Crash Time is an action-oriented racing game based on the German TV series Alarm für Cobra 11. The main characters are the Semir Gerkhan and Chris Ritter, known from the series, and a novice policemen. Which one the player controls depends on the mission.

The campaign consists of 8 cases which are divided into several sections and are arranged in a linear way. The eight case has to be unlocked by beating most of the others in the highest difficulty. The goals of the sections are varying, mostly the player has to win a race or stopping a criminal by crashing his car or thwarting him. Other goals are checkpoint races or tailing somebody. The story is told voiced texts between the sections or in voiceovers during the missions. If the player fails a section he can try it again instantly but he has to solve the whole case in one sitting.

Most sections have additional goals which the player needs to fulfill, e.g. a time or damage limit. These restrictions change with the difficulty level which can be selected before each case. After every solved case the player unlocks new cars and courses for the single races and multiplayer mode. These don't represent the playing modes of the campaign but are always regular races.