Current Events > I wonder why crash 4 flopped

(+) Yeah! (+)

Maybe it was the price?

It kind of sucked shit

Plain and simple, it was too difficult. I never even finished it, and I love Crash Bandicoot.

The difficulty combined with the level design made it unimaginably unenjoyable to play.

yeah i guess they got carried away trying to match the reputation of how difficult the OG trilogy was. Even though Crash 1 is the only one that's actually hard.

It was my first time playing this series and I had no real trouble with it.

it a 3d platformer that is not mario ofc it wouldn't do that well

Pepys_Monster posted...

Plain and simple, it was too difficult. I never even finished it, and I love Crash Bandicoot.

BurmesePenguin posted...

The difficulty combined with the level design made it unimaginably unenjoyable to play.

Pretty much. I had a much easier time with Bloodborn.

Also making Crash and his sister play the exact same was boring and Tawnas design, amazing butt aside, was super distracting and out of place.

Ratchetrockon posted...

it a 3d platformer that is not mario ofc it wouldn't do that well

Yeah, I think this may have something to do with it.

The N-sane Trilogy had nostalgia backing it up, but Crash 4 had to stand on its own, and a 3D platformer these days especially on a non-Nintendo platform seems to be a hard sale for a lot of people.

a lot of the levels were decidedly non-crash-bandicooty, and they honestly just got worse as the game went on. they got really long, really tedious, and the other playable characters weren't fun to play as. Cortex could have been if his levels were just about blasting enemies with his ray gun, but instead they're about creating bizarre living platforms and stuff out of them. i also really don't like toysforbob developing crash. their art and design choices are great for something whimsical and magical like spyro, but the N. Sane trilogy mostly nailed the art, and there was no reason to toss that freshly established style out.

and the gem requirements and VHS tape levels got fucking absurd, beyond the realm of challenging, but fun, and into the realm of just being cruel to the player

Pepys_Monster posted...

it was too difficult.

I didn't think it was too difficult to finish. It might have been to difficult to 100% (or whatever the highest % that game goes to) but just straight up beating it? I thought the levels were fair as far as clearing them goes.

Too early

WaterLink posted...

I didn't think it was too difficult to finish. It might have been to difficult to 100% (or whatever the highest % that game goes to) but just straight up beating it? I thought the levels were fair as far as clearing them goes.

This is true, but a huge appeal of the games is doing completionist runs, without that they kind of lose their luster in a sense, at least that's how I felt about 4. I decided pretty early on that I wasn't gonna bother getting all the boxes and the fun just felt kind of sucked out at that point.

Plus the other characters were so unfun that I stopped playing their levels entirely

Did it flop? I keep forgetting it released during the pandemic, for some reason I kept thinking it was before the pandemic

it didn't

Well I don't know if it actually flopped or not, but because it sucked. It didn't feel like a proper Crash. It was like they were trying to be difficult just for the sake of being difficult. Stages were definitely too long. The way they handled the gems and perfect runs was absolutely insane. Also, this is a personal gripe of mine, but I HATED Crash's redesign.

Darkninja42 posted...

This is true, but a huge appeal of the games is doing completionist runs, without that they kind of lose their luster in a sense, at least that's how I felt about 4. I decided pretty early on that I wasn't gonna bother getting all the boxes and the fun just felt kind of sucked out at that point.

Plus the other characters were so unfun that I stopped playing their levels entirely

That's fair. I still enjoyed playing through the game. Cortex was the only character whose levels I hated, I actually really liked Tawna's levels and playstyle. I much prefer a character with different platforming mechanics like a hookshot thingy than what Crash 3 did where it felt like we got too much jetski/tiger/airplane/dinosaur/motorcycle/swimming levels than just straight up platforming levels.

I never did 100% Crash 4 but I beat it and I had fun doing it personally. I do agree they went overboard with some of the gem requirements like wumpa fruits and bringing back the no death requirement like in Crash 1 instead of just having alt paths unlocked in the middle of the level for not dying to that point like in 2+3.

The level designs and box placements in later levels made no sense. One of the levels had a gem and a box OFF screen over water you can't see. You had to guess where the box was and the gem.

And don't get me started on the getting all boxes without dying with the later levels, especially when they are glitchy.

Solar_Crimson posted...

Yeah, I think this may have something to do with it.

The N-sane Trilogy had nostalgia backing it up, but Crash 4 had to stand on its own, and a 3D platformer these days especially on a non-Nintendo platform seems to be a hard sale for a lot of people.

yeah i doubt the game's qualities had a large effect on its low sales. it still scored 85% for critics which is what most people will look at. most people aren't gonna over analyze it as much as forum goers. we saw hogwarts legacy score that high and still sold millions. that game also has a bunch of gamer critiques that can be found online (like ubisoft style open world, lack of rpg elements, lack of choices, front-loaded, etc..).
Doesn't really matter in the end when its part of a genre that is alive and well (action adventure w/ light rpg elements) and part of a multibillion-dollar franchise

crash 4 is just part of a genre that has largely fallen off from the mainstream. only mario and sonic are relevant and the latter just barely. the only time i read about successful 3d platformer that is not mario or sonic it is just some indie game that still sold wayy less than them but managed to make a decent amount over its low budget. heck, even sonic frontiers only sold a fraction of mario odyssey damn =/

also not counting multiplayer platformers like fall guys but even that game fell off iirc

yeah all the playable characters weren't necessary i think just focusing on crash/coco and the masks would've been great and maybe Tawana

As soon as I got to the level "Run it Bayou" and the BS you have to collect boxes before even reaching the first checkpoint, I lost all motivation to continue. It felt like the devs took the "Crash Bandicoot is Dark Souls of platforming" meme too seriously (the original PS1 games weren't even that hard).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwlGxevR9bs

Not even "Cold Hard Crash" in Crash 2 was this bad.

I think it's just platformers that aren't the heavy hitters like Mario and Sonic don't do well these days.

Also in terms of reception it was absolutely insane and frustrating to fully complete. If you just wanted to beat it it was fine, but then it wouldn't be worth full price at that rate.

They only listened to the masochists when designing the game

Croast59 posted...

Crash Bandicoot is Dark Souls of platforming

People said this? >_>

It was an excellent game aside from some hidden boxes. I also remember one level where a few boxes kept despawning and I couldn't get full completion on it.

Yeah, I wonder

Caddicarus did a video breaking down how absurd it is to do a full clear of this game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yapbT_FgFQ

Crash 4 isn't even that hard.

Just a bunch of whingey ass little punces that need to git gud.

All levels and platforming challenges were designed really well.

Sonic impresses me more than Mario considering all the mistakes Sega has done with the character. Just goes to show how loyal the fanbase is. But I get it Sonic looks cool and runs fast.

Ser_Jaker posted...

All levels and platforming challenges were designed really well.

Lol

Ser_Jaker posted...

Crash 4 isn't even that hard.

Just a bunch of whingey ass little punces that need to git gud.

All levels and platforming challenges were designed really well.

ser joker

-The game is overly punishing for zero reason. None. crash 1-3 wasn't overly punishing, why is this one?

-No crash dash, only the triple spin which can lead to multiple resets for no reason, press a button over and over and over and over versus holding one down, ala crash dash

-hiding boxes literally everywhere, to the point that they blend in too well in the background. Draggin On and A Real Grind are awful examples because they hide them in the scenery where you arent event expected to look ala crash 1-3. at least those games had something pointing to them, wumpa fruit, a path to it. here? nope

-The box count. one stage has you get up to 500+ boxes. And these stages take anywhere from 10-15 minutes. Crash Landed being an example. You have to get around 300+ boxes, in a literal 15-20 minute gauntlet, it's so super easy to mix 1 box (which seems to be the average number of boxes a majority of players miss

-Boxes sometimes WONT SPAWN

-Broken boxes don't add to the counter, so you could legit break every single box and be short one

-So much paaaading. you are at minimum playing every single level realistically around 8 or so times, and thats being generous, does that sound like good design? playing the same stage around 10 times?

-There's a new mechanic that doesnt even WORK sometimes. when you stand still ,crash or coco does a specific spin move to get boxes under tnt, only sometimes it randomly decides not to work. so you end up dying and having to replay more game because good game

-Crash loses momentum when he slides and jumps, unlike 2 and 3. why? well, who knows

-GLITCHES. in crash landed I accidentally jumped too high on an arrow crate and died because i got too close to the ceiling?? Oh, and the jump pads simply dont work so you end up dying near the end of the stage for zero reason. none

-the game wants perfection from you if you wanna get everything. and that's fine, but at the same time, i want perfection from it in return, and it doesnt do that

Drrobotniks posted...

-The game is overly punishing for zero reason. None. crash 1-3 wasn't overly punishing, why is this one?
-No crash dash, only the triple spin which can lead to multiple resets for no reason, press a button over and over and over and over versus holding one down, ala crash dash
-hiding boxes literally everywhere, to the point that they blend in too well in the background. Draggin On and A Real Grind are awful examples because they hide them in the scenery where you arent event expected to look ala crash 1-3. at least those games had something pointing to them, wumpa fruit, a path to it. here? nope
-The box count. one stage has you get up to 500+ boxes. And these stages take anywhere from 10-15 minutes. Crash Landed being an example. You have to get around 300+ boxes, in a literal 15-20 minute gauntlet, it's so super easy to mix 1 box (which seems to be the average number of boxes a majority of players miss
-Boxes sometimes WONT SPAWN
-Broken boxes don't add to the counter, so you could legit break every single box and be short one
-So much paaaading. you are at minimum playing every single level realistically around 8 or so times, and thats being generous, does that sound like good design? playing the same stage around 10 times?
[11:20 AM]
-There's a new mechanic that doesnt even WORK sometimes. when you stand still ,crash or coco does a specific spin move to get boxes under tnt, only sometimes it randomly decides not to work. so you end up dying and having to replay more game because good game
-Crash loses momentum when he slides and jumps, unlike 2 and 3. why? well, who knows
-GLITCHES. in crash landed I accidentally jumped too high on an arrow crate and died because i got too close to the ceiling?? Oh, and the jump pads simply dont work so you end up dying near the end of the stage for zero reason. none
-the game wants perfection from you if you wanna get everything. and that's fine, but at the same time, i want perfection from it in return, and it doesnt do that

What's your bpm

The later levels kinda lost the war between "difficult but fun" and "Just frustrating", but for the most part I really enjoyed it.

https://youtu.be/O1A-EKxZkAo

This looks fun af. Just mash dash spin entire time Holy shit. . I never checked out crash 4 speedrun footage till today

Drrobotniks posted...

-GLITCHES. in crash landed I accidentally jumped too high on an arrow crate and died because i got too close to the ceiling?? Oh, and the jump pads simply dont work so you end up dying near the end of the stage for zero reason. none

https://youtu.be/rMMtBPP1Fyw

Crash Landed is what made me quit the game. I know I shouldve a long time ago but I tried so hard to like it because Crash was one of the biggest games of my childhood

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crash_Bandicoot_4:_It%27s_About_Time

Because it didn't.

Its pretty bad, gave up trying to 100% it

I bought it in 2020 right before the Series X launch and then I never ended up playing it. Its in the backlog. I will get to it at some point

Ive 100%ed every Crash game except Crash 4. I just dont have the time or patience to get all the N Sanely Perfect levels or Platinum relics.

It was a fun game but the 106% completion is hell.