Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is a linear 3D platforming video game published by and developed by. It is the eighth mainline title in the Crash Bandicoot series, though the fourth chronologically. It was originally released on October 2nd, 2020 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Later in March 12th, 2021, the game was ported to the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and on March 26th, 2021 for PC on Battle.net. It was also added to the Steam storefront on October 18, 2022.

Announcement
The game was first properly teased on June 18, 2020, where several video game news reporters were sent jigsaw puzzles that revealed a new, mysterious mask character.

The next day (June 19), the Taiwan Digital Game Rating Committee filed a rating for the game, revealing its title, box art, and a short plot synopsis. Said box art also revealed the game's developer, Toys for Bob, as well as the game being slated for release on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Four new masks can be seen on the artwork.

On June 21, a live-action teaser featuring the 100% ending of Warped and the title of the game was unveiled through the official Crash Bandicoot social media channels. The announcement trailer came out on June 22nd, 4pm BST.

During Summer Games Fest, an official trailer was shown, showcasing new worlds and four new Quantum Masks, known as the Phase Mask Lani-Loli, the Dark Matter Mask Akano, the Time Mask Kupuna-Wa, and the Gravity Mask Ika-Ika. Using Lani-Loli, the player will be able to change phases of certain elements, while using Akano, the player can hover and glide over the platforms or even break and knock back things that the normal spin can't, using Kupuna-Wa, the player will be able to slow time to a crawl, and while using Ika-Ika, the player can reverse gravity to walk on ceilings.

Story
"Neo Cortex and N. Tropy are back at it again and launching an all-out assault on not just this universe, but the entire multiverse! Crash and Coco are here to save the day by reuniting the four quantum masks and bending the rules of reality."

- Official PlayStation Store description.

Following their defeat at the hands of Crash Bandicoot in Crash Bandicoot: Warped, Uka Uka attempts to liberate himself and Doctors Neo Cortex and N. Tropy from their prison in the past. His latest effort rips open a hole in the fabric of space and time, and causes him to pass out. Cortex and N. Tropy swiftly escape, abandoning Uka Uka, and discover that the rift they use links their universe to the rest of the multiverse, and decide to make use of it to conquer all dimensions. To ensure success, the pair create a generator capable of opening other space-time rifts and recruit aid from Doctors N. Gin and N. Brio to provide an army in anticipation of their enemies' interference. Meanwhile, Aku Aku, Uka Uka's older twin brother, senses the disturbance in space and time and quickly rushes Crash to N. Sanity Peak. Upon arriving, he comes across Lani-Loli, whom Aku Aku recognizes as one of the Quantum Masks – four ancient witch doctor masks that have great power over space and time, and who would only appear if something has opened up the multiverse. Lani spots a rift and suspects there is trouble, leading to Crash and his sister Coco agreeing to follow him across the multiverse and find the other Quantum Masks, while combating the chaos Cortex is creating.

During their adventures, the pair meet an alternate version of Tawna, Crash's old girlfriend, who offers her help while undertaking an adventure of her own. At the same time, Dingodile, who was recently retired from villainy to run his own restaurant, finds himself caught up in the chaos when his business is burned down by a rival restaurant and he is sucked into another dimension by a spacial disruption. While Dingodile does not interact with Crash's adventure at first, his actions inadvertently assist Crash and Coco at various points in space and time. Crash and Coco find two more of the Quantum Masks, named Akano and Kupuna-Wa, and defeat N. Gin and N. Brio. After facing and defeating Cortex, N. Tropy betrays him and reveals that he and his new partner (later revealed to be an alternate version of N. Tropy from Tawna's universe) are going to remake the multiverse and subsequently erase Cortex, Crash, Coco and the Masks from existence. A furious Cortex agrees to team up with the bandicoots and the three rescue the last Quantum Mask, Ika-Ika, and eventually meet up with Dingodile and Tawna. Together, the team successfully tracks down and defeat the two N. Tropys and the Quantum Masks destroy the Rift Generator, sealing all the space-time disruptions.

However, after taking a celebratory trip to a futuristic city, Cortex betrays the group and kidnaps Kupuna-Wa, using her to travel back in time before the events of his first bid for world domination in an attempt to avert Crash's creation. Ultimately, he is unsuccessful in both convincing his past self to abandon the experiment and repelling the present Crash, Coco and Aku Aku, who followed him from the future. As the Quantum Masks banish him to the end of the universe, the past Cortex proceeds with the experiment, preparing to brainwash the past Crash with the Cortex Vortex; the present Crash accidentally destroys the Vortex's power source, causing it to malfunction and fail to brainwash his past self, thereby ensuring his own creation. Dingodile rebuilds and reopens his diner, Cortex relaxes on a beach and enjoys the peace and quiet, and Crash, Coco, Tawna, Aku Aku and the Quantum Masks play video games at their home on N. Sanity Island. Following an epilogue narrated by Crash detailing the fates and whereabouts of the game's characters, Cortex's relaxation is interrupted by the sudden appearance of Uka Uka.

Gameplay
Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is a platform game in which the player primarily controls either the titular character Crash or his sister Coco, who are tasked with saving the multiverse from domination by Doctors Neo Cortex and Nefarious Tropy. The player can switch between controlling Crash or Coco at any time within the level select screen. The game can be played in two different styles, which can be selected before the start of a new game and can be switched at any time in the options menu. The default play-style is "Modern", in which the player will always return to the latest checkpoint when the player character dies. In the other play-style, "Retro", the player is given a limited number of lives which will go down by one whenever Crash or Coco get hit by a enemy, or suffer any other type of damage, but more can be collected within the levels. After all lives are lost, the game is over, but the player can resume playing by restarting the current level. Neither the game's difficulty nor reward progress is affected by the differing play-styles.

Crash and Coco's basic maneuvers include jumping and double jumping, a spinning attack, crawling, sliding, and slamming onto the ground. They can also grind on, hang off and hop across rails, as well as run along designated walls. Scattered throughout the levels are a wide variety of crates serving different functions. Crates generally contain Wumpa Fruit, which grant an extra life if 100 are collected in the "Retro" play-style. Other crates contain an Aku Aku mask, which shields the player character from contact with a single enemy or hazard. Collecting three consecutive Aku Aku masks will grant the player character temporary invincibility from all dangers except falling down bottomless pits. While invincible, the player character can automatically kill enemies and break crates within a certain radius. Each level includes a total of twelve Gems, which can be obtained by fulfilling objectives such as collecting a certain amount of Wumpa Fruit, breaking all the level's crates, completing the level without dying more than three times, and finding the Gem in a hidden area. Earning a certain amount of Gems in a level unlocks a cosmetic skin for either Crash or Coco, for each a total of 26 skins can be unlocked.

Within each level is a Bonus area that is accessed via a platform bearing a yellow question mark. Each Bonus area consists of a short side-scrolling puzzle sequence in which the player must break all the crates within the area. Dying in a Bonus area will not deplete a life in the Retro play-style, and results in the player character respawning next to the Bonus platform within the level. Other Bonus areas can be unlocked by locating and collecting four colored Gems hidden in the game.

The game's levels are divided across ten Dimensions, each with their own theme. Aside from the main levels, every other Dimension includes a dedicated boss level. Completing any given level will unlock a Time Trial, in which the player must complete the level as quickly as possible. Time Trials are activated by collecting a stopwatch icon at the beginning of the level. While a Time Trial is active, all checkpoints are removed, thus requiring the player to start the level over if the player character dies. Clearing the Trouble Brewing level unlocks an N. Verted mode for each level, in which the level's path is inverted, a different visual effect depending on the level's Dimension is applied, and the Wumpa Fruit are rebranded as Bumpa Berries. Six of a level's twelve Gems are only accessible in the N. Verted mode. Some levels contain Flashback Tapes, which must be collected without dying. If the player character dies before collecting a Flashback Tape, it will disappear unless the player restarts the level from the beginning. Collecting a Flashback Tape unlocks a Flashback Level, a side-scrolling level that takes place before and during the first game.

A feature new to the series is the Quantum Masks, four magical masks that are scattered throughout the game and grant Crash and Coco special powers to traverse obstacles during particular segments. Lani-Loli can phase objects in and out of tangibility, Akano grants the player character a violent dark matter spin that enables them to glide across the air and deflect projectiles, Kupuna-Wa can slow the flow of time, and Ika-Ika can reverse gravity. Aside from Crash and Coco, three other characters are controlled during certain levels: Cortex, Dingodile, and a version of Crash's former love interest Tawna from another dimension. Each character features their own unique move sets. Cortex makes use of a ray gun that can be used to transform enemies into solid or bouncy platforms, along with being able to perform a forward dash, Dingodile primarily makes use of a vacuum gun, which can be used to suck up and fire enemies and objects, and Tawna, while maintaining some moves used by Crash and Coco, makes use of a grappling hook to hit objects from long distances.

Levels
There are 64 distinct levels in It's About Time. Most are divided among 10 different hub worlds, accessible through the Dimensional Map or the Level Stats of the pause menu. There are 4 types of level:


 * 29 "main path" levels, typically playable only as Crash or Coco. These must be completed to progress the story.
 * 5 boss fights, the final levels in every other dimension.
 * 9 "timeline" levels, which are alternate versions of main path levels. They include a brief segment playable as either Tawna, Dingodile, or Neo Cortex, followed by the rest of the main level as Crash/Coco with altered crate placements. While they provide context to events that occur in the story, they are not necessary to progress.
 * 21 "flashback" levels, unlocked by collecting a main level's flashback tape. These too are optional, and are accessible in every hub world. Eleven are exclusive to Crash and ten are to Coco.

Levels are played in sequential order (as opposed to the "Warp Room" style of gameplay common to previous Crash Bandicoot games); however, unlocking new playable characters opens previously locked timeline levels from earlier in the game.

Each non-flashback level has an N. Verted Mode, which mirrors the level, places a visual filter over it and has its own set of N. Verted Gems to collect.

Other Levels

 * Flashback Levels

Playable

 * Crash Bandicoot
 * Fake Crash
 * Coco Bandicoot
 * Fake Coco
 * Tawna
 * Dingodile
 * Neo Cortex

Bosses

 * N. Gin
 * Louise
 * N. Brio
 * N. Tropy
 * Nefarious Tropy (F)
 * Neo Cortex

Supporting

 * Aku Aku
 * Uka Uka
 * Quantum Masks
 * Polar
 * Nitros Oxide
 * Shnurgle

Cameos

 * Catbat
 * Chick Gizzard Lips
 * Cortex's father
 * Crunch Bandicoot
 * Elementals
 * Evil Twins
 * Koala Kong
 * Mega-Mix
 * N. Trance
 * Nina Cortex
 * Papu Papu
 * Penta Penguin
 * Pinstripe Potoroo
 * Pura
 * Ripper Roo
 * Sharon Cortex
 * Spyro the Dragon
 * Stew
 * Tawna Bandicoot
 * Tiny Tiger
 * Zem

Multiplayer
The multiplayer mode is introduced in this game as species of battle of bandicoots with 1, 2, 3 and 4 players that will control: Crash, Coco, Fake Crash and Fake Coco in two modes: Checkpoint Race and Crate Combo. The checkpoint race is a race of checkpoints that will who's reach in the checkpoints until the end of the level first than the other players will win and the crate combo is a combo of crates that will who's have the bigger score than the other players will win.

Skins
See: Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time/Skins

Art Scrapbook
See: The Art of Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time

Gallery
See: Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time/Gallery

Names in other languages
This game was developed in English and was officially localized into Arabic, European Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin American Spanish, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese and Russian.

The Polish and Russian versions were not dubbed, featuring the original English audio with subtitles.

Cast

 * English


 * Japanese


 * Latin American Spanish


 * Brazilian Portuguese


 * French

Trivia

 * The game was initially planned to be open world, but the idea was quickly dropped as Toys for Bob wanted to "stay authentic to the classic experience."
 * In Tawna's epilogue for the 100% ending, the narrator tells that she explored El Dorado, Shangri-La and Atlantis, and involved with Shmathan Trake, which is a reference to Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series and his previous adventures in Drake's Fortune, Among Thieves and Drake's Deception.
 * Furthermore, there's a promotional video of Crash and Coco playing Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.
 * The subtitle is a reference to the 12 year timespan between the release of Crash: Mind Over Mutant (2008) and It's About Time (2020). The former game was the last mainline Crash Bandicoot title to be developed prior to the hiatus.
 * It's About Time is the second game to be titled Crash Bandicoot 4, after The Wrath of Cortex ' s Japanese release.
 * The game was dedicated to the memory of Aku Aku's original voice actor, who passed away earlier in the year of its release.
 * This is the first game since Crash Nitro Kart where Crash is voiced by someone other than.
 * Additionally, this is the first game since Crash Bash where doesn't voice Coco.
 * This is the first, and so far only, game in the series where the Japanese cover doesn't use the Japanese Crash design. However, the box art was still altered to give the characters a fifth finger.
 * This is the first game in the series to be localized in Polish.
 * In the game's opening cinematic, there are twenty-two tally marks etched in stone in Cortex and N. Tropy's prison, the number of years that passed between the release of Warped and It's About Time.
 * This is the only Crash Bandicoot game to feature enemies in bonus rounds, which also feature their own Nitro Switch Crate.
 * One of the achievements is named "Twinsanity", named after Crash Twinsanity.
 * It's About Time is the first ever Crash Bandicoot game to be released on the PlayStation 5, and the Xbox Series X/S video game consoles.
 * In the 100% ending illustration for Tawna, a case for "Spyro Reignited Trilogy" can be seen amidst a stack of game cases.
 * There are 18,482 crates in total, including N. Verted and Flashback Tape stages, which is the largest total number of crates in any Crash Bandicoot game.