What it's all about

Tuesday, February 3, 2009
The Xbox has found it's way back into our home. It's soft green glow once again lights the entertainment center. The sound of it's fan soothes me to sleep at night and I dream of Fallout 3 and Prince of Persia. Or do I?

As soon as the Xbox was hooked up, my wife and I were on it, shuffling about in Rock Band 2. I had owned the game since Christmas and had yet to play it. No surprises, we love it and play it often. That same day we plucked on our plastic insturments, I downloaded a bevy of new content from Xbox Live, hoping to catch up on all I'd missed.

On a whim I downloaded Castle Crashers, an older game by the standards of the Maw and Rock Band 2, and certainly not the powerhouse that Fallout 3 or Far Cry 2 are, just a straightforward brawler with goofy, Johnen Vasquez-ish art stylings. Why then has this little game occupied my every waking thought ever since?

First off, because it's been there for a while, it feels more like a kind of discovery. It's something I didn't expect to enjoy. Like that first tentative bite of a new food, Castle Crashers was an iffy purchase at best but now I can hardly get myself to play anything else.

As far as content goes, Castle Crashers has loads of unlockable characters, weapons and entirely too adorable animal orbs to collect throughout your travels. Personal favorite: Pazzo the fox-dog thing.

The clincher for Castle Crasher's is the multiplayer. The comedic style of the game combined with the simplicity of the gameplay make it a great party game to have as just about anyone can pick it up.

Now I dream of higher levels, lightning and my wife's cat-bat-demon-fish-dragon thing and it's deadly lollipop. I will unlock every character, I will find every weapon and I will recover every animal. I want to do it all, but what will I do once I have?

Wait for another content pack.