Talk:Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: OceanHok (talk · contribs) 04:06, 19 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is a 2020 platform game originally released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One; releases for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows followed the next year - I don't think release platforms are that important. I shouldn't be placed in the first sentence of the whole article.
They are indirectly aided by their former enemy Dingodile, who is attempting to return to his home - "who is attempting to return to his home" is a bit too specific. I think you can remove this from the lead.
It also includes additional game modes for replaying levels, and the ability to control five characters in the game - "in the game" is redundant.
The controls, amount of content and replay value, visuals, music, voice-acting, and story were also commended, while the physics, level design, and difficulty drew mixed reactions, and the rail-grinding sections were criticized. - A bit too long and clumsy here. I suggest breaking this to at least two sentences.
Commercially, the game underperformed in comparison to the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, but had the highest first-month earnings for a contemporary Crash Bandicoot title - Isn't N Sane Trilogy and Nitro-Fueled also contempoary Crash titles? Then how does it underperform? It seems to be a bit contradicting.
"Play-styles" should not be hyphenated.
The gameplay takes place in a third-person perspective - "The game is played from a third-person perspective" seems a bit better.
Collecting all of a level's Gems without losing a life earns the player an N. Sanely Perfect Relic - Does this Relic have any gameplay function? Are they some kind of trophies or achievements?
Completing any given level will unlock a "Time Trial", in which the player must complete the level as quickly as possible to earn a Relic - "to earn a Relic" can be removed since you are going to mention it again several sentences later anyway.
Within each level is a "Bonus" area that is accessed via a platform bearing a yellow question mark (?). - I don't think the symbol (?) needs to be shown. I think readers understand what a yellow question mark is.
Cortex makes use of a raygun that can be used to transform enemies into solid or bouncy platforms - "Cortex uses a raygun that can be used to transform enemies into solid or boucny platforms" seems to be simpler. The same goes for the Dingodile and Tawna. "Makes use of" seems unnecessary.
such as turning a dinosaur into an infant - it would be better if you specify that it was a baby dinosaur, not just a baby.
Dingodile primarily makes use of a vacuum gun, which can be used to suck up and fire enemies and objects. - Not sure how he used a vacuum gun to fire enemies and objects.
The screenshot in the plot section doesn't seem to be necessary. We should try to limit the number of non-free images in articles.
The plot section is a bit too long. It should be trimmed so that it is around 700 words.
What purpose does the quotebox serve? It seems to be repeating the information mentioned below anyway.
Crash's lack of a neck provided a particular technical challenge to the development team's modelers - It would be interesting to know why.
The development team recognized early on that the newest series installment needed to retain the elements that made Crash Bandicoot unique among platform games. - "The development team recognized early on that a new installment in the series needed to retain the elements that made Crash Bandicoot unique among platform games" seems to flow a bit better.
and engaged with fans within the studio - I just want to clarify. They engaged with fans within Toys for Bob, not general fans of the series?
His design was not affected by the change in mechanic from "density" to "dark matter", as Kole felt that his features still invoked black holes as spinning objects - "its features" or "its visual characteristics" seem a little bit better. Why do you use the pronoun "he/his" but not "it/its" for these masks? I am not entirely sure what you mean by "his features still invoked black holes as spinning objects". Do you mean black holes are spinning objects? Or does this refer to the character's spinning attack and in his opinion, that resembles a black hole?

@OceanHok: The Quantum Masks, like Aku Aku, are characters as well as items/mechanics. Cat's Tuxedo (talk) 15:33, 19 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

During the prototype stage of his gameplay, the objects affected by him were colored pink and blue - this is a fairly clumsy sentence, and I am not sure what "the objects affected by him were colored pink and blue" means. The mask was inspired by the color pink and blue?
Why information about Crash and Coco's character designs are split into a separate section called "Art Design". They seem to belong in "Character and story development" as well.
Tawna was originally armed with a boomerang, which was eventually retooled into a grappling hook when the development of Dingodile's gameplay rendered the boomerang's function of retrieving faraway objects redundant - but why? Dingodile's gameplay doesn't seem to involve retrieving objects faraway?
The reality tunnel sequence in the "A Hole in Space" level was conceptualized by artists Nicola Saviori, John Loren, and Johannes Figlhuber, and was kept clear of hazards to create a safe transitional section before the impending boss fight. - A bit difficult for readers to understand when this "reality tunnel" was not established earlier in the article. I think this piece of information is a bit too specific even for the development section.
The sequence includes an Easter egg referencing a Crash Bandicoot-related meme, which is activated by successfully collecting all of the Bumpa Berries along the rail - seems like trivial details
Additional voices were provided by Andrew Morgado, Cherise Boothe, Chris Fries, Edward Bosco, Jon Lipow, Jon Olson, Keith Silverstein, Misty Lee, Salli Saffioti, Sarah Tancer, and Yuri Lowenthal. - These aren't really main characters and should not really be listed here, especially since their inovlement is not covered by reliable secondary sources.
Is a pre-release reception section really necessary? It doesn't seem that different from the post-release reception. I would suggest removing the entire first paragraph and move the Tawna part to the release section.
Dom Peppiatt of VG247 felt that the amount of new characters and mechanics led to some of them feeling half-baked, such as the Dingodile levels, which he said "handle awkwardly and clumsily" - This quote "handle awkwardly and clumsily" seems unnecessary when the previous part already parahprases what he wanted to say perfectly.
I think you can remove both source 1 and 2 per WP:LEADCITE.
The gameplay section is very reliant on primary sources. I understand that some of the finer details may be ignored by secondary sources, but certainly there must be secondary soruces that document the gameplay of the quantum masks and the multiplayer, which at least seem to be an important part of the game?
What makes source 51 (Gamepur) a reliable source? Source 108 and 109 (VGChartz) are unreliable.

Overall, this is a very well-researched article. Putting the article on hold. OceanHok (talk) 04:06, 19 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@OceanHok: All points have been addressed. Cat's Tuxedo (talk) 15:33, 19 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The article looks good. I have promoted the article. OceanHok (talk) 16:46, 19 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]