a deep longing – Castle Crashers

Do you long for the good old days? Side scrolling 2 dimensional beat’em ups? If your answer was yes then you are one of millions who just can’t move on from 1986 and frankly if every one of them was as fun and as stylish as Castle Crashers then I’d be right there with you.

The basic premise of Castle Crashers is very simple and very stereotypical, you walk from left to right beating up anyone who gets in your way in order to save the princesses. It’s not really a big diversion from anything that comes before it as far as game innovations go but that’s not what it’s about anyway. Castle Crashers has style up the wazoo and a decent amount of wit to go with it, just as long as you like your humor dark and silly. The music is good but it is the art style that is the real winner here, with a set of simple yet beautifully stylised characters and bosses that win from a design point of view in much the same way it did for Professor Layton. The levels are again simple but varied enough to be more different from one another than Too Human managed.

There is a point where it does differ from the conventional 2d beater and that is in it’s rpg lite level up/character customisation and the ability to unlock characters. It’s not epic but it’s a nice, welcome touch that allows for some variation in style and special attacks. There is no option to customise the physical representation of your character beyond choosing a weapon but with the great character design you don’t really need to anyway.

If there is anything negative to say about the game it is that with the 2.5d playing field it can get a little frustrating when you think you are lined up with an enemy but you’re really not. You can mash your buttons and swing your sword/fish like hell but if you are out by a pixel you won’t hit shit. Also some of the bosses are so big that they obscure the screen causing you to lose track of your guy and that can be a serious pain in the ass, especially in critical health situations.

All in all though it is a seriously well designed and pretty game that has awesome levels of fun. The multiplayer is even better and offers itself local and over xbox live which not everyone remembers to do so that’s rad too. Umm you should totally buy it.

I give it 1200 microsoft points out of a 1500 microsoft points card.

Seriously though, I know there are some great games available in stores right now but some of the content on the xbox live arcade and playstation network are awesome and just as deserving of your hard earned.