Tech: Castle Crashers

"Castle Crashers" is a sidescrolling beat-em-up Xbox Live Arcade game developed by The Behemoth, the company behind "Alien Hominid." Like AH, "Castle Crashers" has a sharp-looking 2D art style that looks like an incredibly well-animated Flash game.

Gameplay is a cross between "Golden Axe" and "River City Ransom," with lots and lots of in-jokes and nods to other classic games of yesteryear. You hack and slash your way through a couple hours worth of gameplay spread over a dozen or so levels. Depth is added via some button combos and a rudimentary stats/items system, but at heart this is a brawler where you'll need an itchy attack finger to survive.

This is probably XBLA's most impressive game, at least in terms of content. You can unlock new characters, dig for new weapons, fight in various arenas - very replayable in terms of seeing new things. Production values are quite high, with most levels having catchy music and good-looking HD artwork. You'll fight a number of bosses, ranging from a mutant ear of corn to a giant cat-fish, and, while some are more fun than others, they're all neat to look at.

My main gripe with the game is that Xbox Live play is essentially broken - matchmaking and even online character profiles are riddled with showstopper bugs. For a title that bills itself as a 4-player adventure, not having working online multiplayer out of the gates is basically inexcusable. I'm really surprised that Microsoft's usual XBLA certification process didn't catch these bugs. I still recommend the game, but only if you have a friend or two who can play on the same couch as you.

Rating: 78/100