The levels of the original Crash titles were incredibly linear in design, normally leading Crash down a straight corridor either toward or away from the player. It worked well for 1996 but games have come a LONG way since then; Naughty Dog will have to change up the formula for Crash to still work. Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario 3D World have proven that platforming levels across a defined path can still work if a designer is crafty about how that linearity comes together; the trick is to mask it as subtly as possible with expansive, smartly-designed levels. Naughty Dog should be more than capable of this; The Last of Us and the Uncharted series have linear narratives and lead players down a very specific, laid out path, yet those games never feel like you lack freedom. That's the feeling they need to recreate with Crash.