Castle Crashers

"Quick Quirky Killers: A Review of Castle Crashers"

Do you remember a time when gamers would huddle together shoulder-to-shoulder, crowding the buttons and joysticks of the arcade cabinet of the latest beat ‘em up? Miss the sound of you and your comrades' collective shouts of victory and defeat? Deciding who gets that next health item or bit of coin? If these are the fond memories you have when thinking about 4 player co-ops, then the Xbox 360 Arcade release Castle Crashers is for you and your friends.

The game is heralded by an epic, medieval score as you reach the title screen. But before you can begin the crashing, you must decide which of the four character types you wish to play. All characters begin with the same statistics, but will have different magic depending on the color. Green wields deadly DOT poison, Blue freezes enemies in ice, Orange sets baddies ablaze, and Red electrifies foes.

After you choose the color of you Crasher, you are thrust into a vibrantly colored fantasy world. This side-scrolling arcade beat ‘em up by The Behemoth is a tribute to classics coin-eaters but with a fresh, cartoony flair. As blood splashes across the battlefield, you immediately realize this game has all the sweet innocence of an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon. The visuals are a hybrid of crisp, cartoony sprites and carnal violence. The combination works beautifully, catering perfectly to its implementation of quirky humor (diarrhea and spoofs abound). Expect some truly original enemy types and locations.

By conversing with various NPCs, you are quickly familiarized with the simple control scheme, all in the first screen of the game. Your repertoire consists of fundamentals like quick attack, strong attack, magic, jump, block, and item use. By the second screen these controls seem like second nature as you are immediately hacking and decapitating your way through swarms of cute little enemies. With practice, you'll be stringing combos on multiple enemies while slashing them through mid-air.

Don't be fooled by the cutesy graphics, however, because Castle Crashers' difficulty is unforgiving at times. This is especially true with the unique, grandiose scale boss fights and tough enemy hordes of the later levels. Don't fret long, because the game sympathizes with you. When one of your fellow Crashers should be felled in battle (and they will), you need not worry about losing lives. A real-time resuscitation move allows you to revive teammates with perfectly timed button presses. Also, rather than sucking away those shiny coins weighing down your pockets like at the arcade, you are rewarded for your persistence. No “Game Over, Continue?” countdown screens when everyone dies, just a screen displaying how much you leveled up. By implementing an “RPG lite” element, you are now in control of how strong, defensive, magically adept, and agile your Crasher is. This allows players to customize their characters to fill the traditional roles of an RPG party like spell casters and tanks.

Your first play through won't last much longer than classic arcade games, either. The game can be completed in around 5-6 hours, but the developers at The Behemoth have provided several reasons to give it another go. Not only does your character remain available for another game (levels and weapons included), but you can unlock Crashers and weapons with new abilities and stats by playing and completing the game.

Some minor issues flawed this otherwise sublime brawler. How to go about unlocking weapons and characters is never made explicitly clear. Whether it is by luck or specific action, I never knew exactly how or why I had acquired something. Additionally, when you do unlock new weapons, it is difficult to understand who can use what.

Castle Crashers provides online and local co-op for up to four players, including some competitive scenarios also (fighting your friends for the princess' kisses in story mode is most intense). Though online play works fine, I recommend gathering 3 friends together on a couch to truly appreciate the game's emphasis on cooperation. Castle Crashers truly delivers as an unforgettable multiplayer experience to share with your friends.


Overall 9/10


Thanks for reading!


Dimly
(Jackal45x)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/13/08

Game Release: Castle Crashers (US, 08/27/08)