Castle Crashers Remastered
Overview -
'Castle Crashers' was one of the darlings of the Xbox LIVE Arcade program during its heyday. The combination of furious Flash art and a deep take on the beat 'em up genre took hold with online and local co-op being the star. It was much played and much loved upon its release in 2008, and was eventually ported to the PS3, Windows, and OS X. The remaster has been in the works for about a year, and was announced by Microsoft at this year’s E3.
Video Review
The original 'Castle Crashers' is very cartoonish, with bright colors and sharp edges that give it a glossy, colored pencil kind of look. This remaster has been given a pixel upgrade of around 5X, which is definitely noticeable. The characters look as great as ever with their animation, but the difference is most dramatic in the backgrounds, which don’t look quite as cheap or fuzzy anymore. Icons are also clearer. The framerate has been doubled to 60, and the controls respond extremely well.
Audio Review
A cheeky melody is always present in the background, sometimes cut with faux epic fantasy tracks or thumping bass lines. Like the visuals, it serves to give the game a playful ambiance. The sound effects are a cross between 80s action movie scenes and what I imagine a comic book fight would sound like, with lots of thwacks and pows. Voice acting is kept to a minimum.
Final Thoughts
Perhaps the constant stream of remakes has jaded me, but 'Castle Crashers' didn’t seem to be screaming for an update, especially with backwards compatibility right around the corner. The new mode is wishy washy and the jury is still out on the matchmaking. Still, the $5 price for previous owners of the game, there are far worse old-timey arcade brawlers out there than 'Caste Crashers Remastered'.