Learn your Crash Team Rumble character role, beta launches April 20

The wait for a new entry into the Crash Bandicoot franchise is finally over! Crash Team Rumble is an all-new spin on the Crash formula, pitting players into epic 4v4 competitions, where each team aims to collect and bank more Wumpa fruit than the other. Between the many unique and varied heroes, equipable powers to change your loadout, and map specific relic stations that can cause havoc on the enemy team, there’s a lot to unpack and experiment with in Crash Team Rumble. With all the zany chaos you’d expect from the Crash heroes and villains, the first step to understanding how to Rumble is learning your character’s role: Scorer, Blocker, or Booster.

Scorer characters

The name of the game is scoring Wumpa! Scorers like Crash are speedy heroes who can easily traverse the map, collecting Wumpa fruit and relics to assist their team. Scorers provide the bulk of your team’s scoring potential, so protecting your Scorers will be crucial to victory!

Blocker characters

The best offense is a good defense! Blockers excel at taking out opponents or defending your team’s Wumpa Bank. They’re extremely powerful combat characters who can easily take on multiple foes at once, and still hold their own.

Booster characters

Support your team by boosting your score! Boosters are specialists who aim to capture the various gem pads scattered around each map to boost their team’s score. Taking control of a cluster of gem pads increases the amount of points scored for each Wumpa fruit delivered to your Wumpa Bank, allowing them to turn the tides in a flash.

To give a better sense of how the developers themselves feel about each hero role, we checked in with the Toys For Bob’s associate creative director Lou Studdert on how each role impacts the game:

What role do you tend to play as?

Lou Studdert: While each role brings something new to the table, Scorer characters tend to be our first pick. They’re well-rounded, and give you the tools to play the way you want, whether that’s collecting Wumpa, or pestering the other team.

Is there a most difficult role to compete against?

Blockers might give new players a bit of trouble. If you’re playing a Booster or a Scorer and find yourself struggling to fight a Blocker head-on, remember that you aren’t alone! Rely on your teammates to help take them down, and don’t be scared to retreat to fight another day. Heroes with more mobility will have an easier time collecting relics on each map, which can be spent at relic stations to give you the upper hand.

Do you play as the same role every time, or do you change your strategy?

Typically we gravitate towards Boosters, but it depends on our mood! Sometimes you just want to wreak some havoc with Dingodile, or drop some pianos with Cortex. Thankfully, there’s always the option to change characters between matches, so if you feel the call to shake things up, it’s easy to try out a different playstyle at any time.

Do you have any advice for playing in the closed beta on April 20-24?

Be sure to experiment with the powers and characters available in beta! Any power can be equipped to any hero, so there’s a lot of room for experimentation to see what play style suits you the best. There’s even more planned for the final launch of the game, so while this is only a small taste of what’s in store, it’s a great chance to see what strategy feels the most fun. We can’t wait to rumble with you when our beta launches on April 20!

With the closed beta fast approaching, what characters are you most looking forward to trying out? Crash Team Rumble is available for pre-order today for PS4 and PS5.