E3 2008: Castle Crashers Hands-on
Better save your Microsoft Points for this one.
by Nate Ahearn
July 15, 2008 - Some developers have a keen understanding of what it takes to make an awesome Xbox Live Arcade game. Take Namco Bandai, for instance. They remade Pac-Man to near perfection and look to be on the right track with Galaga. The folks at Behemoth, creators of Alien Hominid, also have a great knowledge base for how to deliver a cool and simple game that still has plenty of depth to keep players locked to their couch. Castle Crashers, their latest cartoonish creation, looks to be moving in a similar direction with awesomely simplistic hack-and-slash gameplay that's deepened by RPG mechanics and some classic arcade-style multiplayer.

For those that don't know, Castle Crashers is a title that we've been looking forward to since 2006. Thankfully, based on my hands-on time with it at this year's E3, it appears that this little gem is almost ready for release.

There were three modes for us to try out: Arena, All You Can Quaff, and Castle Crashers. Arena is a never-ending flow of enemies and is a great place to sharpen your combat skills, or those of three of your friends who can join up. All You Can Quaff is a button-mashing eating contest mini-game with four contestants competing to eat as many pieces of meat and fruit as possible by tapping X and Y.

The Castle Crashers mode is the real meat of the game, as you'd expect. Players choose from one of four characters. There's a green guy, a blue guy, an orange dude and a red one to round out the mix. Each has its own magic specialties. The blue knight specializes in freezing enemies in a block of ice while greeny has the ability to unleash a deadly gas cloud that infects enemies.

When you're not casting magic against your foes, you'll be wielding different weapons like swords and maces. The combo system begins simply enough with three taps of the X button bringing three quick attacks. Throw in a press of the Y button and the animation changes, causing a bit more damage due to the heavier attack.

The real kicker to Castle Crashers is that it's actually rooted in plenty of RPG elements that fans of the genre will instantly recognize. Every downed foe yields an experience point boost and leveling up expands your list of combos. I was only able to get to level 3 in my time with the game, but my character had already unlocked a flying swirl attack and a sprinting move. Apparently magic is also expandable but I didn't get to check that out for myself.

I did get to experience the interesting juggling attack mechanic and a boss battle that featured what can best be described as a Trojan Ram. Essentially enemies piled into a massive wooden ram (the animal) who then marauded his way around a portion of the level, spitting out baddies for you to fight along the way. I then discovered that the jumping swirl attack that I unlocked actually let me keep enemies in the air a bit longer than I was expecting. As it turns out you can stay airborne for as long as you're attacking a foe. There were times when I'd gather up two or three enemies at a time, reigning blows as I glided along.

There are also animal orbs that can be found on the battlefield and used to your advantage, but I didn't get to try them in my demo. The other disappointment was the fact that Microsoft had only one controller setup at the kiosk. Castle Crashers is clearly a game built on the idea of delivering a similar experience to the X-Men and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle arcade games of old, but those were at their best when playing with friends. Crashers does support up to four players for all of its modes, so why not take advantage of it?

The graphical style is another aspect, aside from the deep yet simplistic gameplay, that will grab you. Looking at the characters you'd assume that they're cute little avatars but as soon as they engage in battle you'll see that things aren't so cuddly. Heads are lopped off and blood shoots everywhere, all the while my little character is smiling back at me. It's very similar to the slightly dark Ren & Stimpy cartoons, not to mention Alien Hominid.

With four different characters that have different abilities and attributes that can be built up, Castle Crashers looks like it'll pack some serious bang for the proverbial buck. I've got my fingers crossed that it makes it out this fall, but whenever it's released, I'm betting people will realize that it was worth the wait.

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