Castle Crashers – 360 – Review

Remember the blissful days of Golden
Axe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the 16-bit systems? Well, that fun can
be had again. That classic, side-scrolling, button-mashing gameplay has been
reincarnated into one of the best Xbox Live games available. Get ready to crash
some castles.

Castle Crashers is at its best a
co-op game played with 1-2 other players in the comfort of your living room. But
it is possible to play single-player as well (just not near as fun). You can
pick one of several cartoonish knights to help the King save his hot daughters
who have been captured. Each knight has a different speciality in magic, from
lightning to fire and all across the nerd spectrum. More playable characters can
be unlocked by playing the game.

Combat revolves around simple button
mashing. But while it may seem simple at first, there is surprising depth. Not
only will you learn new combos as you progress, but your character will level
up. Yeh that’s right. D&D style. As you stomp enemies, earn experience that can
enhance strength, magic, defense, and agility skills. Each, of course, has its
strength and weaknesses, but you’ll probably find a preference, either becoming
a tank, mage, or just all-around good guy.

Items are also integral to CC. As
you play, you’ll pick up new weapons, potions, and bonus items. Weapons also
buff your character, like any RPG. If you picked up a sledge hammer, you might
get a bonus in strength but a loss in agility. You can also get pets in CC, from
seahorses to bats. Each pet, like the weapons, will give your character special
abilities. The downside to the item and pet system is that, in order to find out
their abilities, you have to visit an area at the very beginning of the
overworld map. It can be a pain once you progress further into the game.

Another problem occasionally is the
shear amount of things onscreen. If you’re playing with three or more people,
the action onscreen can make things confusing. It’s only occasionally a problem,
but it’s still there.

While some might find the gameplay
to be repetitive (this reviewer did not), CC is constantly throwing humorous
surprises both into the gameplay and into the story to keep things fresh and
hilarious. And CC really excels in the presentation department. It’s stylish,
cartoon look is gorgeous and everything runs smooth. Did I mention humor? Expect
a lot of poop jokes.

The game features 4-person
multiplayer and plays both on and offline. If you have 2 people playing offline,
jump onto Live and get 2 more players. Want to go solo? Your choice too. I
played the game over the weekend with two friends and we had an absolute blast
playing and leveling up our characters. Characters you level can be taken both
online and to other friend’s houses, so you’ll always have your progress.

Review Scoring Details for Castle Crashers

Gameplay:
8.5
A solid button
masher, CC increases in depth as you play and level up. It’s just a fun game to
play.

Graphics:
10.0
The animations are
hilarious and look identical to a cartoon. Back grounds are also highly detailed
with great gags. The poop animations are also top notch.

Sound: 9.0
The music is
simultaneously reminiscent of the 8-bit era while offering lots of catchy tunes.

Difficulty:
Medium

Concept: 9.0
This game reminds me
of why I loved the old side-scrolling fighters. This game reinvigorates that old
genre.

Multiplayer:
9.5
The perfect
multiplayer game. This game is best experienced with other people. Other modes,
like Arena and All You Can Quaff are also (albeit brief) options to increase
replay value.

Overall: 9.5
When you play this
game with a room of other people, and you find yourself laughing at all the gags
and references to old games, you’ll be in love with this XBLA treasure.