Screenshots :.
Castle Crashers
360
Jay
02-09-2008
"Confusingly awesome."
"Mayhem"
"Friday night at our local pub looks similar to this."
I'd feel like a broken record if I started harping on about how good Live! Arcade actually is. I'm sure I've mentioned before on how great it is being able to download demos and get a taster for the game before grabbing the full thing for what's a bloody good price at the end of the day. Of course, I'm still all for using the PS3 as a media centre that's for sure, it's that much better when it comes to playing movies or TV proggies.
Anyway, the point is that once again a fantastic little title hits Live! Arcade, which had us both addicted once again. Castle Crashers is a mix of a multitude of games, with sparks of Golden Axe, Streets of Rage and a map layout in a Super Mario World style. Loads of collectables, simplistic levelling up system, multiplayer and a decent replayability factor all included within.
This funky, artistic title is the second title from The Behemoth who previously released Alien Hominid HD, and as far as we're concerned it's a staggering improvement. Don't get me wrong, Alien Hominid's worth a go for sure, but Castle Crashers just offers that much more.
You start the game selecting 1 of 4 (or 5 if you've unlocked an achievement in Alien Hominid) characters that you'll use to hack 'n' slash your way through the game. It seems all is well in their castle as you find yourself rocking out to some minstrels when you're rudely interrupted by a soon-to-be-corpse flying through the door with an arrow protruding from his back. Being the kind of sword swinging magic slinging guy you are, you investigate to find out your under attack from some sort of midget magician and his bunch of merry mercenaries who are here to steal the kings huge gem and his precious princesses... or is that precious gem and huge princesses – I'm sure you'll find out.
Anyway...
Now it's over to you to start making your way from level-to-level killing everything in your path utilising a plethora of weapons, spells, combos and pets. The levelling system is. a nice, simple, easy to use and understand system that means every time you level up (for the first 20 levels) you'll get a couple of points to spend on 1 of 4 attributes – strength (hitting power), magic (magic power and mana regen), defence (health and defence) and agility (speed and arrow slinging ability). Love it! Can't stand those all-over-the-shop type levelling systems in games like this. If I want twatting power, I put the points in strength. Job done.
Ace.
The game offers up a lot of unlockables along the way. The first you'll probably come across is the multitude of different weapon types that you'll find and unlock along the way, which is the nice thing really - once you've discovered a weapon type you can go grab it from a place near the castle that stores your weapons and pets, giving you details on both. The pets, or animal orbs as you'll come to know them, are collectable creatures you'll find randomly dotted throughout the levels and will follow you wherever you go (only one at a time mind you) and work in the same way as the weapons, in that once you've either found or bought them they're yours to use when you wish. Each animal helps out in it's own way, from raising your stats, to helping you run through water quicker or shooting balls of lightning at your foes!
Magic, or sometimes abilities, are something that add that little extra to the gameplay. While you can offer up melee combos and fly through the air to bring swirling death to a viking wannabe, you can mix in some magic or even specialise in it (like I did) if that takes your fancy. Depending on which character you choose will decide which magical trait you have. For example you could go for fire and blast your enemies, or ice and free them – of if you're like me go for lightning and rack up a ton of XP chain lightning foes in a row. Much to Matt's disappointment mind you, who found that even with an XP enhancing animal in toe, he couldn't get as much XP as I did going melee.
Matt and I worked our way through the entire game in co-op, which you can actually have up to 4 players for which is wicked for this kind of title. The levels start to get really interesting and you'll face some bizarre and comical monsters. Speaking of comical, that's one thing that stands out from anything 'Newgrounds', is the dark humour and it's bloody good at times, from seeing one of your downed team-mates getting mouth-to-mouth to watching a beefy alien go ape on a console and jettison himself into orbit.
Get the game, it's quirky, it's crazy and most importantly it's bloody good fun!
[Note – subsequent to this, we have been made aware of a few issues with Castle Crashers’ online play. A promised fix is in the offing, so bear that in mind before you take what would otherwise be a highly recommended plunge – Matt]
Anyway, the point is that once again a fantastic little title hits Live! Arcade, which had us both addicted once again. Castle Crashers is a mix of a multitude of games, with sparks of Golden Axe, Streets of Rage and a map layout in a Super Mario World style. Loads of collectables, simplistic levelling up system, multiplayer and a decent replayability factor all included within.
This funky, artistic title is the second title from The Behemoth who previously released Alien Hominid HD, and as far as we're concerned it's a staggering improvement. Don't get me wrong, Alien Hominid's worth a go for sure, but Castle Crashers just offers that much more.
You start the game selecting 1 of 4 (or 5 if you've unlocked an achievement in Alien Hominid) characters that you'll use to hack 'n' slash your way through the game. It seems all is well in their castle as you find yourself rocking out to some minstrels when you're rudely interrupted by a soon-to-be-corpse flying through the door with an arrow protruding from his back. Being the kind of sword swinging magic slinging guy you are, you investigate to find out your under attack from some sort of midget magician and his bunch of merry mercenaries who are here to steal the kings huge gem and his precious princesses... or is that precious gem and huge princesses – I'm sure you'll find out.
Anyway...
Now it's over to you to start making your way from level-to-level killing everything in your path utilising a plethora of weapons, spells, combos and pets. The levelling system is. a nice, simple, easy to use and understand system that means every time you level up (for the first 20 levels) you'll get a couple of points to spend on 1 of 4 attributes – strength (hitting power), magic (magic power and mana regen), defence (health and defence) and agility (speed and arrow slinging ability). Love it! Can't stand those all-over-the-shop type levelling systems in games like this. If I want twatting power, I put the points in strength. Job done.
Ace.
The game offers up a lot of unlockables along the way. The first you'll probably come across is the multitude of different weapon types that you'll find and unlock along the way, which is the nice thing really - once you've discovered a weapon type you can go grab it from a place near the castle that stores your weapons and pets, giving you details on both. The pets, or animal orbs as you'll come to know them, are collectable creatures you'll find randomly dotted throughout the levels and will follow you wherever you go (only one at a time mind you) and work in the same way as the weapons, in that once you've either found or bought them they're yours to use when you wish. Each animal helps out in it's own way, from raising your stats, to helping you run through water quicker or shooting balls of lightning at your foes!
Magic, or sometimes abilities, are something that add that little extra to the gameplay. While you can offer up melee combos and fly through the air to bring swirling death to a viking wannabe, you can mix in some magic or even specialise in it (like I did) if that takes your fancy. Depending on which character you choose will decide which magical trait you have. For example you could go for fire and blast your enemies, or ice and free them – of if you're like me go for lightning and rack up a ton of XP chain lightning foes in a row. Much to Matt's disappointment mind you, who found that even with an XP enhancing animal in toe, he couldn't get as much XP as I did going melee.
Matt and I worked our way through the entire game in co-op, which you can actually have up to 4 players for which is wicked for this kind of title. The levels start to get really interesting and you'll face some bizarre and comical monsters. Speaking of comical, that's one thing that stands out from anything 'Newgrounds', is the dark humour and it's bloody good at times, from seeing one of your downed team-mates getting mouth-to-mouth to watching a beefy alien go ape on a console and jettison himself into orbit.
Get the game, it's quirky, it's crazy and most importantly it's bloody good fun!
[Note – subsequent to this, we have been made aware of a few issues with Castle Crashers’ online play. A promised fix is in the offing, so bear that in mind before you take what would otherwise be a highly recommended plunge – Matt]
9/10