Castle Crashers

If you're a semi-aged gamer, or a gamer who was brought up on the old school stuff, hack 'n slash and beat'em ups are more than likely in your list of games played vigorously. After the gaming community was dragged out of the arcade era of console games, these genres faded out almost entirely. That stayed the case until Xbox Live Arcade and the other similar services of this generation were unleashed on the public. Now all the old school genres are coming back with a charge as smaller developers flood the marketplace with them. It's safe to say that a large majority of the releases turn out to be a little less than satisfactory, and a little more than a hack job emulation. The world screamed with fury as useless generic title after useless generic title was released. Begging for a hero, the people eventually got what they hoped for -- an original take on an old genre. Enter Castle Crashers in dramatic fashion.

Castle Crashers is basically, at its core, a side scrolling, button mashing fest -- but wait, that's not the whole thing. Behemoth took that side scrolling, button mashing fest and built it up with lots of extra goodies both on the gameplay and unlockables sides, effectively making the most entertaining game of its kind to be released in years.

The game starts up with you (or a group of you depending on how many friends you brought along) rocking out in the castle with the lute hero player in the background when some poor soldier comes rolling down the stairs, an arrow in his side. After flashing away as all good dead sprites do in beat'em ups, you take control of your crasher and get to the crashing. The controls are simple enough with a button for a fast attack, a button for heavy attacks, a button for items, and a button for your magic. Normally you'd figure that'd be it, but as you progress and level your character you unlock new combinations for flashy attacks. This variety, however seemingly unnoticeable, actually keeps the battles fresh and entertaining. As you level, you also get to buff your character's strength, defense, magic, and agility, RPG styIe. Different magic spells also become unlocked as you stack the skill, allowing you to unleash your inner wizard in more ways than one. Along with your melee and magic you will also acquire a bow and arrow which is used as an item and so uses the same button. Items can be scrolled through with the shoulder buttons, making it easy to take out the bow (which you can use the entire time if you so wish as boosting agility buffs your archery skills) or pound back a potion if need be. On top of all that, there are animal orbs. Animal orbs look just as they sound, and follow you around. Each animal orb provides a different buff, which adds a little bit of strategy to battles and gameplay choices. In short, the game controls very well and never feels tedious or boring because of all the little additons the game offers, which is quite a feat for its genre.

If you played or remember Behemoth's other XBLA release, Alian Hominid, you have a general idea of what the graphical styIe is. It's more of the same bright and colorful environments and characters that all have that brand of comedy Behemoth injects in to all its games. The animations are all over the top, wich matches the character design perfectly. Eyes will pop out in surprise when you take a hit, death animations are unique and humorous for all the different enemies, and litle environmental animations in the background help make things seem a bit less static outside of the battle. It's not the most mind blowing graphical achievement since Gears of War, but that doesn't matter because what it does provide serves it's purpose perfectly, and manages to look really kick ass at the same time.

Try and think of the last time you played a game, more specifically a beat'em up, where the music didn't all kind of sound the same and eventually made you want to mute everything to save your ears. Castle Crashers pulls out a big stop with it's audio -- the music especially -- and truly is one of its strongest features. The music is different in every area you travel to, with very few exceptions if any at all. Sure there have been games that provided the same thing, but Castle Crasher's music is different. Why? Because every track is totally unique and totally awesome. There isn't one track that will grind at your soul, and you will love the odd quirky techno beats thrown in here and there too. The sound effects are also very well done and fit the world nicely, providing another check mark to the "Genre inherent monotony crusher" column.

If you sit down and really play at it, Castle Crashers can be beaten in roughly 3-5 hours the first time through which is a fairly hefty length for the genre. Of course, that would be if you didn't go and unlock all the characters, animal orbs, and weapons. There are (but I may be off a bit) 22 characters, 40 weapons, and 26 animal orbs. These add a lot of replay value to the game to be sure, but then there is also the extra game mode. Yes, if you beat the game, you have the option of playing through it in a different mode labled "Insane." This is basically as it sounds, and lets you play through the game with the difficulty cranked past crazy, and jacked to insane. There are also two mini games to enjoy. All you can Quaff is a fight of the munchables as you face off against three other characters in a race to eat the most the fastest. Arena is also available and lets you square off in different arenas across the game world that all have their quirks to work around.

The main game, along with the two mini games, are available with multiplayer both online and off. It goes without saying that the more people you have the more fun there is to be had in Castle Crashers, and it is definitely a game to enjoy with friends, although you can enjoy it all the same by yourself. Unfortunately, as of the date of this review, Castle Crashers has some crushing issues with its online component. Dropping out can happen frequently without reason, but that's the minor issue. The major issue is the game's ability to wipe your progress completely. There doesn't seem to be any specific triggers, but some players have experienced losing all their gear and levels. This of course can be a huge let down and doesn't make getting into the game very easy to be sure. Luckily, Behemoth has said that there is a fix on the way. Until that fix comes, whether you risk it online is up to you. In general, playing it safe and playing it offline is the best idea at the moment. This isn't a huge deal because in reality, playing with your friends on the couch next to you is the real way to enjoy what Castle Crashers has to offer.

All told, Castle Crashers is a fantastic experience that will have you hooked in no time. Getting together with friends to mash buttons has never been so much fun, or so funny. There truley is a vast variety of gameplay to be had in this beat'em up, and even if you're new to the genre, you will have no issues getting right in to it and having a blast. Castle Crashers is definitely worth it's seemingly steep $15, 1200 point price tag, and will keep you entertained for a long time to come.