'Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time' Teaches You to Win By Having You Lose...Repeatedly

Image via Activision

The grand total for the entire level? I died 276 times over the course of nearly two hours. But when I finally beat the level—at one in the morning—I felt that euphoric combination of relief, exhaustion, and happiness that made it worth it. It's a feeling, conjured by difficult, well-constructed gameplay, that's always been elusive and continues to be rare; until two days ago, I hadn't felt that feeling in years. That Crash Bandicoot 4 managed to recreate that feeling multiple times during my playthrough is a testament to its quality. That I immediately went right back into the game to defeat the final boss after that excruciating ordeal is another.

Crash Bandicoot 4 drip feeds you increasingly complex obstacles over the course of its playthrough. Enemies are unarmed at first; then, they begin carrying weapons. And Crash, aside from the intermittent mask sequences, has the same basic tools to defeat his foes—the ones he's largely had since the start of this franchise. He can run, duck, jump, double jump, belly flop, slide, and spin... That's about it. The level designers found enough permutations of these basic maneuvers to create some truly awesome levels. Some highlights include a midnight party that's a cross between Mardi Gras in New Orleans and Dia de los Muertos in Mexico City; a prehistoric level with a massive T-Rex that chases you to the end; a futuristic Coruscant-esque city filled with floating cars and a Jetsons vibe; and a traditional Japanese garden, complete with waterfalls and arched bridges.

The story and dialogue include some cute meta winks to these characters' histories, but it's almost beside the point; there's a better story being told through gameplay rather than cinematic cutscenes. 

There are 43 core "main" levels and several "side" levels in Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time which cast you as supporting characters Dingodile and Tawny, plus lead villain Neo Cortex. Each of these side characters has different abilities. Dingodile carries a vacuum cleaner that can suck up and shoot TNT, Tawny is equipped with a grappling hook that can hook onto distant platforms, and Cortex packs a ray gun that can turn enemies into platforms. Many of these side levels take place concurrently with the game's main storyline, which means that often, two different character's actions overlap; you'll have to play all of the levels in order to get the full story. On top of that are inverted "mirror" levels which add even more replayability. 

If you complete specific tasks, like breaking a percentage of crates in each level, you can earn gems. You use these gems to unlock special costumes, like this chicken get-up I earned for 100% completion of the first level.

If you die multiple times in a single sequence, the game will give you additional advantages on subsequent attempts. It will add additional checkpoints, as well as allowing you more hits. As a last resort, the game will get rid of some of your enemies to make your timed jumps easier. Typically, I dislike this sort of hand-holding; I'd rather determine my own level of difficulty than have the developer take the decision out of my hands. But seeing as there is no changeable difficulty setting in Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, this is the next best compromise. And quite frankly, it came as a relief, especially on the later levels.

As I observed in the demo, the jumping controls still feel a bit imprecise in Crash Bandicoot 4, although you have a shadow marker that shows where you're about to land. I also devised my own workaround for the problem: Rather than trying to hold the jump button for just long enough but not too long, I'll instead change the timing of the jump itself. I'll jump earlier if I need to make a short jump, and later if I need to make a long jump. This gave me some necessary accuracy, particularly in a late-game sequence where I had to traverse multiple, moving platforms in pursuit of a spaceship.

By playing both the demo and the full game, I also observed something really cool: the degree to which Crash Bandicoot 4 has seeped into my muscle memory. The demo levels that I mastered weeks ago were easily conquered in this second go-around. Just like with an old school Mario game that I haven't played in decades, my skills came back to me pretty easily. So rest assured: it may take you a hundred attempts to beat a level, but if you've done it once, you'll be able to do it again.