A few weeks ago while looking at the games that were on sale for Valentine’s Day sale, I saw this game called Castle Crashers. Now, I have always wanted this game. Ever since I saw one of my favorite youtubers (PrestonPlayz) doing it with a friend. Since it seemed like one of the best games it had there on the sale (Note it had like 10 games on sale), I decided to buy it for 3.49 (original was 15 bucks). It turned out to be one of the best games I played to date. I will now go over the history of the game, game play, cooperative aspect and graphics.
This game is a 2D beat ‘em up game independently developed by Behemoth Game Studios. It features music created by members of Newgrounds. The Xbox 360 version was released on August 27, 2008 via Xbox Live Arcade as part of the Xbox Live Summer of Arcade. The PS3 version was released in North America on August 31, 2010 and November 3, 2010 in Europe via the PlayStation Network. A Microsoft Windows version exclusive to Steam was announced on August 16, 2012. This game is set in a fictional medieval universe in which a dark wizard steals a mystical gem and captures several princesses (the final princess will make you LITERALLY be rolling on the floor laughing). Four knights (with each having elemental aspects), are charged by the king to rescue the princesses, recover the jewel, and bring the wizard to justice.
The game play is quite good for this game. It is a side-scrolling beat-em-up that incorporates a small number of role-playing video game elements. You start off with a choice of picking 1 out of 4 knights in which have elemental powers. The 4 are the Red Knight, the Blue Knight, the Green Knight and the Orange Knight. The Red having lightning powers, the Blue having ice powers, the Green having poison powers and the Orange having fire powers. After completing each stage, the player has the choice of revisiting a past stage or moving to another stage. The map also displays shops where the player character can buy items and weaponry using coins gained from defeated foes. Arena stages can be unlocked where the player character can take on challenges to unlock additional characters.
Castle Crashers supports cooperative gameplay for up to four players, either locally or online (I don’t recommend this unless you have a really fast internet speed). The game progression is in terms of what stages are unlocked is defined by the hosting player; however, each player character will gain experience points and acquire wealth, weapons, and animal orbs independently as they progress with the rest of the party. In each stage, the player can use melee and combination attacks. If you are playing by yourself in single player and you die, you will be brought to the map screen. In multiplayer, if you have health potions, you would just get revived from the potions. Also, if you don’t have any potions during multiplayer, your teammates can revive you.
The game's art style was developed by The Behemoth's Lead Artist Dan Paladin. As the team created new locales and characters, placeholder art was used as a template for look, size and scale of the final art. Paladin drew multiple partial renditions of a game asset, and then selected one for finalization. Although Paladin was the primary source for much of the art, programmer Tom Fulp assisted with the game's art, creating some of the minion creatures for boss characters. Paladin cited River City Ransom as his primary inspiration for the game's art style, noting the character's expressions when damaged as a particular point of influence. Fulp added that several beat ‘em ups from the 1980s and 90s influenced the game, such as Guardian Heroes, Final Fight and Double Dragon. Paladin himself scored the title screen and ending credits tracks. The soundtrack was made available for free on September 1, 2008 via the Newgrounds website.
Overall rating, a 9/10 for sure!
This game is a 2D beat ‘em up game independently developed by Behemoth Game Studios. It features music created by members of Newgrounds. The Xbox 360 version was released on August 27, 2008 via Xbox Live Arcade as part of the Xbox Live Summer of Arcade. The PS3 version was released in North America on August 31, 2010 and November 3, 2010 in Europe via the PlayStation Network. A Microsoft Windows version exclusive to Steam was announced on August 16, 2012. This game is set in a fictional medieval universe in which a dark wizard steals a mystical gem and captures several princesses (the final princess will make you LITERALLY be rolling on the floor laughing). Four knights (with each having elemental aspects), are charged by the king to rescue the princesses, recover the jewel, and bring the wizard to justice.
The game play is quite good for this game. It is a side-scrolling beat-em-up that incorporates a small number of role-playing video game elements. You start off with a choice of picking 1 out of 4 knights in which have elemental powers. The 4 are the Red Knight, the Blue Knight, the Green Knight and the Orange Knight. The Red having lightning powers, the Blue having ice powers, the Green having poison powers and the Orange having fire powers. After completing each stage, the player has the choice of revisiting a past stage or moving to another stage. The map also displays shops where the player character can buy items and weaponry using coins gained from defeated foes. Arena stages can be unlocked where the player character can take on challenges to unlock additional characters.
Castle Crashers supports cooperative gameplay for up to four players, either locally or online (I don’t recommend this unless you have a really fast internet speed). The game progression is in terms of what stages are unlocked is defined by the hosting player; however, each player character will gain experience points and acquire wealth, weapons, and animal orbs independently as they progress with the rest of the party. In each stage, the player can use melee and combination attacks. If you are playing by yourself in single player and you die, you will be brought to the map screen. In multiplayer, if you have health potions, you would just get revived from the potions. Also, if you don’t have any potions during multiplayer, your teammates can revive you.
The game's art style was developed by The Behemoth's Lead Artist Dan Paladin. As the team created new locales and characters, placeholder art was used as a template for look, size and scale of the final art. Paladin drew multiple partial renditions of a game asset, and then selected one for finalization. Although Paladin was the primary source for much of the art, programmer Tom Fulp assisted with the game's art, creating some of the minion creatures for boss characters. Paladin cited River City Ransom as his primary inspiration for the game's art style, noting the character's expressions when damaged as a particular point of influence. Fulp added that several beat ‘em ups from the 1980s and 90s influenced the game, such as Guardian Heroes, Final Fight and Double Dragon. Paladin himself scored the title screen and ending credits tracks. The soundtrack was made available for free on September 1, 2008 via the Newgrounds website.
Overall rating, a 9/10 for sure!