Is Castle Crashers worth wearing a heavy suit of armor? Find out in my review.....
You play as a loyal knight in a world where bandits, aliens, huge scorpions, and gigantic catfish co-exist with one another. It's just another day in the castle, partying hard with your fellow knights, drinking ummm…. stuff like there's no tomorrow, and eating so much food that you can barely fit in your suit of armor. Suddenly, one of your comrades bursts through the door and falls flat on the cold hard ground. The perpetrator: a group of bandits that have raided the castle. As you fend off the attack you soon discover that your king is in distress, the four princesses are missing, and you forgot how to talk. (scratch that last one) Now it is up to you, and your fellow knights to restore order to the castle and rescue the four kidnapped princesses.
Castle Crashers is a side scrolling action RPG adventure game. Throughout your journey to rescue the princesses you will fight monsters of epic proportions, cross ninja infested waters, and travel through scorching hot deserts. You have two basic types of attacks: fast and heavy attacks. Your fast attacks can be performed quickly and effectively but are relatively weak. Your heavy attacks are strong and deadly but are slower to execute. You also have the ability to use your shield (that piece of tin that knights love to carry around) and a wide array of magic spells. (spells differ from character to character)
As you plunge your trusty sword into your enemies you earn experience points. Earn enough EXP and you level up, but I'm assuming you know that already, man who doesn't? After you level up you can decide which category to assign your attribute points: strength, magic, defense, or agility. Will you be a big beefy knight and put all your points into the strength attribute, or will you be the greatest warlock the world has ever seen and put all of your points into the magic attribute? You decide.
Throughout the game you will come across a large variety of weapons and pets that you can utilize to gain the upper hand during skirmishes. Each weapon has its strengths and weaknesses, the slab of meat for example is incredibly powerful but it decreases your agility. And yes, you can use a slab of meat as a weapon, who wouldn't? Pets grant you special abilities, they can increase your defense, give you the ability to jump higher, and my personal favorite, increase the rate at which you earn experience. Many of the weapons and pets can be bought from stores located throughout the game, but the best ones are found within the levels you explore.
Castle Crashers is amazing to look at; it combines bright colorful textures, cartoonish stylistic designs, and high levels of detail to create an eye watering experience. The levels are nicely varied and feel distinct from one another, one moment you're on a ship fighting a gang of ninjas, and the next thing you know you're on top of a wedding carriage trying to repel a gigantic beast. In addition to the splendid graphics, the in-game soundtrack blends everything you have come to love from videogame music: catchy tunes, steady rhythms, and awkward yet awesome sound play.
Overall: Castle Crashers is amongst one of the best downloadable games offered on the Xbox Live Market. It manages to combine simple yet satisfying game play, gorgeous graphics, outrageous humor, and a stunning musical soundtrack into one awesome package. If playing this game requires me to wear a heavy suit of armor, then by all means count me in.