Be Excellent To Each Other

So the PS2 game Ye Olde Sidescroller ended up being a XBLA game called Castle Crashers. It looks like this:



So:



Because the proposed 2D beat em up, with RPG stat boosts and unlockables and lots of content really appeals to me, and if it turns out decent then a bunch of us going on adventures would be fun. Especially if it featured Dimrill drunk.

Disclaimer: I'm a sado and not around much at the minute obviously - so I might not be around much to play, but then it seems like it would suit quick goes and that[, unlike CoD4 which makes me want to play for hours on end.

Hmm.

I tired the demo this morning before taking my wife to the hospital and thought "It's pretty good, but the boss is too hard and annoying. I probably won't buy it."

However, I now seem to be itching to get back to it and play some more.

However however, reports suggest the online side of things is fucked.

I think I will see how many levels it has. If it's got, like, fifty different levels I might buy it. If it's got six, probably not.

20+ levels it says on the site.

It's this or Galaga Legions. I may choose this.

you dont get to fight all the boss it ends halfway through, also I was thinking of getting it if other bezzies did and if the online was decent but it doesnt sound like it is, so booo.

Yeah, I was on a tiny sliver of health when the trial ended, so I think the boss would have killed me up good.

where did you see the dodgy online thing? I can only find a review on ign and it says its fine on there.

Guys on rllmuk are having a lot of trouble and are reporting that NeoGAF types are also having issues. Doesn't seem to be lag, just trouble connecting to games and then getting kicked out all the time once you're finally in.

Galaga Legions is great, and cheaper.

I need to try the demo again, I guess. It seemed okay, but didn't grab me.

im getting tempted into buying it, whys it a 16+ anyway? Im trying to see why my nephew cant play it.

I'm sure you'll get into it, mate. The important thing is to turn the autofire off, 'cos then the game really opens up and you can start to play it semi-strategically. I don't even know why it has autofire, because "just surviving" isn't really the point here...

I've only spent about half an hour on it myself, too, so it's not as though it takes any great knowledge of the game to realize this. Silly Namco.

I'm actually pleasantly surprised, as I didn't like Alien Hominid very much. This is quite good. I'm baulking at the price though, especially as I bought Braid a few weeks ago.

Indeed I hated Alien Homind but this is growing on me.

It's very very pretty, and it seems to have a lot of weapons & partner orb thingys to find and when you fail at the bosses (which I seem to do a lot) I've always had between 2 and 4 points to drop into Stregth, Health, Magic and Agility which makes the next attempt more appealing.

That and because you get lots of characters it seems quite feasible to make a bunch of different builds. A strong magic user, a heavy hitter, a tank and so on.

Diablo-light basically - but in a nice way.

I think, along with the rest of the Newgrounds community, that we were hoping they'd make a proper length version of Dad n' Me next.

Although I can't imagine a game where you go into a playground, pick up children, carry them to a nearby road and throw them into the path of cars would go down very well on the XBLA.

i think im going to buy it, anyone fancy some co-op action at around 10?

The Girlfriends just raced out of the house to buy a Macbook so I've got about 30mintues before AGONISING PAIN. So I'm free for a game now.

sorry going to make my dinner before the footballs on.

Either that's a punctuation error or you're a brave man.

Double Dragon?
Golden Axe?
Streets of Rage?
Knights of the Round?
TMNT?
Renegade?

I don't get what you mean. Obviously it is like those games. I was talking about what else it's like.

Actually it is most like River City Ransom. With the upgrading and that.

My main character so far is the green Knight. As I recon poison damage is useful. But I've unlocked the grey knight and I like him a lot too.

It should be fine, I've given her a paper with exactly what she wants written on it.

That and if they confuse her into buying additional mac products I win.

I think he means the fact that you've not put an apostrophe in the word 'girlfriends', making it look like you have more than one.

Sorry, but I'm going to complain about the price. What are they playing at? I'm worried they're going to start setting 1200 points as the standard price, which, frankly, is taking the piss. The justification for the price of Braid was fucking laughable. Presumably it's a similar story with this?

Im not sure, it could be possible the developers themselves wanted a high price since it is a small group and they have been working on it for years.
In another way you could look at it as the successor of alien hominid and its a third of the price.

Well yeah, I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason for it, and I'm glad small groups are getting their chance. (Thing is, at 1200 points they're completely removing any chance of an "impulse buy" and at the same time angering the people who were going to the buy the game anyway. Sure - they'll make a bit more than they would've selling it at 800 points, but they'll lose the volume of sales because people like me who quite often just buy a game for 800 points even if it's only half decent will tell them to fuck right off.)

But what I'm really worried about is the larger developers following suit. In particular, I'm worried about Duke 3D.

I've got 6.

On sunday I rest.

It is setting a worrying precedent. I honestly believe that MS are testing the water with these two games.

with doom down to 400 points it would be taking the piss if duke was more than 800 now.

Agreed. Especially worrying because no one realeases at 400 now because they think that they have to be released at 800 to beconsidered a deep worthy professional game.

No doubt "AAA titles" will be 1200 from now on, not just because they can, but because "if you are not 1200 points you can't be a triple A title." (and I'm too blame).

The only hope is it sells a lot shitter than Bionic Commando that was almost 1200 points till they did a poll asking what people would pay (obviously people chose the lower price) but then they've sold 130K. So buy bionic commando it's awesome.

I would be gobsmacked if Duke was 1200 though. It's a quick port. Doom at 400 was perfect.

Indeed. I'd quite like both games but am holding off buying them for this very reason. And I still haven't bought Galaga Legions or BC. And I still can't barrel roll in Burny P. I should probably sell my 360, or something.

I dont think I would have bought bionic commando for 1200 points, I liked the game mechanics and it was a bit of a splash for the 800 points but playing through it, its probably worth 1200 points.

BC:R is the best game I've played in months and easily worth 1200 points.
However I say that with the power of hindsight. I never would have bought it after the demo if it was more than 800.

At 800 I took a chance and was rewarded with My New Favourite Game.

actually Ill play this now if anyone is game.

online is fucked on this so far. needs a patch.

I have 800 points sitting around doing nothing (left over from buying Braid at 1200 on a whim). I might have to DL the demo of BC.

Not quite a quick port, they've added a time-reversing function which I assume allows them to charge 1200 points (it worked for Braid, right?).

Just played this demo (Castle Crashers).

Great fun, loved the graphic style, but very repetitive and a nightmare on my wrist, as it's constant button bashing throughout. Lots of fun with the combos and the sense of humour about things. I exect it'd be awesome for a bit with several players, but on my own my tendons started to creak.

I won't be purchasing it, but it seems like good fun.

This. Very much this.

Bionic Commando is something I can honestly get behind and say "This is the quality I want at the price I want. I'll happily buy more of this".

Sorry, mate; I wasn't trying to be a smartarse. I suppose the levelling up makes it a bit like Diablo (as well as any 'proper' RPG), but as a big Castlevania nut who's had to play all of these 'Metroidvanias', I don't tend to make that connection any more.

Golden Axe = 400pts.
Castle Crashers = 1200pts.

not entirely sure why. it's just a bit cuter, that's all.

I didn't rate the Bionic Commando demo, does the full game get a lot better?

No worries I just thought I missed your point. Castlevanias good comparison actually.

I was comparing it to Diablo because I want to play it through with the multiple characters on offer (I think there is twenty) I can imagine building at least 3 or 4 characters up to decent levels. The Grey Knights Arrow attacks are awesome. It makes me wonder what the other characters are like. It's a little like pokemon.



Yeah but Golden Axe is shit.

BC:R is probably going to be my game of the year, and I didn't like the demo very much at all. I kind of decided that I would treat myself and spend £40 on the Summer of Live games and its the stand out game for me.

If you quite like platformers and won't get frustrated by not being able to jump over barrels then you'll love it. Hell the challenge rooms puts N+ to shame on it's own.

Just tried the demo. It's nice, and I had a bit of fun playing it, but...

They can fuck off if they want 1200 points for it. Klatrymadon has already mentioned Knights of the Round and that, to me, is what Castle Crashers is - Knights of the Round with cuter graphics. I dunno, I was kind of expecting something... more.

Like I said, fun to play (and the multiplayer stuff is certainly intriguing, so it's a bit of a shame that so many people seem to be having problems with it) but it aint worth no 1200 points. [Disclaimer - IMO, obv]

At least it's better than Alien Hominid though.

Hmmm, I was put off by not really enjoying the demo, but am now re-tempted on your RMD.

Questions:

1 - How long is the real game?
2 - Is there much variety in it?
3 - Any puzzles?
4 - More humour of the type found in the demo?

1 - Erm, I wasn't paying attention. Taking a wild guess and playing it on normal difficulty it probably took about 6±2 hours. That and I plan to play it again on hard. The challenge rooms have so far stolen up probably another 5 or so hours. And I've done the easiest 35 out of 56 or so. The challenge rooms do require a willingness to repeat many times. Some have taken me 100+ attempts. But it is designed with that in mind (levels take < 30s) It's all done in a way that means I. Must. Have. Another. Go. Rather than just pissing me off. I've a high threshold for frustration mind.

2 - The main game and the challenege rooms are like two different meaty games and very different (Though the challenge rooms are unlocked by playing the main game).

The main game is a platformer so there is as much variety as there is in Sonic or Mario. I was really looking forward to each level though, and the design is top notch. The boses are all varied and entertaining (although numerous you do meet improved versions later on). Oh and graphically its wonderfully varied.

3 - The challenge rooms are very much puzzles in the sense of 'how do I get to the exit' - and then fiendish reaction challenges to manage it. The main game isn't really a puzzle game. But without a jump button it becomes a lot more cerebal as you have to work out how best to traverse the level.

4 - It breaks the fourth wall less, but yes. It's has very good dialogue before boss fights and in the comm rooms.

In summary, the stachato rhythm of imputting commands to elegantly traverse levels really pleases me. A sort of more satisfying feeling that spiderman 2 gave.

Play the demo a few time (it also has a couple of challenge rooms) and see if you like the mechanics. Because if you do then you'll like the game.

How the hell does the haxx0ring minigame work? I push a button, and a yellow ball falls out of view and everything goes all angry and red. I remember there being a similarly baffling hacking game in the NES original.

The cube always flies in a straight line into the screen. You rotate the screen so that the ball will be intercepted by a square. And you repeat until you get the ball to reach the yellow square.

Ohhhhhh... I'll have to try that when I get home. Ta!

Even I worked that out and I'm a fucking moron.

So who bought this? Do we have enough people willing to have a foursome, or is the multiplayer truly broken?

I may be easily tempted, but probably not for the next couple of days.