As Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time fans fantasized about what the old PlayStation mascots would look like once they’d returned to the platform, an online multiplayer game with Battle Pass topped their wishlist I couldn’t even imagine going in. But almost three years later, emotes and pings are as important in Crash Team his Rumble as Wampa his fruit collecting. It may not be what the enthusiast wanted, but those who gave it a chance might find it was what they needed. Crash Team Rumble won’t separate you from Fortnite or Genshin Impact for too long, but it’s deep enough and fun to brawl a few times each night.
A basic MOBA analogy (league of legends, DOTA2, SMITE), developer Toys for Bob is doing a battle here to collect wampa fruit. Four players form each side, choosing characters from one of three different classes. The objective of each match is to collect 2,000 Wampa Fruits, and the type of character you choose determines whether you can help your team achieve their objectives or stop your opponents from achieving them.
Scorers are intended to collect wampa fruits, blockers are designed to prevent opposing players from scoring, and boosters must activate a temporary point doubler. In these three classes of his, you can play as Coco, Dr. Neo Cortex, Dingodile, and many other famous faces in Crash Bandicoot his game past and present. Whether foe or friend in a mainline title, a four-man team must put aside their differences and play their part effectively to win.
The eight characters available at launch each take a slightly different approach to their class. Crash Bandicoot himself has normal spin and dash movements, while Tauna has a hookshot to move faster. Meanwhile, Koko is able to set up a quantum wall to stop her pursuers, and Dr. N. Brio briefly transforms into a rampaging monster. This diversity gives each character credibility and allows them to excel in different situations.
The base game comes with 9 maps, each with different limited-time power-ups. Collecting relics is how you unlock relics, and controlling gems is activating point multipliers, which are the main tasks passed to boosters. With a little know-how, a team can effectively start scoring, increase Wampa’s fruit, and prevent enemy rallies.
All in all, Crash Team Rumble is a lot of fun. Some matches can quickly become very one-sided, but the back-and-forth between collecting and rejecting Wumpa Fruit usually results in a tense match. Toys for Bob has put a lot of effort into this one main mode of his, making sure it offers enough features for everyone to get used to quickly during a serious experimentation with abilities and smart team building.
This is a great ‘one more game’ type of experience where you can quickly get back into the fight for the wampa fruit after a heavy defeat or a satisfying victory. Even with some seemingly overwhelming abilities, in the right hands the game is fairly balanced and there’s always a chance the opposing team will fight back. There is never enough resting space, but that’s a good thing.
But perhaps the biggest thing holding back Crash Team Rumble is what the previous seven paragraphs have built up. It’s just one mode. If you don’t like your Toys for Bob product after your purchase, nothing else. You can play the same mode with friends in private matches or against bots, but the single player content is tutorial only. Unfortunately, there’s also local play, so you can’t play the game when you’re with friends.
Back to where I started this review. This is probably 30 minutes to an hour he an hour every night is a great experience. There is some depth to explore, but it seems unlikely that a friendly group with her less than 10 maps he will be willing to play only one mode for any significant period of time. With so many big multiplayer titles on the market, he probably doesn’t see many players sticking around for more than a week or two. Probably because this is where the live service angle comes into play, at least based on what exists at launch.
It remains to be seen how long Toys for Bob will support Crash Team Rumble, but what’s been in the game since day one feels much fairer than other Games as a Service. Anyone who purchases the game will have access to the first Season Battle Pass. There is no in-game store where items can be purchased. In other words, no micropayments are required. Additionally, all eight characters are customizable, and all of these skins and decals are unlocked through challenges and playing games. This could all change in a few months. We’ve seen it happen many times, but at launch, the live service trap feels reasonable. You get rewarded for playing rather than spending money.
However, loading times are not that long. You have to take other players’ internet connections into account while the match loads, and sometimes you end up waiting an inordinate amount of time before the match starts. Most matches are ready after loading in about 15 seconds, but some can take up to a minute. However, players’ internet connections vary in quality, so there’s only so much a game can do to mitigate long loading screens.
Conclusion
The online multiplayer space is so competitive that it’s hard to see if Crash Team Rumble can carve a niche of its own and warrant more support than Toys for Bob already has. However, those who give this game a chance will find some really fun battles over the Wumpa Fruit with different classes and characters. Addictive enough to ignore the lack of local play and possible long load times, Crash Team Rumble is worth a try. Even if Crash wanted to stick with the platform it’s most known for.
