Review: Castle Crashers
August was a very good month for my Xbox 360. First it was Soul Calibur IV, which I have not parted company with since I purchased it so many weeks ago. Next it was Braid, quickly followed by Bionic Commando Rearmed which has held its position (for me) as the greatest download title of 2008... until now.
I begrudgingly downloaded the demo of Castle Crashers late Wednesday evening, hoping to avoid the game all together. My "things to beat" queue has been, shall we say, cumbersome as of late and the last thing I needed was another title to add to the pile. After much prodding from friends and loved ones I managed to pull myself away from the mound to give the game a try.
As a fan of Behemoth, I knew from the start I was going to love it. As any fan of Alien Hominid (HD) will attest, Creators Dan Paladin and Tom Fulp have a very unique style that is truly their own. This is entirely evident through the entire game, and I personally feel this is their best work yet. the game doesn't tout the latest graphic whirly-gigs and showy fireworks it more than holds it's own in style alone. The entire game feels like some wacky cartoon, not a downloaded budget title. There is an impressive level of detail involved; full screen bosses, cheering audiences, even fallen NPCs giving one another CPR. Unlike many 2D titles, the game never feels like someone was simply pressing "copy and paste" with their game assets. Sure there are repeated graphics, but it is so rare it is hardly noticed.
The game play is downright solid. The controls take some getting used to, the item shuffling in specific, but honestly the minor hiccup takes so little time to get used to it is almost inconsequential. My roommate (who is not a gamer herself) not only managed to pick up the game and run with it in no time, she was just short of begging me to join her in a brawl over the entire weekend. Characters move fluidly, respond to the controls quickly and the addition of the RPG like leveling system gives players a goal well after the game is finished. This brings me to the next topic: content.
The game is long. Very long for a brawler, let alone a downloaded title. I was able to spend the majority of an entire day playing the game. From story start to finish I was able to play through the game in a little over two days of near-constant play. This is also excluding the subsequent hunting for hidden weapons and animal orbs (special assistants that provide stat bonuses and services). For little more than the cost of a movie, I was able to waste almost my entire labor day weekend.
I can easily say that Castle Crashers easily ties, if not exceeds Bionic Commando Rearmed as the best downloadable title for the Xbox 360 this year. While it does carry a relatively high price tag for an XBLA game, it is easy to simply consider this a full title. In short, buy it, buy it now. Four player online co-operative\competitive play, tons of content, mini games, and one of the wackiest endings I've seen in a very long time. Well worth 1200 Microsoft points ($15 USD) and then some.
Asterick
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 2 September 2008
· Comments (1)
Other stuff like this: behemoth games, castle crashers, impressions, red thumb, xbox live arcade
This is just a plain wonderful game, i picked it up not ever really buying downloadable games and have played the crap out of it with my friends and sister. The whole game itself takes up a good ammount of time and then the replay value is insane with each character unlocking another character to beat it with, Good times... = )