Castle Crashers is fun online, but feels dated gameplay wise.
Story:
The story is really straight forward. Fight like gentlemen and rescue the ladies.
Graphics:
The graphics in this game is great and there is alot going on in the background. I really do like the look. The animation was also nicely done.
Gameplay:
The gameplay is better than TMNT Reshelled, however most of the things you can do isn't exactly ground breaking. You have a strong attack and a light attack. You can also use magic, jump, and block. The game has an rpg feel to it, because you can level up. When you level up you can increase your stats and make your magic bigger and stronger. You will also gain new combos as you level up. I like the level up system, but it falls a bit short. You only gain a few combos and abilities.
You can also get help from animals, which have special abilities. The problem with the animals is the fact that the animals really don't improve the gameplay that much, because you can easily progress through the entire game without the help of the animals. For example, one animal allows you to move through water easily, however 95 percent of the time you will be on dry land. The only animals I feel is useful are the animals that help you collect items.
You can also use other weapons, which have different strengths and limitations.
The boss fights is the best part of the game, because each boss plays different from the others. There is also a funny reference in one of the boss battles, however I don't want to spoil the surprise.
This game has one promising feature. An online mode! Playing with friends is what makes this game far more enjoyable. When playing with friends you can revive fallen allies by using CPR, which is quite funny. Beating up bad guys with three others is always fun. Too bad that is all you can really do as a team. It would have been nice to have some kind of coop attacks and other team focused moves.
You can also unlock other characters, but this addition fell short as well. You will notice that many of the unlockable characters are not unique. For example, there are two or more characters that have the same magic attack.
Final Thoughts:
This game is fun, looks great, and has a nice comedic style, however I didn't see anything else that really stood out. A lot of the gameplay I have seen before.
I feel Behemoth didn't really try to create gameplay that had that special wow factor.
I am a big fan of 2D beat'em ups, therefore I expect more out of the developers who make them. Beat'em ups have a whole lot of potential to become something great, but very few game developers have demonstrated my belief.
Games like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Shank have amazing gameplay features that makes Castle Crashers look.....dated. The only thing Castle Crashers has that the other two games mentioned above don't is ONLINE PLAY!
I give this game a 6.5 out of 10. It is fun, but I wish there was more to offer gameplay wise.