Castle Crashers - Xbox Live Arcade

Okay, I know. I'm only about two years late in saying this: Castle Crashers kicks some serious ass.

I played the demo of Castle Crashers when I first got my Xbox and thought "Wow, this is a great game. I should totally buy this!" Then didn't for about two years. Hell, I've actually played the demo since then and still never got around to purchasing it. Not exactly sure why, I've had 2400 MS points sitting around doing nothing for about a year now.

Then last week I was over at my brother's house. Most everyone in the house was sick with some sort of cold and we didn't feel like going anywhere. My brother decided to pick up Castle Crashers because it was on sale for 600MS points. We started playing it co-op and it wasn't long till we were hooked.

Simply put, the game is an amazing amount of fun. Especially when you consider it's basically a side scrolling hack 'n slash. Everything about it is just fun. That's the best word I can use to describe Castle Crashers. Game: Fun. Music: Fun. Art Style: Seriously Fun. It's the kind of game that throughout you're noticing little details here and there that all add up to make the game so damn great.

I had so much fun that when I got home that night I bought it myself... and then played until about midnight. Then went back to my brother's house the next day and beat the game there. You know what we started doing after we beat it? We went around and collected animal orbs and weapons. You know what we did after that? Started playing through again as a different characters. We did this and I was still going home at night and playing my game on my Xbox. I don't remember the last time I did that with a game. Not only have I beat it, I've continued playing it again afterward.

In the last week I've beat Castle Crashers twice, and have another character about halfway through it. On my game I have every single animal orb and weapon I can get. I've unlocked a lot of the characters and done every achievement I could. I don't know the last game I completed so throughly. And you know what? It's still fun. I'm still having a good time playing it.

Most games I beat and then maybe play again a year or so later. With Castle Crashers I beat it and immediately went back for a second helping, and you know what? I may go back for thirds. It's just that fun of a game.

Seriously, if you haven't played this game already you need to buy it. I can't imagine anyone not enjoying this game... unless they're some sort of heartless bastard.

Squid.