The wait for a new entry in the Crash Bandicoot franchise is finally over. Crash Squad Rumble is a new crash formula that pits players in an epic 4v4 race where each team is tasked with collecting and saving more Wumpa Fruits than the others. Between tons of unique and diverse heroes, power-ups that can change your gear, and specially mapped artifacts that can destroy the enemy team, there's a lot to unlock and try out in Crash Squad Rumble. With the incredible violence you can expect from Crash's heroes and villains, the first step to understanding Rumble is learning your character's role: marker, blocker or booster.
Control panel character
The name of the game is winning Wumpa! Scores like Crash are fast heroes who can easily traverse the map collecting Wumpa Fruits and Artifacts to help their team. Goal scorers provide most of your team's potential goals, so protecting your goal scorer will be key to victory.
Block character
The best offense is a good defense. Blockers excel at eliminating opponents or protecting your team's Wumpa Bank. They are very powerful fighting characters who can easily capture and defend against multiple enemies at once.
Improved character
Support your team by increasing your score. Boosters are specialists whose goal is to capture the various diamond boxes scattered throughout each map to increase their team's score. Controlling a group of Jewel Pads increases the amount of points that go into your Wumpa Bank for each Wumpa Fruit, allowing you to turn the tide instantly.
To get a better idea of how the developers feel about each character's role, we caught up with Toys For Bob Associates creative director Lou Studdert to see how each role will play out in the game.
What role can you play?
Lou Studdert. Since each role brings something new, dot characters are our first choice. They are good at picking up wumpas or annoying the other team and give you the tools to play however you want.
Are there roles that are more difficult to compete for?
Blockers can be a bit of a challenge for new players. If you play push or marker and find yourself struggling to deal with blockers, you're not alone. Trust your team to beat them and don't be afraid to back down to fight another day. Heroes with high mobility have a harder time collecting artifacts on each map, which can be used to give them an advantage at artifact stations.
Do you always play the same role or do you change your strategy?
We are usually attracted to reinforcers, but it depends on our mood. Sometimes you want to mess with Dingodil or pick up the piano with Cortex. Luckily, there's always the option to switch characters between games, so it's easy to try out different playstyles when you want to switch things up.
Any tips for playing the April 20-24 closed beta?
Be sure to try out the powers and characters available in the beta version. Any power can be given to any hero, so there's plenty of room for experimentation to see which game works best for you. There's a lot more planned for the final release of the game, so while this is just a small preview of what's to come, it's a great opportunity to see which strategy is more fun. We look forward to talking to you when our beta launches on April 20th.
Which character would you most like to try as the closed beta period approaches? Crash Team Rumble is available for pre-order today on PS4 and PS5.