colossus is mine bitch
Castle Crashers is the evolution of one of my favorite types of games growing up – the 4 person isometric brawler. Those old games, which were popular in 90’s arcades, came in several skins: the Simpsons, X-Men and TMNT. With these awesome licenses and lots of button mashing it was hard to beat their collaborative action. But playing any of those games today reveals some big issues:
They were really hard. This is readily illustrated by all the cheats people use to beat these games on youtube and meant plenty of frustration for players when they inevitably ran out of quarters.
Lack of depth. Both in terms of the actual 3-button gameplay and the length of the games. With a steady stream of credits, the games only took 20-25 minutes to complete.
The big killer – The licenses they used were a huge draw but the games lacked any flavor besides the marquee above the cabinet.
Castle Crashers gameplay screenshot
Behemoth has updated the brawler recipe by adding their own brand of charm, humor and basic rpg elements. Crashers’ gameplay is marinated in the instant-gratification -action-style of the earlier brawlers and solves the three big issues that those games had.
Difficulty. Overall, crashers is not a quarter sucking endeavor and the addition of character stats helps players keep up with increasingly difficult enemies. By earning XP you can upgrade your 4 stats: armor, agility, strength and magic.
Depth. The basic 3-button gameplay has been upgraded to 4-buttons plus a magic modifier. This configuration allows for a slew of melee combos and magic attacks that give slaughter plenty of variety. For what could be a very repetitive game, crashers multi-hour campaign never feels like a rehash. Dozens of unlockable weapons, pets and eventually characters give this game plenty to stay addicted to.
owl poo
Flavor. Crashers has been so endowed with video game flavor that I can’t help but think of games like No More Heroes or the old Lucas Arts properties. This is where castle crashers truly shines. Every detail seems lovingly intentional. In so much of the game, you feel completely in tune with the developers, whether they are fucking with you or making you laugh. Ridiculous bosses, catchy sound effects, hilarious moments, the perfect implementation of art and animation. It all amounts to one of the most cathartic and subsequently addictive video game experiences of this generation.
Castle Crashers hits Xbox Live August 27th @ 1200 MS Points.
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