Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is the eighth Crash Bandicoot series game, though the fourth chronologically. The game retains the series' core platforming gameplay and adds new elements through the use of the Quantum Masks, who can alter levels and provide means to traverse or overcome obstacles. It also includes additional game modes for replaying levels, and the ability to control five characters, three of whom – Cortex, Dingodile, and Tawna – have their own unique gameplay and levels.
Crash 4 is the kind of retro throwback that actually earns its spot as a successor to the original trilogy. There's the occasional bandicoot stumble, but it's a responsive, precise platformer that looks as good as it plays.
The next-gen upgrade for Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time makes an already fantastic and content-rich platforming game even better.
The Switch version of Crash 4 is a perfectly passable port of a fantastic platformer that's absolutely rammed with things to do. It may have the lowest frame rate and resolution of all versions of the game, but if the Switch is your main console or you're looking to enjoy some bandicoot-bouncing on the go in handheld mode, it's still an excellent offering...
Faced with a declaration as longing and impatient as "It's About Time," I can't help but think, Is it?
Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is the first mainline Crash title in 24 years. In that time, not all that much has changed.