10 GENIUS Video Game Features No One Saw Coming
6. The Quantum Masks - Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
Crash
Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time has a delicious multi-levelled pun in its name.
Not only was it about time for a true sequel after 22 years (Crash Bandicoot 3:
Warped arrived in 1998), but it’s ‘about time’ for an entirely different reason
too: the concept of time is more of a factor than ever, with the all-new
Quantum Masks on top of the time travel shenangians.
These masks are also siblings, and each of the four bestows a different power (and costume) on Crash and Coco while in use. Lani-Loli allows the bandicoots to shift obstacles and items in and out of this plane of existence, Akano gives them a handy jumping power and allows them to open otherwise unbreakable crates and Ika-Ika can reverse gravity’s effects (think certain sections of Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel).
Perhaps most intriguingly, though, Kupuna-Wa can temporarily slow the passage of time.
There was doubt as to whether this much-anticipated sequel would just be a retread of the bandicoot’s glory days, but it proved to be a faithful yet creative entry worthy of the name. The Quantum Masks’ subtle overhauling of the gameplay went a long way toward that.