Total freaking mayhem! Read this review to find out why.
So...my first XBLA review and boy what a review. It's hard to believe that XBLA would release two triple A titles in a month, but here we are. Castle Crashers is probably the only downloadable game that I have ever actually been legitimately hyped for, to the point where I even stayed up till 2 AM and downloaded it the moment it hit. So, does it live up to my expectations? Yup, pretty much.
The Good
The biggest thing that needs saying is that this game absolutely KILLS in multiplayer. This is perhaps the best co-op game I've played in a long time. Having spent my youth playing old school side scrolling beat-em-ups, it was also a huge nostalgia trip for me. The pure havoc of 4 players smacking things, running about, and enjoying the humor of the game cannot be beaten. Online play is good, but if you can get 3 friends together, I HIGHLY recommend going local.
Sitting together and playing through this game is just an indescribable amount of fun. While it's great co-op, Behemoth also added light competitive elements in the campaign as well (fighting each other after a boss fight for the right to make out with the princess is fun and also gives a fun competitive edge to levelling up your characters in ways that they can all see).
Speaking of which, the light rpg elements work fantastically and seemlessly. Heavy melee, heavy archery, and heavy magic are all feasible, and indeed, like in any great co-op game, it really works well when the players specialize in different things. The varying magical abilities are also good fun to watch and the many different items in the game add replay value in trying to collect them all to beef up your character. Same goes for the levelling, as the effect of stat-points is dramatic and visible in the utmost.
With that said, combat is overall pretty smooth. Pulling off combos, air combos in particular, is fast, simple, and very satisfying. Again, increases in stats dramatically and noticeably improves your performance (a top level magic man will be launching crap all across the screen, a top level archer will be shooting a literal STREAM/machine gun burst of arrows). The combat is fast, easy, and fun.
Lastly, the graphics/art design is ace and goes hand in hand with the game's excellent sense of humor. True, the story is base level, but the sheer absurdity of many of the game's jokes as well as some of the ridiculous boss/character designs will have you laughing for sure. The bright, colorful, heavily drawn/outlined graphics look absolutely fantastic and really give so much character to the game. This is a great looking game that is truly funny on every level, from how it plays, to what it does, to how it looks.
This game is just overall a lot of freaking fun. IT's a great light rpg with a funky style. It's funny, challenging, and enjoyable with single player, make no mistake, though the fun increases with more players, though it does of course, get more chaotic as these sorts of things do. Chaotic in a good way, anyway.
The Bad
When I played it, the game had some bad online problems in that it could be very difficult to join a game and unfortunately equally likely of you're being dropped. That said, the Behemoth promised a patch almost immediately that would rectify these issues.
There are some other bugs here and there as well. Mostly notably, for me (though not for all apparently), trying to buy one particular animal at a store in a 4 player local game would freeze the game every time. While these little things happen once in a LONG time, they don't disrupt the gameplay much at all.
The combat suffers from the same thing that most two-button light/heavy attack schemes suffer from: it gets a bit repetitive. You'll find one combo and stick to it all game if you're a melee character. You'll find yourself using light attacks very little and relying heavily/almost exclusively on heavy attacks. The same can be said for air combos, heavy attack air combos in particular. Indeed, there's a lot of hammering of the Y button, and air combos are so dominating that chances are, you'll spend a good chunk of the game flying around. At times, it'll feel like you're attacking seemingly every enemy with endless air combos that you can make last forever. Air combo spamming aside, seeing your character float in the air juggling an enemy seemingly forever does have its humor, and I can't deny the satisfaction of it.
Also, All You Can Quaff mode is really nothing more than an afterthought, but honestly, it's pretty funny and it's a very APPARENT/intentional afterthought, so that's ok, just don't expect a lot from it. Also, many of the unlockable characters are disappointing, merely being playable versions of enemy grunts. Furthermore, many of them have VERY similar/near identical magic attacks, making them close to being clone characters. Finally, it needs being said that the game does not scale it's difficulty based on the number of players. Thus, you're fighting the same horde whether you're alone or with 3 friends, making the game fairly simple with 4 players and often very hard with just 1.
The conclusion
The pros and sheer fun really outweight the cons on this one. Castle Crashers defines what it is to be a "rockin' good time." Even if you don't often download games, GET THIS RIGHT NOW! It's either complete multiplayer mayhem or a tough-as-nails single player light rpg. Either way, it's very enjoyable. DOWNLOAD IT! Many though it's higher price tag would be a con, but I truly feel it earns ever last MS point.