Crash Team Rumble it’s probably not crash game you want. It’s not a platform game, it’s not even a kart racing game, it’s a team-based multiplayer game structurally comparable to a MOBA. That label might put some people off, but after playing a few rounds of it at Summer Game Fest, I get it Crash Team Rumble is actually pretty good. I just hope this doesn’t get lost in the noise of people clamoring for something else crash Game.
While it plays like a crash platformer, complete with running, jumping and wumpa fruit hunting, Crash Team Rumble is an objective-based brawler where two teams of four compete against each other and try to collect more fruit than the opposing team. Each stage is adorned with objectives like territory to claim for boosts, materials to collect and trade in for perks like a spiked roll cage to run over your opponents with, and game-changing mechanics like a sandstorm to summon can to obstruct his opponents’ vision movement or air attacks that you can call down from a UFO. Just from a map design standpoint, Crash Team Rumble is deceptively complex. What could easily be dismissed as a frantic, pointless brawl has a lot to offer due to the variety of goals, obstacles and the coordination required within teams to achieve them.
I played as Catbat, the cat-bat hybrid (and the Crash Bandicoot Series’ first non-binary character), who acts as a goalscorer. This is the task of collecting wumpa fruit and dunking it, allowing me to fly around and gather resources and occasionally slam on the ground to help my team in a fight. My team was behind me, our blocker Dingodile protected our goal from our opponents and Crash also collected wumpa fruits on the ground. Each role felt clearly defined, and each character’s special abilities, such as Catbat’s flying ability, which allows him to quickly disengage from a fight to score points, and Dingodile’s crowd control techniques, giving him control of the area around a target , make each character feel worth something.
Each character has a base pack to work with, but there are also customizable perks and gear that you can use to customize them to your liking. I equipped Catbat, a jumping ability that instantly launched me into the air while also damaging enemies below me. This way I was able to get out of a bad situation while leaving my opponents in the dust. Also, I got myself more airtime without using up my own stamina. This was one of several options I had, and these customizable loadouts add a touch of unpredictability to any game, as you never know what loadouts your enemies will have.
After just a few games, that becomes clear Crash Team Rumble has a lot of potential for cool moves with a well-rehearsed team. Knowing when our group would push for a goal and overwhelm a blocker, or pull back to put resources into goals and temporary advantages changed the way we played and led to some satisfying moments that were worth checking out. Having had every opportunity to learn each other’s playing habits in a brutal defeat in our first game, we managed to beat the opposing team in the second game and then overwhelm them in the third game. As confusing and confusing as a game Crash Team Rumble In the beginning, moments when a team manages to accomplish something together can feel great because you accomplished something together instead of doing it alone.
I’ve spent a lot of time in the air as a catbat, but the best moments of my time are with me Crash Team Rumble Coming back down to earth and making a game-changing play alongside my team. It may not be crash 5 or something new crash Kart racing you’ve been longing for, but it’s also a lot more than just a mindless repurposing of a beloved property, and it seems to have some strong, team-oriented design elements that make it fun to play with others. I don’t know how long Toys For Bob’s new take on the franchise will last, especially since it’s a $30 game and not a free-to-play game with fewer barriers to entry, but I do know that it deserves better than being blindly dismissed just because it’s not what we’ve played before.
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