It's only recently that everyone's favorite jorts champion turned to PC gaming, but he's off and running quickly and looking better than ever. This gorgeous cartoon platformer harkens back to the golden age of the genre, but with some welcome improvements in quality-of-life.

The jump from the "N. Sane" trilogy to "Crash 4" works very well, as it carries on directly from the third "Warped" film. The return of classic numbering and time travel shenanigans feel like a reflection of developer Toys For Bob's mission statement to "bring back classic Crash." Dimensions are shattered, and Crash and Coco play the same way, but that means they need to run through the quirky tastes of a real-life historical setting while evoking the glory days of the series.

This is the perfect excuse to thrust our bandicoot into a variety of themed stages. Everything from classic beaches and jungles to pirate ships, jazzy New Orleans swamps, and of course slippery ice streams (the rideable polar bears are back). Most of the time you'll be running away from the camera on fairly straight paths, but as expected, the camera occasionally switches to a side view, and in the odd chase sequence you'll have to run toward the screen. A new default option displays legible shadows to make jumps easier to understand, and another option discards lives and tallies the number of deaths.

There are also accessibility improvements, but this is still classic Crash, taking the torch from the original trilogy and evolving it in a way that makes sense. This is not cynical nostalgia like in Sonic 4. The major new element of the film is the Quantum Mask, which must be retrieved in order to stop returning villains Doctor Neo Cortex and Doctor Nefarious Tropy from taking over the multiverse. This mask gives you the power to activate glowing platforms, slow down time to jump onto fast moving objects, tweak gravity, and perform successful spin-top super double jumps. Thankfully, these are wonderfully smart additions. Unlike traditional power-ups like the returning Aku-Aku Shield, the Quantum Mask is anchored to a section of the stage, so every use presents a tailor-made, well-designed challenge.

There's a reason Crash wears his jacket like a bundle of shame. But the exhilaration you feel when you pull it off is unmatched, and your untimely death is seldom hard to understand. Thanks to the uncapped frame rate (I easily maintained around 100 fps at a crisp 1440p resolution), I grudgingly admit that I felt most of the deaths were my fault.

The biggest frustration is the tinny PC version of the DRM that requires you to be online at all times. Disconnecting does not kick you out of the level, but it does require a restart from the main game, which feels unnecessary in the absence of online functionality.

Rewinding time to rework the concept of the "Crash" sequel almost worked, but like some of the less well-liked original sequels, "Crash 4" has some missing additions. This orange demon has become obsessed with the inexplicable allure of scraping on rails, but it's not implemented well, especially when trying to collect them all. The speed makes it infuriating to clear a stage at full crate, and the slightest misdirection can ruin your chances. Jumping between tracks, falling under, dangling from, or leaning sideways on the tracks causes delays that are frustrating. The same goes for wall-running.

Not only can you play Crash and Coco, but you can also control Tauna, Dingo Dile, and Neo Cortex in another timeline level. It is still about breaking crates on platforms and rushing to the end of the stage while collecting gems, but it has its own gadgets with a mechanical twist. Tauna is closer to the style of the other bandicoots, but also has a hook shot to destroy crates from a distance or advance to new parts of the level. Dingos use a large vacuum to suck up crates before shooting them at enemies and hovering over gaps. Cortex, who is often the villain, slams the enemy onto either a hard or bouncy foothold, and for some reason headbutts horizontally through the air. Cortex's methods are a bit tricky, but they are all surprisingly fun.

The problem is the lack of levels for those characters. There are a handful of required levels, but most are optional missions that take place within levels already completed, and only certain sections can be viewed from a different perspective. Tauna's first level, which is unlocked, is entirely her own, in which she must cross a pirate ship to rescue the captured Crash and Coco. However, playing through her optional missions is only half of what you get to play as her. She will run through a new stage as Tauna, but eventually her path will intersect with the path of Crash and Coco, where she will have to switch characters. From there, it's just a matter of playing through the more difficult parts of the level you've already completed. If you want to play with this trio of additional characters, you have to redo the old ground. It is exhausting.

No padding is really needed. There are already plenty of challenges to complete, including alternate N.Verted versions of every stage in the game. For example, when you rotate, the echolocation allows you to see all the surrounding contours. On top of that, there is a hidden challenge level in Flashback, a custom-made crate-destroying marathon with a VHS filter, set before Crash escapes in the first game time trial.

As has always been the case with the series, they can be a bit too frustrating, but in many cases those challenges are optional. Not every crate needs to be broken. You don't have to make tricky gravity-defying leaps to get extra oompa nuts. You don't have to dash around the stage to shave a few seconds off your best time. But you would like to, wouldn't you?