A multiplayer Crash Bandicoot game that isn't strictly a platformer adventure isn't a far-fetched idea, provided the idea catches on. A great example of this is Crash Team Racing, a kart racing game that was solid enough to produce several different sequels from different developers before a remastering of the first game, garnering critical and player acclaim in the process. In contrast, Crash Bash was a party game in the same vein as Mario Party and never evolved beyond that initial PSOne release. The initial reveal of Crash Team Rumble immediately placed the game in the same category as Crash Bash as something no one really asked for, making it a title that would really need to work hard to change people's minds.

Crash Team Rumble starts off with a tutorial that will seem very familiar if you've played any Crash Bandicoot game. You start the tutorial with Crash, and your familiar spin attack, body slam, and slide are all available. Crates are everywhere, and so is wampa fruit, which is what you need to collect. Grabbing the fruit doesn't automatically give you points, as you'll need to get to the bank and stay for a short while before it is officially counted for the team's score. You also have a cap on how much fruit you can have at a time on your person, so you can't run around the arena gathering up hundreds of fruit before making a huge deposit. Unlike past games, you have an energy meter, so you won't experience one-hit kills, but you will lose some fruit if you get hit. This gives you a reason to avoid combat if you're near your max capacity, while also giving you a reason to fight if you have little to nothing to lose.

There are a few new things aside from the need to stand on a platform to bank your fruit. You can collect relics to activate new tools and abilities on certain pads. Depending on the level you're in, that can range from something simple like a beach ball to bounce enemies away from you to something bigger, like a mask to rain down meteors from the sky for a while or a UFO that can be controlled to zap enemies from above. Gems pads let you give your team bonus points for collecting and banking fruit for a limited time but only if you can turn all of the gems to your color.

Characters are assigned to three types of roles, giving the game something of an Overwatch flavor. You have the scoring class, which is better suited for those who aim to gather fruit. The boosting class is more adept at capturing gem points and activating the map powers, since they can collect more relics than others. Blocker classes are better equipped to take away unbanked wumpa fruit from players, as their attacks are stronger and they have more health. The classes are fluid so picking one doesn't heavily restrict you from doing other tasks. Crash fans will be pleased to know that everyone has a distinct move set that's in line with the original games. Tawna, for example, can use her grappling hook to pull herself to faraway ledges, while Dr. N. Brio can transform into a hulking monster for a few moments and Catbat can heal teammates with burgers. In addition to this, players can choose from a pool of abilities, like healing fridges that automatically heal allies within its range or giant alien guards that constantly attack and shock anyone near them.

The mechanics are simple enough that anyone can get into it after a few seconds. If you're starting out, you can stay on your side of the map, collect fruit, deposit it, and feel like you're making a significant contribution to the team. Do some exploring, and you'll see that the game hides some depth when it comes to activating the level powers and obtaining gem spots. Suddenly you'll find yourself battling others to get a chance at boosting the overall team score or venturing to the enemy bank to place an alien guardian there. The game retains the platforming fun of the original adventure games, so the added multiplayer element doesn't feel foreign, and the fast flow means that matches are quick with a normal amount of waiting time between new games.

Games like this survive or die based on the technical aspects, and players will be happy to know that Crash Team Rumble does everything right. Load times aren't as quick as one may expect from a system equipped with an nVME drive, but they also aren't that long, so it's relatively painless to jump into a new match. The network code holds up to where lag and warping isn't a thing. Best of all, the game has cross-play, so even though it is restricted to both the PlayStation and Xbox family of systems, there's still a big pool of players to play with and against.

Like just about every online-focused game, Crash Team Rumble has a season pass, which means you'll get a bunch of cosmetic items for hitting each level marker. Everything from profile banners to winning theme music to poses and costumes are up for grabs, so you aren't locked out of getting actual characters if you don't complete portions of the pass. That said, the amount of XP you gain from matches is small compared to the total needed to gain a level. The game gives you an ample amount of time to complete the pass, but it feels like ages to make any progress, even if you participate in all of the planned double XP weekends. By contrast, leveling up your character is much faster, and while you'll need to put in some work to hit the level 15 cap for cosmetics that are focused on that character, progress gained feels more significant per match.

Aside from the season pass XP issue, there are other things that players won't like. While the map variety is pretty good, there are no other modes to play. You can play private matches, go through the tutorial again, and play offline practice matches with bots, but that's it. You'll either like the game's only mode or hate the whole game. The game has a roadmap that teases new powers, heroes and maps, but the concept isn't what people expected from a new Crash Bandicoot game, and the $30 price tag for the base game is pricey at a time when most online multiplayer-focused games are aiming to be free to play route or a complete package at a low price. There are people online playing two weeks after the game's initial release, so the outlook seems promising, but it's too soon to predict if the game maintains a healthy audience. It'll take a few months to see if the players will stick around.

The presentation is quite nice overall. It is a cross-generational title, but the game still looks great on the PS5 thanks to a very high frame rate and resolution. Toys For Bob has already proven that it knows its way around the Crash universe, so it should come as a surprise that the environments look colorful and the character animations and designs are great, a point proven when looking at Catbat, a new character to the series. The sound is filled with classic Crash-inspired tunes, and the voices are minimal with only a few lines from the announcer and a few from other characters.

The good news is that Crash Team Rumble isn't a bad game, mechanically. The play mechanics are solid, characters are well defined, and matches can be quick, which does well to compensate for the differently paced progression on characters and the season pass. Despite this, the concept is already a difficult sell, and with the absence of offline modes, the title is solely dependent on a player base to ensure that there is actually a game to play. The low price in this space, when compared to other titles from major publishers, might make it appealing for curious players, and they'll have a good time with it, but be warned that there is the real possibility of this being a title with a short life span if there aren't many other players who are either open to the idea or outright enamored by it.

Score: 7.0/10