Crash Team Rumble is probably not an accident-desired game. It’s not a platformer, not even a kart racing game; it’s a team-based multiplayer game structurally similar to a MOBA. That label might scare some people off, but after playing a few rounds of it at Summer Game Fest, it’s clear to me that Crash Team Rumble. is actually pretty good. I hope it doesn’t get lost in the noise of people clamoring to be different from the accident game.
While he plays Accident, a platform game with running, jumping, and wumpa fruit hunting, Crash Team Rumble. is an objective brawler that pits two teams of four against each other as they race to collect more fruit than the opposing team.
Each stage is decorated with objectives such as territory that needs reinforcements, materials to collect and exchange for perks like a spiky rolling cage to defeat opponents, and game-changing mechanics like a sandstorm you can summon to disrupt opponents’ vision and movement, or airstrikes you can call in from a UFO.
Only in terms of map design, Crash Team Rumble. is deceptively complex. What could easily be dismissed as a frenzied, mad brawl comes with a variety of objectives, obstacles, and the amount of coordination required within the team.
Crash Team RumbleTM: Launch Trailer
I played as Catbat, a cat/bat hybrid (and Crash Bandicoot series’ first non-binary character), which acts as a scorer. It’s a role that’s all about gathering and drinking wumpa fruit, so I was able to fly around gathering resources, occasionally hitting the ground to help my team in the scrap. My team supported me as our blocker Dingodile guarded our goal from opponents and Crash also collected wumpa fruits on the ground. Each role felt well-defined, and each character’s special abilities, such as Katbat’s flight, which allows him to quickly distance himself from combat and score points, and Dingodil’s crowd control techniques, which allow him to control the area around the goal, make each character feel valuable. variant.
Each character has a starting kit that they work with, but there are also customizable perks and gear to customize them to your liking. With Catbat, I equipped myself with a jump ability that instantly launched me into the air while dealing damage to opponents below me. This allowed me to get out of a bad situation, leave my opponents in the dust and get more airtime without using any of my stamina. This was one of several options I picked up, and these customizable loadouts add unpredictability to each matchup as you never know what the enemies will have.
Even after a few games, it’s clear Crash Team Rumble. has a lot of potential for a cool game with a coordinated team. Knowing when our group would aim to score and beat a blocker or break down resources into objectives and temporary perks changed the way we played and led to satisfying moments worth diving into. After a brutal loss in the first game, we all got a chance to learn each other’s play habits. We managed to beat the opposing team in the second and bulldoze them in the third. Disorienting and confusing as a game, Crash Team Rumble. There can be moments in the beginning when the team manages to do something together, and you feel great because you accomplished something together and not alone.
I spent a lot of time in the air as a catbat, but these were the best moments of my time at Crash Team Rumble. They were when I came back down to earth and played a game with my team. It may not be 5 accidents or the new one, Accident, the go-kart racer you’ve been wanting, but it’s also much more than just a crazy remake of a beloved property, and it seems to have some strong team-oriented design elements that make it fun to play with others. I don’t know how long the new character of the Toys for Bob franchise will have, especially since it’s a $30 game instead of a free-to-play game with lower barriers to entry, but I do know that it deserves better than to be blindly rejected only because it’s not something we’ve played before.
My city covers everything at Summer Game Fest, from the main show on Thursday to other events happening next week. Whether you’re into larger-than-life triple-A games or intimate, quirky indies, here you can keep up with all things SGF.