Review: Crash Team Rumble

destructoid.com:

Another live service game just came out in 2023 in Crash Team Rumble, and we’re getting it instead of a Crash 5 for now. Wait, come back! If you’re a Crash fan, there might be something here for you. Yeah, I didn’t expect it either.

Crash Team Rumble (PS4, PS5 [reviewed], Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S)Developer: Toys for Bob Publisher: ActivisionReleased: June 20, 2023MSRP: $29.99 (standard), $39.99 (deluxe)

Despite the weird and somewhat pointless monetization angle (which we’ll get to), the standard $29.99 edition (yes, this is not free-to-play) is a much simpler package than it seems on the surface. Crash Team Rumble is a 4v4 battle game that asks two competing teams to dunk Wumpa Fruit into their goal until they hit a score limit: at which point that team immediately wins. Easy to parse, right? It actually is! Matches are around five minutes to boot.

You’ll need to roam across nine different maps (with more to come) that feel a lot like miniature Crash Bandicoot platforming levels while grabbing fruit, stopping other players from scoring, and causing havoc with power-ups. Those three core game loops encapsulate the trio of codified roles in the game: scorer, blocker, and booster. Actually fulfilling the core duties of your role (which is linked to specific characters) will shorten your ability cooldowns, but it’s not completely necessary; as I’ve been in plenty of games where players flex into different jobs on a constant basis (and thrive).

The secret sauce of Crash Team Rumble is how all of this plays out. Given how easy this game is to pick up and put down, I was shocked to look up at the clock and see that an hour went by during multiple sessions.

Crash Team Rumble controls a lot like a legitimate core Crash game,