Have Fun Crashing the Castle!

Castle Crashers

(360; 1200MS Points ~ $15; Rated T for Blood/Gore/Crude Humor/Cartoon Violence)



I remember a time where friends of mine and I would go to the movie theater with pockets full of quarters in order to play multi-player beat-em-up arcade games like “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “The Simpsons,” “Golden Axe,” or the six-player, double-monitored mother of them all “X-Men.” If I had, perhaps, saved those quarters, instead of feeding them into the jukebox of my childhood, I might not have any grad-school loans to pay off.  Such is life…

And in this day and age of party games being primarily rhythm-based music games like “Guitar Hero” or “Rock Band,” it’s nice to see a downloadable title like “Castle Crashers” come on the scene and bring back the feeling of tearing through a two-dimensional, side-scrolling adventure with three other friends, and slashing the heck out of anything that moves.

And with what style! “Castle Crashers” continues to bring the whimsical, comic-strip visuals that the developer, The Behemoth, brought with its delightful “Alien Hominid” title, but despite even the impressively colorful look of “Alien Hominid” when it made its way to HD on the Xbox, it pales in comparison to the beauty of High Definition cartoon animation of “Castle Crashers.” Not to mention that any time a game has many of its boss-battles centered around giant, evil cats- you’re in for a treat.

Four players control four knights (and a host of unlockable characters), each with its own unique style of magic, on a quest to free four princesses stolen by an evil sorcerer.  “Castle Crashers” may win no originality points in story, but it is more than made up for in visual jokes, punchy humor, and overall silliness that is too enjoyable to put down.

Even with the poor network connections, leading to dropped multiplayer games over Xbox Live (a patch is coming soon, promises The Behemoth), and relatively short gameplay, “Castle Crashers” is definitely worth the $15, and even moreso if you have three friends to play along side of you.