That's a little outside my budget!
Despite previous rumors about the game being a free-to-play title, this turned out to not be the case unfortunately. The basic version of the game costs $29.99 USD, and the deluxe edition costs $39.99 USD and grants access to a few extra skins (some lame blocky skins which are remnants from the early Wumpa League version of the game, when it was still part of Crash 4) and an extra season pass for the 2nd season of the game as well. I would not go in the details on these, as you can find more info on the deluxe edition at the official website of Crash Bandicoot if you are interested (which I am not).
During these 5 days of the closed beta run, only the five main characters from It's About Time (Crash, Coco, Cortex, Tawna and Dingodile) and three levels (Tiki Trouble, Just Beachy and Calamity Canyon) will be playable. You can see all three stages in the gameplay video below.
So... what's going on?
Teamwork is key to victory!
The scorer characters like Crash are faster and can easily traverse the map to collect 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.
This is where blocker characters come into play. 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. 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.
The third type of characters are booster characters, who upport 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.
Game modes
According to Toys for Bob, there won't be a single player game mode at launch, but that might change with time, as a lot of game modes can be expected throughout the upcoming seasons.
Backlash
This far, Crash Team Rumble has been a lot more divisive among the Crash Bandicoot fandom than any previous entry in the series, and seems to be receiving a huge backlash from fans of the series and the general public, mostly due to the lack of single player campaign, the cost of the game, and the microtransactions.
It is also no help, that the game is confusing, and this far, we still haven't seen a full match in Wumpa League, err... I mean Crash Team Rumble, only short clips. This gives me the impression, that they are trying to cover up a badly made game and cash in on it as soon as possible. Why do I say that? Well, Crash Team Rumble seems to be recycling every asset from Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, including character models, level scenery, music. There's barely anything new here, besides some of the 2D graphics that appear on the screen, Chick Gizzard Lips' commentary, and some new animations for each character, like Crash making the sign of the horns, which I find really out-of-character for him.
A lot of the fans also criticized Activision's decision to tie the participation in the beta testing behind a preorder, as this game seems confusing, and not that fun. Why not give fans of the series the ability to try it out? I bet there would be a lot of cases where people would say "well, this is actually fun, I should get it when it launches".
Let's just say that Crash Team Racing has not necessarily amazed the majority of the fanbase. I, for one, won't preorder the game, as I would like to buy a physical copy, and also hear the impressions from the people, who play the closed beta, if it's worth the money.