When Activision Blizzard dropped It’s About Time a few years back, it really felt like Crash Bandicoot was finally getting his dues.

It followed the fantastically presented N’Sane Trilogy and a revamp of Crash Team Racing, so for fans starved of content, it really was a renaissance.

But I’d be lying if I said Crash Team Rumble didn’t feel like a bit of a step back. At least, at announcement stage. Where most were hoping for more Crash numbered installments, maybe even another turn at racing, this just looked like modern day games, reskinned with the iconic Bandicoot.

To some degree, that above statement does hold true. You’ve got Battle Passes in here, heroes, skins, emotes and banners. It’s a 4 v 4 team battler, with three different defining roles, and the winning team is the one holding the most Wumpa fruit.

On paper, that could be just about any PVP game in 2023. But I have to give Toys for Bob much more credit than that, because they’ve actually made the game feel kind of unique, enjoyable, and perhaps most importantly, it doesn’t feel like it’s going to try and bleed you dry of money.

Sure, the Deluxe Edition gives you the first 25 levels of your first Battle Pass for free and that comes in at an extra $10. But progression seems relatively comfortable enough without it that you’re not going to be left wanting for too long.

Still, I’m in no position to give a full overview on this just yet. Season 1 just got started, there’s a wealth of events and activities to come, and being a mostly online experience, the game needs time to level itself out. A review right now, to be honest, doesn’t make sense.

But what’s here is a surprisingly solid foundation and holds some promise. IF Activision get the players, are willing to support long term and keep the ideas interesting enough.

Because what Toys for Bob have essentially built here is Crash Bandicoot but League of Legends. Kind of. You’ve got three sets of classes which you’ll need to master if you want to unlock everything the game has to offer. And there’s a lot here between the soundtracks and skins.

First up is the Blocker, a class that, well, blocks enemies from scoring. These are the tankiest heroes in the game with higher health, better combat skills, though their mobility is a bit low. These are basically a camper’s best friend.

Then there’s the Booster whose goal is to essentially run around, collecting gems to try and boost team scoring. This class is your secret weapon as they are more mobile than the scorer but can hold less wumpa. Your goal is to try and power all of the relic stations on each map. I’ll get to those in a moment.

Finally, the Scorer who, you guessed it, is the one you rely on to score. Of course Crash himself would be one of them, as is Tawna, but the interesting thing about Team Rumble is each of the heroes plays very differently and has a different set of health. Making them more difficult to master than the other.

I love that about Team Rumble. Even though you’re sticking to the same class and category, you can’t rely on how well you’ve done with, say, Dingodile, to work to the same effect as Dr N.Brio. Because they both play very differently.

And the same goes for the maps. Each map has different relic stations for you to build up with gems and boost your team. Everything from a Bandicootapult to launch you around a large map, to an Uka Uka which, if you get it on side, will rain meteors down from the sky. To satisfying effect, quite honestly.

All the maps have their own difficulty, size and relics, again relying on map mastery, understanding and skill base to get the most out of them. And with Crash Team Rumble launching with nine heroes and nine maps, there’s a surprising amount to get your head around. Which is just as well as the options for play are a tad limited now.

It’s always 4 v 4 competitive or practice matches, with not much else besides. But the game is sticking with and refining what it knows, and with so many things to unlock, equip, and customise with, you’ve still got enough to be thinking about and collecting. Though this one is probably best played in short sittings.

Not to mention the powers, which can be gathered and unlocked over the course of the game, with you making the decision which to take into the fray with you. Healing fridges, powerful guardians. I guess it’ll depend on your mood.

As for the game itself, Toys for Bob have brilliantly made platforming and crate spinning the focus here. Because why wouldn’t they? That’s Crash 101. Getting the Wumpa from crates, navigating treacherous environments by hopping to and fro so as to boost your team, then find shortcuts to your base, trying to stay out of trouble is exactly how a Crash PVP battler SHOULD feel.

So in the short term, I’m impressed. I’ve been having fun with another member of the team and to be honest, I haven’t really had to wait that long for matches. The focus on having crossplay in here was clearly an inspired choice. I don’t normally go for these kind of games, but having grown up with Crash, loving him and that world, I had to give this a try. I’m really glad I did.

I do want to spend more time with the game, unlocking everything, trying out all the characters, figuring out the maps and going a bit deeper into Season 1 to see what it offers. That’s what these games are all about after all.

I’m also very keen to see how the playerbase fares over the longer term – a thing that basically determines whether these games live or die. On day one, it’s absolutely fine. But what about Day 10, Day 20, Day 30? That’s what I hope to find out. I hope this game keeps thriving, because it’s been a surprising amount of fun, quite honestly.

But I can also see how this game could get stale quickly if the teams are not being creative enough or aren’t keeping up the interest. This one really could go either way, but it at least has the starpower of the Bandicoot to sustain itself if Activision are willing to commit the time to it.

If we’re being honest here, this would be the perfect Game Pass title for Xbox to get on the service ASAP if this merger ever closes. A Switch port probably wouldn’t hurt either. And then there’s that good old argument of whether it should have gone F2P.

It’s good enough that anyone can jump on and might even want to play, perhaps spend a few hours with it, but there’s a lot of games out there right now and this one could very easily slip under the radar.

But first impressions – this one is a lot better than I expected. And is easily the most fun I’ve had playing a solely multiplayer game in years. I just need a bit more time to see if that sentiment holds up.