What Crash And Run is
Crash And Run is a head-to-head 4-Player race built around running, jumping and shoving your way through obstacle courses. Each map is its own thing, with a different theme and its own gameplay gimmicks, so a course you have learned once will not feel the same on the next one. The obstacles are the core of it: you duck and weave through challenges, get knocked around by physics, and try to keep your footing while everyone else is doing the same. It is a third-person 3D platformer with a cartoon look, and it sits in the casual end of things — easy to pick up, hard to look graceful at.
How your group plays together
The lobby system is where your group gets together. It supports private matches, so you can keep a race to just your friends, and it lets you set the maximum number of players for the session. There is a chat system built in, which is handy for calling out who is in front, who just got wrecked by an obstacle, and who is ready to start the next round. Online multiplayer means your friends can join from anywhere rather than needing to be in the same room. Once everyone is in, the race runs to a simple rule: first to the end wins.
Power-ups and character customization
Scattered through the courses are power-ups that boost your own abilities or mess with the people ahead of you. Expect them to change the shape of a race mid-run rather than just adding a small bonus. Between rounds you can spend time in the character customization system, which the developer describes as dynamic and ever-expanding, so your runner can look like yours rather than a default. It is family friendly in tone, colorful and cartoony throughout.
Before you start
Know that the whole game is a race — there is no objective beyond getting to the end first, and the physics will sometimes throw you around whether you planned for it or not. Each map brings its own gimmick, so going in blind is part of the fun, but expect a short learning curve on the ones with unusual obstacles. It is free to play, and the multiplayer is online, so you will want your group coordinated in a lobby before the first round starts.