The match was very close – 1990 to 1995 – but I wasn’t keeping track. All that stood between my team and victory was a chubby alligator with a vacuum. I danced and jumped around him as he used his big belly and Luigi’s Mansion-like hoover to toss me around like a loose piece of cat. All I needed was a few moments to collect my Wumpa Fruit, and victory would be ours. I was blindfolded, and that was a mistake. The enemy team’s Wumpa Fruit meter quickly fills up to 2000 and the match is over. My team had lost, but I was still hungry for Crash Bandicoot’s favorite fruit.
Like Crash Team Rumble, Crash Bash and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled before it, the famously difficult is an engaging multiplayer take on the 24-year-old platforming franchise. It pits two teams of four against each other in a race to see which team can collect and deposit 2000 Wumpa Fruits first. It’s a simple formula, enhanced by streamlined controls, that makes for an enjoyable bite-sized and competitive multiplayer experience.
This simplicity is one of the most appealing features of Crash Team Rumble. The mainline Crash Bandicoot is a barrel full of DNA brought straight from the series. The running, jumping, and attacking all feel like another run through Cortex Castle. Controlling Crash – or one of the nine other starting characters in the franchise – feels amazing.
Only with these elements you can enjoy Crash Team Rumble. All you need to know is how to navigate around the map, collect the Wumpa Fruits (either directly from the ground or by breaking boxes), deposit them in your team’s capture points, and avoid any enemies that appear. want to fight You’ll learn all of that within seconds of jumping into Crash Team Rumble, but there’s far more depth to unlock as you explore everything these fast-paced bouts of berry collecting have to offer.
A lot of extra complexity gets in the way as you jump in, claim gems, and use Dingodile’s vacuum to hover in the air for a few seconds. The three character classes—scorers, blockers, and boosters—can sometimes become little more than tidy organizational buckets, as any character can fill any role when used creatively.
Your team’s needs will naturally change as the match progresses, so you may need to do all three in the same game. Dingodile is classified as a blocker, though I found myself giving my wumpa-collecting teammates a boost by going after gems instead of blocking outright for many matches.
The enjoyment of single-player Crash Bandicoot games is all about execution. You will have to learn every inch of the map in order to win and unlock all the secrets of the map. Once every box is broken and the boss is defeated it’s easy to move on to the next level or a new game.
Even though Crash Team Rumble formed part of the foundation of the single-player Bandicoot games, the end goal couldn’t be more different. You only beat other players, and it often won’t be through perfect execution. It’s a match full of messy, chaotic, platforming that comes down to the wire.
Abilities, gems, and relics add significant layers of complexity to Crash Team Rumble. Claiming multiple gems, usually three diamond-like platforms located next to each other, gives your team additional Wumpa Fruits for each batch deposited. Lateral abilities can be dropped almost anywhere on the map. Relics, also collected, can be used to unlock special stations throughout the map.
The outlines of many of these abilities and relic stations will ruin part of the fun of exploring them. Unlocking a spiky-vine ball for the first time and rolling over an enemy’s point like Miley Cyrus makes me unreasonably happy, and you may feel the same way when you discover some of these wacky tools. The varied team compositions, map-oriented squad moves, and well-timed item use add considerable strategic depth – so much so that some players may find it intimidating.
Those hours are encouraged like most modern multiplayer games. You unlock a full cast of characters and abilities as you play and earn cosmetics as part of the game’s Battle Pass. While giving Crash a whole new wardrobe before you send him out to pick more fruit is rewarding, players who aren’t looking for a battle-pass-driven multiplayer piece may be left fuming. Can
Crash Team Rumble can be seen as a natural progression of difficulty in the Crash Bandicoot franchise. It takes a completely different type of preparation and offers a different reward. Crash Team Rumble’s take on multiplayer platforming madness is unique, with enough depth to keep you on your toes after hours of gameplay. Those looking for a fresh take on the long-running series should give it a try.