a handful of matches. Crash Team Rumble’s lack of variety in its modes and objectives creates a repetitive loop with diminishing returns after each match. While the characters and powers do inject variety into the core loop, there just isn’t enough content to sustain any long-term ambitions, especially a live service game with an up-front cost and upcoming Battle Passes. Crash Team Rumble builds out a fun and engaging skeleton for a Crash-inspired multiplayer game; it just doesn’t have enough meat on those bones to keep the experience engaging. This is one Bandicoot you may not want to unleash.
Crash Team Rumble
Assembling Crash, Cortex, Coco, and a host of other Crash Bandicoot alumni, Toys for Bob’s Crash Team Rumble is an online 4v4 multiplayer game. As they strive to collect the most Wumpa Fruit, characters can use special abilities to give them an advantage in this wacky strategy platformer.
