E3 2008: Castle Crashers Hands-On

We hacked and slashed our way through a level of this cool-looking Xbox Live Arcade game.

Castle Crashers is a straightforward hack-and-slash in the same mold as Golden Axe that will pit you and up to three other knights against a host of enemies this summer on Xbox Live Arcade. From the makers of the quirky Alien Hominid, Castle Crashers will share the same bold, cute graphical style and add simple but addictive gameplay.

The controls are extremely simple: You slash, you slash hard, you shoot an arrow, you run around, no problem. But though the controls are normal, the animations they lead to are anything but; you might just slash a bad guy a few times and watch him drop to his knees, or you might pop his head off like a wet daisy. Some of this depends on what combination of heavy and light attacks you press, but some actions also seem to depend on chance, making for battles that are full of gory surprises.

When we played, we hacked our way through lots of knights and archers before finally running into a giant battering ram that had bad guys inside. We leaped into the air and hacked at its planks while avoiding its lethal charges and falling balls of fire. We finally defeated the contraption and moved on, presumably capturing a castle. Later on, we saw four people playing cooperatively, and when they beat that same boss, a princess came out, thanking them for her rescue. The knights did the only thing that knights in that position could do: They fought each other to the death to claim the princess. We've never needed much of a reason to hack up our friends in online battlefields, but we can't wait to see what other lures Castle Crashers will dangle before us when it hits Xbox Live Arcade later this summer.

61 Comments

  • xch1ngal1ngx

    Posted Oct 6, 2008 3:26 pm PT

    i love this game :]

  • p0rkp1e74

    Posted Aug 27, 2008 3:46 pm PT

    pretty fun game so far in the demo i have played......graphics aren't everything as this game proves gameplay is half the fun!!!!

  • b33zy

    Posted Aug 26, 2008 9:37 pm PT

    Looking forward to get this game in less than 3hrs ^-^

  • SevenSorrows

    Posted Aug 22, 2008 5:24 pm PT

    haha fighting over the princess reminds me of how in the first double dragon how at the very end where you and your friend fought over marian (or maybe it was because jimmy was the boss of the shadow warriors... but whatever) but yeah, maybe i'll get this. im worried my friends wont have as much fun playing it as i probably will, looks fun though

  • Jackyll87

    Posted Jul 30, 2008 12:54 am PT

    Did any1 notice anything different from last year's demo?

  • phase4illini

    Posted Jul 28, 2008 9:47 am PT

    Loved Alien Hominid for my PS2, I will defintiely be grabbing this one.

  • Zerobeam

    Posted Jul 26, 2008 12:33 pm PT

    of course I gotta download this one, I downloaded ninja turtles, double dragon, and streets of rage 2, its just somethin undeniably entertaining about arcade style beat-em ups. . .on a side note, when is Dishwasher: Dead Samurai comin out, seems like it was shown last year, or maybe really early this year, WHAT'S THE HOLD UP!!!!!

  • purpledragoon

    Posted Jul 24, 2008 7:55 pm PT

    I played Castle Crashers last year at PAX and I was deeply impressed just from the demo. I can't wait for this title and I assure everyone that it is well worth it.

  • changbang412

    Posted Jul 24, 2008 7:12 pm PT

    crunchie ninja, i dont blame you, it looks pretty awesome.

    i mean, alien hominad was pretty sexy

  • Crunchie_Ninja

    Posted Jul 24, 2008 6:15 am PT

    Is it wrong i'm looking forward to this more than Gear of War 2? o_O.

    Woop!

  • SkeletalKnight

    Posted Jul 22, 2008 8:56 pm PT

    This will be a definite purchase for me, I just wish it would be here already! This looks like tons of fun.

  • jake-lutze

    Posted Jul 22, 2008 8:39 pm PT

    I can simply NOT wait for this game! I hope its as good as I think it will be...

  • LivingDeadNinja

    Posted Jul 22, 2008 7:10 pm PT

    Yeah have i not been highly anticipating this game for over a year now? I reall wonder what took so long to have it finished, as it looked exactly the same last year. I guess the dev team is really small...like under 5 persons?
    Anyway, i'm happy it's finally arriving this summer. This game will rock!

  • scorch-62

    Posted Jul 22, 2008 4:22 pm PT

    This looked great on the stage show! I need to get Live!!

  • NND1

    Posted Jul 22, 2008 1:02 pm PT

    I have been waiting for this--

  • joe_ender

    Posted Jul 22, 2008 12:28 pm PT

    been waiting for this for too long darn it

  • omrikk87

    Posted Jul 21, 2008 9:23 pm PT

    this could be the best XBLA coming to date,the graphics are awesome (i love the art style) ,the game is golden axe theme which is good ,the mechanics are awesome , and the game is quite deep with upgraded fighting combos and stuff , cant get any better ,but it could , 4 co-op online is more than enough (hope there will be no lags) , and with awesome weapons , i want!!! this!!!! now!!!!!! i just hope it will cost 800 and not 1600 but mah i dont care that much ill buy this.

  • -White_Knight-

    Posted Jul 21, 2008 5:53 pm PT

    I love Castles! I love Knights! I love Alien Hominid! I'm gettin' it!

  • tyzwain

    Posted Jul 21, 2008 1:01 pm PT

    Something decent for xbox users. Should be a good laugh.

  • Shadow_Fire41

    Posted Jul 21, 2008 11:12 am PT

    lol kill each over princess, thats hilarious.

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