Castle Crashers - XBLA

Developer: The Behemoth
Publisher: The Behemoth
Release Date (US): 8/27/2008
System(s): Xbox 360
Modes: All You Can Quaff, Arena Mode, Story Mode
Rating: T (Teen)

What can I say about Castle Crashers? That game is SOOOOOO fun!!! So fun that it gets people who don't care for gaming at all to play. Think of this as an RPG version (characters can have 4 types of skills leveled up throughout the game: strength, magic, defense, agility/archery) of TMNT Arcade Game or X-Men the Arcade Game. It's really just a smash and grab game that pays homage to the classic 2D side scrolling action adventure genre. At first I thought the 1200 MS Points ($15 US) was a bit steep, but this game has a little more depth to it, as well as excellent HD graphics. It's one of the only games I can think of from the XBLA that employs widescreen and not a little 4:3 box.

• All you can Quaff is a single and multiplayer mode that is a basically a button masher. You press buttons alternately to make your player eat food. Whoever finishes all their food the fastest wins. This seems to go on forever ( never played more than 6 or 7 rounds at a time) with no apparent end.
• Arena - in single player mode, you fight an onslaught starting with one, then two, then three, etc. of one type of enemy. That enemy is usually whatever enemy dominates the nearby level close to the arena or stadium that you are in. The arena near the thieves' forest is filled with arrow-wielding thieves. After you beat all of them without dying, you unlock characters. In multiplayer everyone fights amongst themselves until one person is standing victorious.
• Story - I don't think I need an explanation here...

Each of the characters have a different magic power. The green soldier has a toxic green poison that continues to temporarily hurt the enemy for a small amount of time, the red soldier is lightning, the orange soldier is fire, and the blue soldier is ice. As you increase your stats in magic, your powers become stronger. At a certain point you can shoot your magic powers through the air and when you jump.

In all honesty, I am lazy, but that's not why I feel that I don't need to make a long review out of this game. For starters, I'm trying to catch up on games I've bought since doing the last few reviews. It's a lot to cover, but Castle Crashers should be downloaded immediately. I was wondering why there was so much hype about it, but it really is a great game.

9.5/10 for high replay value and universal appeal. Plus it's fun to try and get all of the characters maxed out on stats.

Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2

Developer: Bizarre Creations Ltd.
Publisher: Activision
Release Date (US): 7/30/2008
System(s): Xbox 360
Modes: Deadline, Pacifism, King, Evolved, Waves, Sequence
Rating: E (Everyone)

Geometry Wars 2 is the follow up to the smash hit Geometry Wars Retro Evolved, available for download at the Xbox Live Arcade/Marketplace for 800 MS Points ($10 US). I was sucked in when I played the first version of this game, which is actually a game type in the second iteration as "Evolved."

The look and graphics are about the same as the first one, except it is a bit harder to see your ship at times on this version than others. The fact that it has 6 game modes as well as multiplayer (up to 4 local only) improves upon the original version. Too bad there wasn't a discount for those that owned the first Geo Wars.

If you enjoyed the first Geo Wars, you should DEFINITELY purchase this game. Don't even bother with a trial, just buy it and download it! You will NOT regret it. I honestly feel like this review does not require a whole lot of opinion writing because it's one of those games you will either be sold or not by playing it first hand. It's a good thing XBLA allows for free demos of all their games! One main difference is you collect green shards of gems called "Geoms" that up your multiplier rather than just get a string of kills without dying.

I might as well quickly go over the game modes of GW2, with most of the games having just one life:

• Deadline - Infinite number of lives but only 3 minutes to get as many points as you can.
• King - You can only shoot when your ship is inside a protective circle or "field" that shrinks once you enter it.
• Pacifism - Your ship cannot shoot but can travel through gates that will cause an explosion and destroy nearby enemies. If you hit the gate on the sides/edge, you die.
  
• Evolved - Start with 3 lives and 3 bombs, it plays like the last Geo Wars except your multiplier does not reset to 0 when you die.
• Sequence
• Waves - My personal favorite, you have to watch out for "waves" or lines of enemies that move in straight lines back and forth or top to bottom repeatedly until they are destroyed.
  

The game also "knows" when you are attempting an achievement and will give you a status of how close you are to that achievement at the bottom of the screen. All of the game modes can be played single player or multiplayer, versus or co-op.

GREAT GAME! Go BUY IT TODAY if you haven't already!
9/10