Castle Crashers is a great tribute to the old arcade beat em ups while staying fresh and unique at the same time
You (alone or with up to 3 other friends) are a knight in a medieval universe. During a party with you and all of your fellow knights, an evil wizard shows up and steals a mystical floating gem and 4 princesses. The king sends you and the other knights to rescue the gem and his daughters, and bring the evil wizard to justice. It's a pretty simple story and a little cliched, but that only adds to the humor that this game presents. The game isn't trying to be creative on story, it is just there to show us what made the old games so great, but in a more humorous, light-hearted way.
The graphics and music add to the game's charming but dark style. The ridiculous art style and over the top animation only compliment this game's personality, and it will draw you in with such rich atmosphere and character designs. The music also fits perfectly and it is quite possibly the most memorable soundtrack in recent memory. The songs are varied from crazy and light hearted to intense and epic. Each tune fits into each level and boss respectively and it suits the game's style quite nicely.
When you start, you are given the choice between one of 4 knights; blue, red, orange and green. Although there are 4 to choose from the start, there are a ton more to unlock as you progress, each with his own abilities. Each starts out with a basic weapon but you may find or buy better weapons with different stats along the way. Like most beat em ups, your goal is to pass every stage by knocking out all enemies on screen before moving on, with a boss fight at the end of each stage. You have two basic attacks which are X for the normal attack or Y for a slower but more powerful attack. This may seem repetitive but luckily there are a ton of combos for you to unlock.
Also, each character has their own unique magic ability that gives each an extra advantage in combat. You can choose from the blue knight's ice (freezes), the red knight's lightning (extra damage), the orange knight's fire (burns) and the green knight's poison (poisons, obviously). That's not all, there are even more combos to master as you level up your magic. You are limited to how much you can use at a time though, for there is a mana bar that will deplete as you use your magic, but it will recharge over time. Most of them are just for status effects like freezing or burning but each magic spell makes each character feel differently when playing and it adds a little variety with each playthrough. The combat is repetitive at first but as you progress, it only adds to the classic brawler formula and adds variety like magic and a large list of combos to make up for it.
Leveling up is also a big part of the game. As you kill enemies, you gain experience like you would in an RPG and when you collect enough, you level up. This unlocks new combos like mentioned earlier but in between stages, you can improve your character's stats like agility (makes you faster), strength (allows you to do more damage), magic (improves how powerful your magic is) and defense (lowers the amount of damage you take and increases your health). The higher you get, the less points you get to spend. That's not all, some slain enemies will also get you coins, which you can use to buy items at the store like health potions, bombs, a shovel that digs for items or even a bow & arrow to help you on your quest. Lastly, you can also bring along an animal companion. These animals that you find or buy gives you an extra advantage like a fox who can show you where to dig for items or a ram that knocks down enemies, and there are so many more to choose from. In case you haven't guessed, these are all RPG elements but it is a great and welcome mix between genres and it expands on the classic brawler, making this much more than just an old school tribute.
There are many levels to be played in Castle Crashers, and the whole game offers variety as no two stages will look the same. You'll start off in a kingdom, then you'll venture through a forest, stream, castle, on top of a kart, a volcanic wasteland, a ship on the sea, and more. In between levels will take you to a map which is how you get from one stage to another, or you can go to the store or the blacksmith to pick up weapons and animals. All stages have their own enemies that compliment the stage theme but most of them will fight the same way but take more damage. At the end of a stage, you'll fight a boss. Most of them are large and intimidating that is a part of the game's over the top humor and each one is fun to fight as they use different methods to test your skills and wits. Overall, the stages are very fun to play through.
Playing this game alone is fun, but it is even more fun with up to 3 other people like most brawlers. You can play matchmaking if you want but there are fewer people on recently than there used to be and half the time, they quit out mid game. This game is fun with others but I recommend that you get some friends to play with as it's more fun and they won't quit out on you. The gameplay is pretty similar but somehow it is more enjoyable to beat the hell out of enemies when you've got friends backing you up and helping you progress throughout game much faster. The biggest difference between single and multiplayer are the princess fights. When you defeat a boss that is holding a princess hostage, the 2/3/4 of you face off in a fight to the death to see who gets the girl (although there is no other reward for this other than satisfaction). As with most games in the genre, co-op only adds to the fun and this is one of the best co-op games you will find in the arcade.
Tired of co-op? There is also a competitive mode as well. This is pretty much what you'd expect, you and up to 3 others fight to the death and the last man standing is the winner. There are other modes too like all you can quaff (an eating competition that you win by button mashing repeatably) or treasure hunting (most treasure picked up wins). These extra modes are fun but once again, not too many people are playing them any more in matchmaking so I hope you have friends.
Castle Crashers is a great tribute to the classic beat-em-ups that all of you old school fans loved so much as a kid. Not only will this game bring back memories of the arcade brawlers but it takes that formula and expands on it making a unique experience at the same time. Playing by yourself is enjoyable but playing with your friends makes the experience even richer. Don't be afraid of the 1200 microsoft points ($15) asking price, Castle Crashers offers enough value and laughs to make it worth every penny.