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Castle Crashers
Button-pounding hack-and-slash chivalry brings to mind the golden age of Golden Axe, but Castle Crashers isn’t so much a sidescrolling stroll down memory lane as an ornately wrapped present for retro enthusiasts. A quartet of color-coded knights on a quest to rescue kidnapped princesses might sound like a recipe for flavorless gruel, but any cook will tell you: presentation is everything.
From the hordes of lightsaber-wielding black knights that surround your squad to the bizarre screen-filling boss creatures that turn online co-op into an endlessly replayable shared hallucination, every inch of the hand-drawn kingdom is brimming with endearing eccentricity. What’s more, the same indecipherable logic that makes the story irrelevant imbues your journey with wild unpredictability. One moment you’re charging through an obstacle course on incontinent deer, the next you’re battling a catfish the size of a trawler. Gobble down a sandwich to bust out of your armor like a medieval Incredible Hulk, dig for buried treasures, and turn more than 20 unlockable characters from level 1 zeroes to upgraded war machines.
If anything, there’s perhaps too much going on at any given moment: between foreground objects that block your view for no good reason and the sheer chaos of four people bashing monsters, just finding your character on the screen can sometimes border on impossible. This is less of a problem on your own, but there you run into a wholly separate issue: poor difficulty balancing that leaves you to furiously and repetitively exploit patterns in enemy behavior just to survive the onslaught.
Whether you find the actual mechanics of combat as entrancing as the surreal visuals depends on your love (or tolerance) for the genre trappings of old-school brawlers. A variety of combination attacks and magical spells is just calling your name, and you can customize your knight with hidden and collectible weaponry and animal helpers.
But if the thought of grinding through endless waves of goons induces a yawn, even the vital social dynamics of four-player co-op and arena contests might prove insufficient. On the other hand, if you find yourself occasionally lamenting the bygone heyday of those arcade knuckle-dusters you played to death, you’ll love every crazed minute of Castle Crashers.
On Xbox Live Arcade
+ Exciting four-player co-op in a beautifully funky world.
+ Loads of collectible characters, weapons, and animal orbs.
- Repetitive waves of combat and poorly balanced solo difficulty.
? Why does every animal in the game seem to be on laxatives?
8.5
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Salty Bob 1
March 04, 2009 at 8:41pm
I've got the game but I stopped playing when my level 54 orange knight got inexplicably sent back to level 13. I was pissed. The game itself is amazing though, and I've just started playing it again because my disc drive died on me. I'm debating whether to cannibalize my RROD'ed 360 for it's perfectly good drive, or to wait for a couple weeks and send my new 360 in for warranty. Anyway, about Castle Crashers, Yeah it's difficult on solo, but what game isn't easier on co-op? As I experienced as well, data erasing is also a problem. Apart from that the game is pure win! The intro to the last level, (The Mage's Castle) absolutely must be played solo for the full effect though. I won't spoil it, but your first time, it is way more epic to do it on your own. It is possibly the most Bad ass part of the game on solo. But I digress. Absolutely worth $40 never mind $15.
cgrim54
January 24, 2009 at 7:02pm
This game is on my top 3 list right now. It's great fun with 4 people, and just reeks of replay value. About the solo play difficulty... That is 100% true. It's best experienced with one or more other people.
Eviltattoo
September 08, 2008 at 7:06am
I don't really understand people who are sitting on the fence with this game for the $15 price tag. I bet most of those same people have dropped that much on McDonald's or a movie without batting an eye. This game is a FULL RETAIL quality game. I've already dropped a bunch of hours in it, and I'm only level 24. If you want to unlock everything, level up your characters to level 99, and play online, you're looking at a ton of playing time AND replay value. At $15 this game is a STEAL.
johnteshfan
September 06, 2008 at 11:44am
Until they drop the price, it's a no go for me. I don't want to encourage microsoft or whoever sets the prices to think that 1200 points is an acceptable price for arcade games.
Rayfasa
August 28, 2008 at 7:35pm
Just got done playing it,absolutely fantastic! Definately atleast try the free demo.
bahama mama
August 27, 2008 at 5:22pm
Im sorry but Id give this game a 10.1 out of 10. Its by far one of the best games Ive ever played and by definitely the best game in the Summer Of Arcade Games.
UltimateLime110
August 27, 2008 at 12:27pm
I heard there were 2 problem with the game: online. stats erasing. For online, i heard that it doesnt work most of the time. And for Stats erasing, i heard that if you go from the game to the dashboard, then your game file gets erased and you have to start from level one again. So until these are fixed for sure, ill attempt to wait it out (and get more ms points to buy it).
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