Castle Crashers is a 2008 side scrolling beat-em up in the vein of classics like Golden Axe and Guardian Heroes. It was developed by Behemoth, the team responsible for the Contra inspired Alien Hominid. This game was first made available on Xbox Live Marketplace on August 26, 2008. Along with Braid and others like Mega Man 9, Castle Crashers has made the Marketplace a force for original downloadable games. But aside from its landmarks, how well does the game capture the spirit of Golden Axe and similar games?

The story in Castle Crashers is not really present, it is more a mishmash of the cliches of the genre, like fighting evil and rescuing princesses. Of course, there are many inspired moments, both visual and auditory, that I will leave you to discover. For instance, this game brings new meaning to catfish.

Graphics are 2D, therefore they suck and are old. Next.

Just kidding, Castle Crashers' presentation is visually colorful and full of those minute details that you all too often only see in 2D games. The game has a real hand drawn style to it, with the cel-shaded look of Hominid retained. While your individual character knights do all look similar as well as most enemies being only a few different sprites, it really works in the game's favor, as gamers are fully aware of what the creators were trying to do with this game. Remember not everything is about pixel shaded bump mapping. Hell, I don't even know (or care) if that is considered "new" in graphics anymore.

Castle Crashers music mostly sounds like filler. There are some highlight pieces like the Barbarian War stage and some of the boss battles. I really dislike the desert theme when you fight about 10,000 Scorpions. Ugh.

Sound effects are minimal but this works in the game's favor. Much as with Link constantly yelling at every swing of his sword, not every action needs a sound effect. I do not miss such a thing not being present in Castle Crashers.

Gameplay is in the classic beatem up style. Kill all enemies on screen, wait for a big disembodied hand to point you the way, then kill more enemies. Rinse and repeat. This incredibly simplistic gameplay is probably one of the best examples of how a game can thrive despite simplicity. On the surface, one may think that such gameplay would get tiresome quickly (as in many of lesser titles in the genre) but this is not the case. While you have few attack options and some magic, one feels compelled to continue because of the simplicity, not in spite of it. In the best beatem up's, the player is so absorbed into the experience, they never notice. Like in Streets of Rage 2!

Now a complaint, I really do not see the point of the animal companions. Most of them do not do much, even when the description says that they should, like Bitey Bat. The system is not a bad idea, it should have just copied Symphony of the Night's familiar system and everything would have been better off, especially for multiplayer havoc.

Speaking of multiplayer, the game definitely plays best in that mode. I steadily played the game by myself, but with friends, we once played for 5 hours straight. A great time and definitely the best way to play this game. One of my friends, Ian, loved using the grey knight's magic and blanketing the screen with about 15 arrows each casting!

Challenge is hard to gauge in this game, because you can save often. You can also buy potions and enemies drop plenty of food to heal you. Lastly, your teammates can revive you if they are fleet of foot. And of course, because of the leveling up system, it follows the old standard. If you find yourself having problems, just grind a bit and you'll have an easier time.

Challenge is present in the game's bosses. Many of them are like mini puzzles, the player having to figure out their weak point or doing certain actions to make them vulnerable to damage. This is a clever touch that was probably implemented due to the many ways of keeping players alive.

Replay value is probably the most I've ever seen for a game in this genre. There are lots of unlockable characters to try out, and they all have different abilities. There is also some downloadable content worth checking out, with another pack coming out according to the creators. Sweet!

In summation, Castle Crashers is a wonderful entry in the beatem up genre and hopefully the first of many original creations. It also bodes well for the downloadable game genre, as it is very well made game full of personal touches and obvious devotion. It is a great game to play by yourself, and king on multiplayer both online and off, hope you can find enough for a 4 player game. The action really gets frantic when playing like this!

9.2/10.0

-Ugly Bob

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