Metareview -- Castle Crashers (Xbox 360)

by Alexander Sliwinski on Aug 28th 2008 12:30PM

Castle Crashers has invaded Xbox Live Arcade and, unless you're having connectivity issues, chances are you've discovered the charm in this homage revolution modern iteration of the beat 'em up genre. The game seems to be receiving positive reviews for its ambition as an XBLA title, but those pesky connection issues are causing reviewers to shave points off "Castle Crashes'" overall score.

IGN (90/100): "Castle Crashers takes the best elements of traditional side-scrolling beat-em-ups and adds lots of flair. There's some great humor here and some nice surprises that will please most. ... The bulk of Castle Crashers is an enjoyable ride and one every 360 owner should experience."
GameSpot (85/100): "Even at a price of 1,200 Microsoft points, Castle Crashers provides great value. The main storyline offers hours of bad-guy beating and princess-rescuing fun that it is sure to please. The ability to play with friends should make the experience richer, even if it is limited to a more local experience. As a testament to its entertainment, feature losses and some disappointing online play hardly slow this juggernaut of amusement down. This is an absurdly hilarious romp you won't soon forget."
VGT (60/100): "Castle Crashers is an entertaining brawler, but the replay value is chopped into little frustrating bits by a horrifically painful online experience. I'm left wondering why I spent $15 (1200 MS points) on a five-hour single player game. Multiple playthroughs will unlock new characters, but the repetitive nature is a bit tiresome. Avoid purchasing Castle Crashers until the developer sorts the major online problems out."

X3F in Brief and GameTrailer's video reviews can be found after the break.

Source

Tags: behemoth, castle-crashers, metareview, the-behemoth, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (89)

I'm downloading this as soon as I get home (too busy last night - blasted girlfriend!).
But the VGT review presents the classic conundrum - if nobody buys it, they can't afford to fix online play. If everybody buys it, they won't need to fix it.

Also, the dude may have been experiencing first day woes or maybe he had an early review build?
But I could be wrong, since I won't DL it until tonight.

i thought it was more like if no one buys it, they won't have to fix online play because there won't be any overloaded servers.

hopefully they fix this cuz it's really annoying.

It's an awesome game. Incidentally, one of my favorite games is Golden Axe.

This is not the type of game I want to play online though. To me it's multiplayer only, but also same-room-multiplayer only.

yes, it WAS a launch problem. The guy who scored it at 60 had just downloaded it at launch at midnight, and Behemoth was busily fixing it before people started buying it en masse the following day

Theres a game saving bug if you play on a console where you didn't originally purchase it on. It'll let you play the full game signed on xbox live, just like how the DRM is suppose to work but your progress resets everytime you exit the game. This is very frustating as it makes the game unplayable. I had bought this game while over at a friends house with my recovered gamertag because I wanted to play with him asap and didn't want to wait till I get home. Now on my home console where I recovered my gamertag, it doesnt save!!! Please fix it!

Have you tried that new online tool that Microsoft made to re-link your content? I think it's only supposed to work for refurbs, but I'd check it out...

Problem is that I already used the online tool because of an RROD refurb I got back that didn't have licenses transferred like they were suppose to. You can only use the tool once every 12 months so I am out of luck unless theBehemoth fixes the save problem.

Good luck trying to get MS to fix a 360 DRM issue. DRM locked out all of my saved games, even though they were still on the hard drive. I spent hours on the phone to 18004MYXBOX, I filed with the BBB, I got an article on the Consumerist, and still, MS didn't give a rats ass. MS seems to think that saving games is some sort of luxury, not an expected and advertised feature.

I don't understand VGT's problem with paying 14 bucks for a five hour game. I mean, some retail games are five hours for $60.

wow, 5 hours for 60 bucks? that's crazy. what a rip. i still think 15 bucks for a 5 hour game is getting borderline unless it's got a very insightful storyline/themes or the like.

i'm probably well over 10 hours with geometry wars 2. i would've gladly pay the 15 bucks for it.

i'd have to agree though, once this game solves its online problems, then i can see it being more worthy of the $15 price tag.

That still doesn't really make it acceptable.

I'm enjoying CC. For me it's going to have massive replay value just like Guardian Heroes did. Unlockable characters, RPG skill advancement...and Guardian Heroes was no where near five hours, but I played the shit out of it.

Online is always a problem for XBLA and even a lot of non XBLA games the first week, but they seem to always get it ironed out with a quick patch.

I can't even count how many times I played through games like Streets of Rage 2 so I really don't consider this a 5 hour game. I couldn't put this game down last night and I've allready started building my second character (barbarian). I could see this being a game I come back to a lot over the years.

A games longevity can't be measured by the length from level 1 to level final, contrary to the belief of a large portion of reviewers out there who love citing the exact duration of a single-player campaign. Some games really are only fun the first time through, and therefore the hour-length does matter. However, this primarily applies to adventure or RPG type games, much of whose value is puzzling, strategy, and spectacle - things weakened after multiple playthroughs. Therefore, these games tend to be much longer, because they rely on fresh material to remain interesting.

Castle Crasher's is not one of those games. Many "classic" or "retro" style games focus more on the sheer fun of the experience, and while after a while, anything gets old, these games expect you to play over and over again. Without going all the way to the extreme of Pac-Man or Pitfall, the idea of platformers, brawlers, shmups, and fighting games is simply that they are fun enough that you WANT to play the same levels over again.

I'd pay 50$ for Castle Crashers without a second thought, and even without online play (though in fairness, I have a couple friends who love this kind of game, so the game will never really be a single-player experience).

How the HELL can you people complain about $15 for 5 hours? Few games nowadays break 10 hours unless they're mindnumbingly boring/drawn out RPGs, and no-one seems to complain about those being $60.

Personally I've played it for at LEAST 10 hours and I still haven't actually completed it yet. Add in multiplayer (Which, unfortunately, is a bit fucked at the moment) ,which I've spent most of my time playing, and all the extra characters and I can easily see myself playing this for weeks to come.

Like Yourself said (lawl) you can't judge the value of a game by how long it takes you to speedrun the single player, which is what most reviewers do. There's a silt load to collect, and aside from that it's just plain fun.

It does feel a bit too glitchy for my liking, since it's completely crashed my Xbox about 4 times, and the game's constantly disconnecting you when you're playing Multiplayer. I've also been completely unable to find any 'All You Can Quaff' or Arena games online, but maybe that's just because no-one's really playing them yet...

I'm mad how everyone is saying this is a 5 hour game. I got home from work and played from 8:30 untill 12:30, mind you I only unlocked like 3 out of the 19 extra charecters, lvl 16, and still have a bunch of lvls to complete, relics to locate, and secrets to unlock.

This is not a freakin 5 hour game, its at least 25-30+ to FULLY complete it with all secrets and all chars. unlocked. Hell just a quick run through looks to be easily 10+ hours. The $12 bucks warrant the purchase by a mile. This is a MUST BUY hands down people. Do not be confused by ppl who havent even played or purchased the game!!!

castle crashers is a really nice game , the hand-drawn graphics is incredible , the retro beat-em-up style works very well.. but the online issues should stop castle crashers to get on the top 10 list of xbox 360.
will be very hard to get better scores than the last 2 xbox live big hits: braid and BC Rearmed.

Played with my roommate last night, and we had a blast. It's not as hard as Alien Hominid, but it can still get pretty brutal.

I love it. It was definitely worth the wait and definitely worth every MS point.

So far I'm having problems finding an online party even in the Arena modes.

Is fun but the humor is very childish and sometimes disgusting like the animals with diarrhea. The owl with diarrhea wasn’t funny, neither was the deer or the Bear but I hope that is the worst part of the game.

Eh it would’ve been better at 800p but isn’t bad and yeah is not brutally punishing like Alien Hominid but yeah you will die eventually.

bought this yesterday, the game is amazing and its one my g/f will play as well, which is nice

I'm assuming this game supports local multiplayer, even if online is borked?

Yeah sadly the guys rather play Gears of war in co-op than Castle crashers so I have to play it online if I want to play with anyone else.

If you think that fecal propelled deer are funny I would recommend it to you.

I didn't think all the rocket shitting was funny at all, but I still recommend it for anyone who loves side-scrolling beat 'em-ups.

The more I read your post Zertoss the more I realize that we have nearly nothing in common

That's okay. You're not my type anyway.

That's odd, because I've met Dirty in real life and she's actually a naked bondaged Peach.

I would've thought she was just your type. Weird.

Not enough bondage?... don't worry dude, the princess is in another castle.

Thanks for that. I'll find her someday! Just like I'm sure you'll find your bucket someday.

Is 5 or so hours for $15 really considered a bad thing? I don't agree with that at all!

I am hooked on this game.
It is my own personal Triple Cheeseburger: Bad for you but oh so good.
Anyone up for some 4 player co-op? Just let me know.

The online play isn't nearly as bad as VGT makes it sound. Getting into matches could be a little smoother but it's far from broken.

I don't like the higher 1200 pt prices any more than the next guy, but Castle Crashers seems more worthy of the price than Braid did. And Braid was pretty damn good.

Bottom line: it's just plain fun. You like fun?

Haven't played online co-op, but local is a freaking blast. Super fun and surprisingly tough at times, too.

I love that you never "lose progress." Even if you die, you keep your loot/exp. That's critical in modern gaming. Don't make me do stuff over.

Isn't this game horribly racist?

...

:D

I was weary at first but seeing it in motion has convinced me- I need this game. Can't wait to pick it up when I get home from work!

I'm wondering what all the unlockable characters are!

Got it last night and had a blast. Played with my friend over Xbox LIVE without any problems at all, though to be fair I sent him a game invite. Havn't tried looking for random matches yet.

While you could probably beat the title in under 10 hours leveling up characters can become pretty addicting. By far, though, the best part about the title is that it does a damn good job of not becoming tedious. Every time you start to feel like the game is getting repetitive, it throws a boss battle or chase scene or something else at you.

I'd say it's worth the $15. It's fun (especially with friends) and has a lot of replay value. I've played games with $60 price tags that didn't offer as much.

Best summer of arcade game so far and I've bought them all :)

It's a great game, but playing as the Alien Hominid character I picked up the pitchfork (less than a minute in) and now I can't switch weapons. Seems like it could've used a little more testing...

It's amazing. That's all there is to say. Except of course for the fact that there's a MASSIVE glitch that makes you lose all your pets and weapons. I had every pet and virtually every weapon only to randomly lose them....thank God I didn't lose my characters....

Anyway. best arcade game by a mile. Worth more than a large number of retail games.

That VGT review was really lame, and I think they completely missed the mark.

The sum of all the features Castle Crashers offers is easily worth more then 15$.

The dev's stated they are fixing online, but regardless of that aspect the local co-op, as well as single player are both a ton of fun and well worth the money.

To be honest the game is probably best experienced sitting in a room of friends all playing on the same screen anyway.

This is easily one of the best xbla available. Telling someone to skip it altogether due to some online issues, that are being fixed, is completely ignorant at best.

This game was sold as an online-brawler. It's ignorant to just ignore the online functionality in order to fulfill a score. That's not reviewing the ENTIRE game as it is, and not just playing it alone in a room for a night and throwing out a number to get your review out first.
None of the positive reviews mention how repetitive the game is. How the "hidden characters" are just skin changes or that the game is just as short as braid and at the same price point. That and how bad the arena and quaff games play out.

Hype > Reality

I forgot to mention the save game glitches...not mentioned.

They said, "avoid purchasing until the online features are fixed" Which is not unreasonable if you are getting it for online play.

If you are not getting it for online play you should have the intelligence to to omit that line and try the demo for yourself.

Ignoring flaws/bugs in a release version of the game because online play type is not your favorite, is completely ignorant at best.

I'm loving Castle Crashers. Fun, fun brawler. I'll definitely have to have to get my friends to get it to make it more replayable, though.

Just bought this last night, me and the gf had a blast with it so far. Reminds me of the old school TMNT arcade games. So awesome.

I'd rather have them port Guardian Heroes or TMNT: Turtles in Time, or something. It's a fun game, but not $15 of fun.

I wish I could have voted you down twice for that comment. It's ok, I'm sure you just didn't think it through.

How much are they paying you to nance about and down-vote comments, anyway? I never said it was shit, just not worth 15 dollars. Why is it that games made by "indie" devs end up apotheosized on Joystiq? Grow the fuck up.

Because they aren't made by the evil corporations, they are made by home developers that want to grow up to Evil corps.

Lol

Well it seems Trolls run joystiq comment section nowadays but I just finished the game and if you ignore the animals with Diarrhea is great but my comment about the online being Borked still remains.

Yeah it’s worth the 1200p if the online works for you.

The online play for me has been flawless. The VGT review is pretty inaccurate and makes me wonder if they just hashed their 'review' together by reading other people's articles on the game. There is no feature loss by playing online, the game is the same locally or co-op over xbox live!. Online has been flawless for me, and I have a standard 7gbs broadband connection to the internet. Great game, great production, and great replayability if you have any friends to play with.

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Metareview -- Castle Crashers (Xbox 360)

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