The Crash Bandicoot video game franchise has cemented itself as one of the key gaming mascot series with tons of titles over the course of decades. The series has included platforming adventure games, racing games, and party games. Now, Crash Team Rumble has released and has been out for a number of weeks, making it the first competitive online game in the Crash Bandicoot library. 

Crash Team Rumble has two teams of four Crash Bandicoot characters face off against each other to be the first to capture the most Wumpa Fruit. It’s a similar team-based strategy game to that of Pokémon Unite. Let’s see if Crash, Coco, and the rest of the lineup of colorful characters fare well in yet another genre, or if they should stick to the 3D platforming formula. 

The Good

The characters, which fall under one of three classes (Scorers, Boosters, and Blockers) all feel completely unique from each other and offer their own gameplay experiences. Dr. Nitrus Brio is a master at keeping the opposing team from getting to their goal while CatBat is perfect for soaring from platform to platform. Everyone can play their own way.

On top of the variety of playstyles, each of the characters are well-balanced. There will be new characters added over time, but as of right now, none of the characters feel too weak or too strong. Every character serves an important role during the gameplay and has specific strengths that other characters might not have, as well as weaknesses that other characters make up for. It gives an incentive to mix up the characters on a team. Them all being fairly balanced means that each match will have a different outcome and everyone can have fun.

The various maps (which are decided randomly for each match), in addition to the Powers that players choose in addition to their character, shake up the gameplay a lot. No two matches will ever be the same, preventing the game from ever feeling too repetitive. That’s a hole a lot of online multiplayers fall into, but thankfully not Crash Team Rumble.

There’s also a wide variety of cosmetics waiting to be unlocked as you play. The ability to customize each character’s look is extremely fun. Most importantly, these unlockables (as well as unlocking characters) give incentive to keep playing. This is sure to keep a strong player base around and invested. Best of all: there are no in-game purchases. Once you buy the game, you’re able to obtain anything and everything just by playing, which is a welcome change compared to other recent online multiplayers. It also makes the game rather addictive. Best of all is that more will be on the way with each season.

The game plays incredibly well. The controls feel nice and match that of the Crash Bandicoot platforming games, just in a different genre. It’s truly satisfying to activate a Power or Ability to score high amounts of Wumpa Fruit or knock out an opponent. The maps are all well-designed, featuring their own creative layouts, themed terrain, and team-wide upgrades that all work together to further escalate the fun. There’s a perfect blend of strategy, goofiness, and pure chaos that is to be expected from the Crash Bandicoot franchise.

The Bad

While the matchmaking is relatively quick, the load times of the match itself starting and initially turning the game on. It’s not the longest load time out there, but it’s a bit rough for a game released in 2023.

Once you’ve been connected to a group of players during the matchmaking, you stay with them into the next match and matches going forward unless you decide to exit. On one hand, it makes the time between matches short and you’ll quickly be playing another match soon. On the other hand, you’re sometimes thrown into the next match before you’re able to go through all the information, achievements, and challenge progress from the previous match. It’s a little annoying.

While you’re able to customize your characters during the short time between matches, there is currently no way to customize your profile or look through what you’ve unlocked for it without exiting to the main menu. This is a very minor flaw, but could still use some remedying.

Conclusion

Crash Team Rumble celebrates the history of the Crash Bandicoot history with characters, music, locations, and gameplay while creating something new. It definitely needs some quality-of-life updates and could use some more maps, characters, and Powers, but it’s just in Season 1 and will be getting updates and new content as time goes on. With that in mind, the game is a chaotic good time for fans of the long-running series and newcomers alike. An online game this insanely fun and addictive without any unfortunate in-game purchases is a rare treat, so it’s certainly worth checking out. 

Rating: 9/10

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