The competitive Crash Bandicoot multiplayer game Crash Team Rumble was recently announced at The Game Awards 2022, and the 4v4 team-based brawler may prove to be a terrible direction for the series. While Naughty Dog's first Crash game was a fast-paced cartoonish platformer, the franchise has since expanded into the racing and party genres. Now Crash Team Rumble will let Crash and his friends fight for hordes of Wumpa fruit, but the title might be straying too far from the series' roots.
While the Crash Bandicoot series was popular in the late 90s and early 2000s, the franchise disappeared after the 2010 release of Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2. 2017 saw the triumphant return of the mobile marsupial in the remastered Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy games, with the compilation remaking the original platformer trilogy for modern hardware. The success of these remakes led to Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, which remakes 1999's Crash Team Racing with new racers and tracks, followed by the 2020 sequel Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time. With Crash's popularity reaching new heights, it should be no surprise that a new game starring the orange adventurer is currently in the works.
Crash Team Rumble Looks Like A Marsupial MOBA
Crash Team Rumble will let players go head-to-head as their favorite Wumpa Island residents in 4v4 team-based competitions. The main objective of each match will be to collect delicious Wumpa fruit, with the team who collects the most fruit achieving victory. The multiplayer Crash Bandicoot brawler will also task players with battling the other team, defending their own Wumpa bank and capturing key points around each map to increase their team's chances of success. Crash Team Rumble will let players control iconic heroes and villains like Crash, Coco, Neo Cortex and Dingodile, with each possessing their own unique skills and abilities.
While going head-to-head as classic Crash Bandicoot characters may be fun, Crash Team Rumble might miss the appeal of the classic platformer series. No official gameplay has been revealed yet, but the reveal trailer suggests that the competitive multiplayer title is a MOBA game like League of Legends or Pokémon Unite. This could mean that the new Crash Bandicoot game is exclusively an online multiplayer title that isn't playable through local couch co-op. A big appeal of Crash Team Racing and the multiplayer mode in Crash Bandicoot 4 is the ability to play casually with friends at home, and Crash Team Rumble might sadly fail to deliver that same intimate experience.
Crash Team Rumble Could've Been A Crash Bash Successor
If Crash Team Rumble is a MOBA game, it may fail to appeal to the franchise's core audience. Many Crash fans are currently looking forward to another expansive platformer adventure, or perhaps a new kart racing follow-up to CTR Nitro Fueled. For a bigger multiplayer experience, many fans likely would've been excited about a modern remake of the 2000 party game Crash Bash. This title let players control Crash, Coco and their friends while struggling through a long list of minigames. A Crash Bandicoot multiplayer game has potential as a party game with a focus on couch co-op, like Mario Party or Jackbox, but Crash Team Rumble doesn't appear to deliver either of these experiences.
No official gameplay of Crash Team Rumble has been shown, but the game is shaping up to be a medicore installment in the beloved platformer series. Long-time fans of the franchise would rather race each other in another Crash Team Racing title, or perhaps tackle minigames on the couch in a Crash Bash remake. By potentially limiting itself to online multiplayer and following the trend of generic MOBA games, Crash Team Rumble could be a misstep that sends Crash tumbling down.
Source: Crash Bandicoot/YouTube