Email
Print
Video Game Review: Castle Crashers
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: October 16, 2008
System: Microsoft Xbox 360
Publisher: The Behemoth
Reviewer's rating: ****
ESRB rating: Teen
Game type: Side-scrolling brawler
Kind of like: "Golden Axe," but modern
Best feature: The animation style and art direction are terrific.
Worst feature: You'll need more people!
The bottom line: Want to break into a fun, new game that's easy to understand and instantly a blast?
Look no further than "Castle Crashers," a downloadable game for the Xbox 360.
Xbox Live Arcade is an occasional gold mine for great games, and "Castle Crashers" is another example. Remember those old side-scrolling beat-'em-up games such as "Golden Axe" or "Double Dragon"? "Castle Crashers" is like that, but with four-player mayhem and a fun, quirky art direction.
As a little cartoon knight, drawn with a tiny body, big head and mean-looking helmet, you chase across a kingdom to rescue a bevy of kidnapped princesses. Two of the controller buttons perform different slashes, one shoots arrows and one jumps. You can also block with the left shoulder button, but you probably won't do a lot of that. This game is about nonstop hacking and slashing tons of little enemies that come your way.
As you defeat barbarians, monsters and so on, you earn skill points that you can put into different stats. Raise your agility and you can shoot deadlier arrows. Raising your strength makes you hit harder, and raising your magic power gives you new magical attacks. Each of the four starting knights has a different theme -- we like the green knight, who poisons enemies with a magical green burst.
There are items you can buy between levels, and several arenas in which you can be tested against a flood of enemies at once. Little animal friends also follow you around and help you.
TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online ©2009 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC. A Media General company. | Member Agreement | Privacy Statement | Work With Us
