Castle Crashers - Just Good Fun

XBL was one of the last things to work on my "old new" Xbox 250 gb Slim (see previous post) so I finished Castle Crashers on it.  For those who are new to Xbox Live or PSN for that matter, CC is one of the highest selling XBL titles in existence.

The premise is simple bad guys take pretty girls, good guys follow in pursuit and action ensues. This game is button mashing fun with great pick and play ability.  It is classic button mapping: a button for strong attack, regular attack, jump and use item.  The 2d graphics are straight out of a comic book and the guys (and one pink crasher who is free on XBLA) are awesome.  The comedy in the game is hilarious (watch out for the pooping deer) and is very family friendly.  There is some blood but its "cartoony" blood if there is such a category.

The boss battles are a blast (my favorite was the corn, yeah I said corn).  These are old school boss battles with a health meter and a weakness.  Nothing that made me throw down a controller but I had to start from the beginning a couple times but the difficulty was casual.  After death if you have earned enough XP you can upgrade your attack, defense, magic and speed.  Nothing makes that big of difference but toward the end I could see some changes (mostly on speed).  Playing with some friends was great because you can play up to 4 people.  The animal side kicks are cute but felt a bit tacked on.  For those wanting achievement points there are some that are simple and some that will make you scream (running through the barn without getting hit upset me more then once).

Finally the length / value of the game is great.  Sure you could knock it out in a couple of days but the challenge boards and simple premise make this a game you can always come back to with friends and without.

Bottom line if you have played X-men Arcade, Double Dragon or TMNT arcade and liked them this game is for you.  The price of about $15 is great and well worth it.

Grade - A

A few quick hits:

• Started Prototype because Prototype 2 looks cool.  Plenty of cut scenes at the beginning (too many) and is it just me or did they make the buttons for the better moves straight out of SFIIV
• NHL 12 and God Of War: Origins are out today.  Kmart has the best deal but I foolishly ordered at Best Buy.
• Thinking about opening a game store, has anyone got one or had any real experience with it?