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Castle Crashers Review
Written by: Grant Hatchimonji
A fun, feel-good experience on the Xbox Live Arcade.
Games don't always have to be groundbreaking to be fun. Sometimes all you need to do is go back to the fundamentals to make a fun game, even if it is relatively basic. "Castle Crashers," which is available for download as an Xbox Live Arcade game, is a co-op game that is exactly that—mindless fun.
The story of "Castle Crashers" is as basic as a game involving knights can get: Four princesses have been kidnapped and the Castle Crashers have set out to rescue them. But everything from the characters to the presentation is downright hilarious. The game's developer was Behemoth, a team that features the creator of the bizarrely humorous NewGrounds.com, so it comes as little surprise that "Castle Crashers" features such a heavy comedic overtone. The constant juxtaposition of horribly gory deaths with cutesy cartoon characters makes for some darkly humorous moments, and some truly wacky instances—like a herd of deer pooping themselves upon seeing a giant monster—will always catch you off guard before inciting a good laugh. Yes, the humor can be incredibly childish at moments, but this reviewer will always find potty humor amusing.
The story mode can be played through in either single player or cooperative mode, the latter of which really makes for the best experience. Hacking your way through 2-D side scrolling levels with a buddy is not only tons of fun, but also brings back nostalgic memories of games like "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time." Even little co-op game elements are incorporated, like resuscitating a fallen comrade (which cues a comical animation as your Castle Crasher begins to perform CPR).
The gameplay in "Castle Crashers" is as simple as its story line. You can perform heavy and light attacks, and as the game progresses, you unlock combos that you can unleash upon your opponents. Characters can also perform magic moves (which require you to use a limited but rechargeable source of mana) that vary depending upon which Castle Crasher you are. The game is a fairly basic hack-and-slash side-scroller, but the multitude of enemies, weapons, and special moves makes for some simple, mindless fun.
But what the game lacks in gameplay variety, it makes up for in spades when it comes to the RPG elements of the game. You can earn experience and eventually level up, at which point you can put skills into various categories as a means to up your attack power, magic abilities, and more. There is also a massive selection of weapons to find throughout the course of the game, each with different strengths and weaknesses (some can add to or detract from your character's stats, some have the ability to stun enemies, etc). There are even animal friends that you can find hidden in the many stages of "Castle Crashers," and they each have unique abilities, such as a pet ram that knocks over enemies for you and a cardinal that helps you find hidden treasure.
"Castle Crashers" also features a bunch of unlockable characters, and their differences aren't just aesthetic; they each have a different magical attack and in some cases, unique weapons. These characters can only be unlocked by beating the game, and who you unlock is based upon who you beat the game with. You start out with four different Castle Crashers to choose from, each of which unlock their own character, and each of those characters unlock their own characters, and so forth. Basically, this entices players to give the game multiple run-throughs with different characters as they are continuously unlocked upon each completion. Such incentive isn't necessarily required here, because players already get some pretty good bang for their buck upon their first run-through. It takes about 10 hours to complete the story mode, and for an 800 Microsoft point game (the equivalent of 10 bucks) on XBL, that's not bad value at all.
Besides the game's story mode, there are a couple of other modes included in "Castle Crashers" that can also be played locally or via Xbox Live. One is an Arena mode, where you go head-to-head with another Castle Crasher and duke it out to the death. The other mode is equally simplistic—perhaps even more so—and is called "All You Can Quaff." This mode is nothing more than an eating contest that is simulated by repeatedly tapping whatever button is displayed on screen. Like many other parts of the game, it's hilarious, but it gets old really fast. So while the Arena and Quaff modes in "Castle Crashers" would ostensibly extend the playability of the game, the fact of the matter is that they're so straightforward, you'll only end up playing them once or twice before forgetting about them altogether.
"Castle Crashers" is simple in many ways, but that doesn't mean it's a bore. The presentation is incredibly funny, and the litany of different locations, enemies, and characters keep things fresh. The surprisingly lengthy story mode (for an XBLA game) even warrants multiple playthroughs, given all the hidden goodies and extra characters. If you're like me and love local co-op games—and are disappointed by how rare they are these days—then be sure to give "Castle Crashers" a chance.
Score: 9.0/10
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