I love Crash 4 but...ok...this game does NOT respect your time. You will spend a ton of time getting every crate, doing specific challenges to go out your way to get them. Only to miss one cos they put it off screen or somewhere BS which you will easily miss.

Not skill related

To build upon this, and why it is actually a big issue.
You get a gem for not dying a certain number of times. You see a hard to get crate which could cause you to die.

You go for the crate, die too many times, and then you end up missing some crates anyway. Constant dilemma.

So it's probably much more effective literally ignoring crates, getting the death one. (presuming you're skilled at the game to get them first try) and then sweeping the game for crates.

It's a constant dilemma and makes going for 100% crates a complete gamble and not rewarding.

Ok I'm on a rant now. But, the game is clearly PADDED to fuck. Probably to get the $60 pricetag.

Play the level, again for gem, play for relic, play in N.Verted, play N.Verted for gems, N.Verted Relic.

Play level without dying to get flash back tape. Replay alternate timeline

Like, what the fuck is this?
The actual gameplay and level design is solid, and I enjoy it. (outside of levels being too long).

But there's just so many little things which are bugging me and dragging the experience down. Sometimes less is more.