'Crash Team Rumble' Review

Spin to win

"4v4 Competitive MOBA-Styled Live-Service Multiplayer Title" sounds like a sentence which could cause anyone of the typical Crash Bandicoot demographic to spontaneously combust, but against all odds, Crash Team Rumble ends up being perhaps the most exciting surprise the franchise has seen since its revival half a decade ago. Admittedly, the elevator pitch is unwieldy - two teams of four compete to be the first to bank a total of 2,000 Wumpa fruit, in an arena-style blend of collectathon 3D-platforming and hero-action brawling - yet through the unthinkable premise, a uniquely addictive sandbox emerges. With the ultimate goal fairly broad in achievable criteria, through a combination of scoring for your own team and stymying the opponents, every character being better suited to some particular play-style, achieving the big 2,000 can come from a multitude of strategies and directions, creating an organic game flow rife with push-pull skirmishes and skin-of-teeth saves. Besides juicy Wumpa, other Crash paraphernalia such as Gems and Relics appear as bankable in ancillary stations, either boosting the amount of Wumpa banked or providing a variety of game-altering power-ups, meaning a successful Rumble requires players to cooperate carefully and act quickly to hold whatever territory necessary, and swap priorities on a dime. Between variable bank placements, Relic Stations unique to every map, specialized individual character abilities and more general bonus powers, the amount of proper nouns you'll have to absorb can initially feel daunting, but within a few matches it all becomes intuitive and slick in an ideal balance of simple chaos and thoughtful strategy, buoyed by an enjoyable latitude for player agency - it's not uncommon for a single play to turn the tide of a match. The end result: a breakneck and imaginative multiplayer experience, great for quick, sugary bites of hectic enjoyment.

Despite the fun, however, Rumble can't quite shake the feeling of being a bit scrabbled together, what with the game composed almost entirely of reused assets from It's About Time. Additionally, at least at the time of writing - the waves of 'live-service' are ever-crashing, of course - is that the game's various progression systems are at odds with the rest of the game's pace. Matches can be delightfully brisk, averaging maybe five minutes each, yet progression feels mercilessly protracted in contrast - I began averaging about 1,400 XP per match, and to get a hero from Level 13 to 15 requires more than 110,000 XP total, and that's just the final two levels. With a general paucity of content begetting an obvious risk of retention, the game regularly hosts events every week or two, each of which feel mercilessly time-gated and FOMO-inducing, contributing to the sense that most of what drew me back to Rumble was largely external pressure, rather than the thrill of the game itself. And while the game itself smartly emphasizes mechanical skill, offering quite the skill ceiling, the amount of necessary cooperation and manual dexterity can render the gameplay less than penetrable for those expecting a quirky, casual romp. The recently-added 'Party Mode,' for example, sounds like an ideal low-stakes alternative to the mechanical mandate of the main game, yet the mode arguably requires even more precision in execution, at least if you want so much as a chance at any round past the first couple. Crash has a reputation for offering some of the toughest trials in the 3D platforming space, but the best of the series leave the digit-bruising to those who seek out an optional raising of the stakes - hell, It's About Time could be regarded as one of the best offerings in the franchise, but only on the merits of casual play, with its more demanding completionst aspects drawing the most exhaustion and ire. As if the strange premise wasn't enough to put off audiences, the surprising level of demand may reduce the receptive playerbase of Rumble to an unfortunate sliver. A shame, to be sure; Toys for Bob was struck with quite a strong inspiration with Rumble, an idea so out-there and antithetical to typical Crash that it comes around to being a revelation; I hope to see they see enough success to continue exploring and refining the formula for the future.