Graphics:
This 2D beat-em-up game is very beautiful for a hand drawn game. The detail to most of the characters and environment is nothing short of fantastic. The game consists of a variety of locations from sand to sea to forest to castle. Each location is drawn with detail that stand out from each previous screen. The magic effects are sweet and simple fitting in perfectly with the style of the game. Each creature is also nicely detailed, some more than others. I would have liked to see more put into a few of the enemies but nothing big. The upgrade menu was a little bland and the background environment needed more oomph in some areas. Overall the game is very nice and 2D HD always looks awesome.
Audio:
The music is Castle Crashers was very good. I can still hear the main tune in my head. Every level had it’s own unique sound to it and they were all memorable. The sound effects were also great from the normal attack, jumping and using magic. I would have liked to see a more diverse sound to the attack of the grunt enemies but thats minor, I found that each shop sounded the same though. Every boss had their own unique sound from the music to the random grunts and their death sequences. Overall the audio was incredible, better than most games.
Gameplay:
Beating stuff up is always fun but it can get monotonous at times. Castle Crashers delays this feeling of monotony my throwing in some RPG elements by having upgradeable characters, a diverse collection of weapons and the addition of magic powers. Throw in a nice looking map screen and you get the feeling of an open ended game. This game is fun and exciting for the first maybe even second playthrough’s but if you’ve dedicated yourself to reaching level 99 with your character be prepared for lots of grinding in areas you will soon find repetitive and boring. The end boss battle is new and interesting but unnecessarily long and drawn out consisting of a 6 stage battle. This game is highly enjoyable with friends which I believe to be it’s main focus in which is delivers quite nicely.
Story:
The main purpose of this game is to retrieve the kidnapped princess. Although the game is not story driven at all (hence the non rating) you get the sence that you’re on a mission to pwn the baddies and get your princess back. At the end of the game you most definitly get the feeling of a heroic victory as you return the princess to the castle passing through all the areas you and your teammates have conquered.