The (Crash 4) Plot Thickens

Tawna has been revealed as fully playable in Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time! Not only that, but Tawna comes with her own new style and personality. It turns out that Crash’s ex-girlfriend is actually Tawna from a different dimension, complete with more ‘lone wolf’ persona, rainbow hair and… pink leg warmers. Naturally.

First appearing in the original Crash Bandicoot (1996), Tawna was once just a damsel in distress. In Crash Bandicoot: N.Sane Trilogy (2006) – the 2017 remake, developers Vicarious Visions did their best to make her a bit more ‘independent’ in her limited screen time. For example, she was seen punching off Cortex’s lab assistants in the intro before she was swarmed, and seen having escaped Cortex’s clutches in each bonus round (only to then be snatched again at the end). Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled (2019) also did a great job of bringing more personality to her as leader of the ‘Nitro Squad’ – a group of female racing experts from around the globe, thanks to developers Beenox. And now she’s been given even more independence in her new design, courtesy of Crash 4 developers, Toys for Bob.

This time, Tawna is from an alternate dimension. So, this isn’t the Tawna we once knew. That means for those that don’t like her new sass and new… ass, won’t have to lose sleep on the fact that this is a different Tawna to the one they know and love.

Finally, Tawna makes the for fifth playable character in the Crash 4 roster. You read that right. Alongside Dingodile, Cortex, Coco and, of course, Crash, Tawna makes for a mid-range playable character. Unlike Cortex, whose levels involve him trying to stop the bandicoots from progressing, or Dingodile who is more like an anti-hero, Tawna purposefully protects the bandicoots from afar with her long-range hook shot and wall-jumping mehanics, both not unlike Nina's gameplay from Crash: Twinsanity (2004).

‘Akano Mura

This isn’t the only news ahead of Crash 4’s release. New details of the game’s opening plot and levels have been revealed, courtesy of Game Informer. These gems shine some light on things such as how many years it’s been since the events of Crash Bandicoot 3: WARPED (1998) for Cortex, Tropy and Uka Uka and the abilities of the final quantum mask, ‘Akano.

Whilst I won’t go into serious spoiler territory with this here, I will link you to the Game Informer article, here. But, for those too lazy to read it and want to know how many years is has been and what the final mask ability is, well… spoiler warning… it’s 22 and basically the death tornado spin.

For those who have pre-ordered a digital copy of the game, you’ll soon be receiving a demo for Crash 4, as now confirmed by the ticker tape in Nitro-Fueled (if not already when you read this). After all, there’s not long to go until the release of the full game now.

Crash 4 releases on 2^nd October 2020, so hope onto the bandibandwagon, grab some flashback tapes and I’ll see you soon when more news is afoot.