Crash Team Rumble Review

"Wumpa!"

Campaign

June 26, 2023 at 8:25pm
By Jason Stettner

It’s time to collect some Wumpa! This is a multiplayer focused experience where two teams will face off in a series of arenas with the goal of collecting the target fruit number faster than the other one.

It’s a straight forward concept with a strangely deep layering of strategy behind it. While some may expect a variety of modes I do find it better when multiplayer games of this sort stick to a singular mode in order to focus the players that are present.

This works well for it as you speedily get into matches and can enjoy rolling lobbies. If you’re not up for competitive battles there is also the option to play the game privately in a bot match or in a private match with invited friends. That’s really the core of the concept here, a straight forward core mode about Wumpa collecting and endless matches that you can take part in as it is rather fun to play.

Gameplay

As one of the Crash characters you’ll go about the environment smashing others or just straight up collecting fruit. At launch there are eight distinct characters to play as from each of the various games that have been released. These are the core characters you would expect, and each of them plays entirely different which is interesting if you want to master how each performs.

Going further they all have unique abilities and a variety of costumes that can be worked towards. The game does indeed have a battle pass with two seasons being planned for the title out of the gate. When in matches you’ll be gathering Wumpa fruit as I’ve mentioned. You can do this by bashing crates or gathering it while it’s just floating about.

Outside of that you can play offensively to prevent the other team from capturing fruit. There are relics to collect which can grant power-ups or even an occasional ultra team ability. You can also find gem stone paths that both teams will fight over to increase the quantity of fruit collection at a given time. See, there’s more to it than simple bashing about though that can be done as well.

I will also mention the game does have a ping system to let your teammates know what’s happening, but folks rarely use that. The game features a great selection of environments to explore, with an excellent selection of rotating maps. These feature distinct biomes, setups and scenarios. They’re all very well crafted and offer differing challenges for when you’re competing. On the Xbox Series X the game looks sharp with what appears to be a 4k resolution at 60fps.

The Conclusion

Crash Team Rumble is fun, with a strangely addicting gameplay loop that I thoroughly enjoyed. I spent a good many hours working on this one and even maxed out my Achievement unlocks which was nice. There’s a good variety within the distinct characters that are present and the map selection is excellent. Having the one focused mode works well for this and it’s just really quite fun to play.

It seems simple but does actually have some nice complexity to it for your competing. It can be really frantic, very over the top and it matches the tone of Crash Bandicoot very well. I certainly enjoyed it and hope this game finds a solid audience as it offers something thrilling to play.

Read our Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time Review
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Crash Team Rumble Review on Xbox Series X
Review Code Provided by Activision

Rating Overall: 7.5