Remember the blissful days of Golden Axe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the 16-bit systems? Well, that fun can be had again. That classic, side-scrolling, button-mashing gameplay has been reincarnated into one of the best Xbox Live games available. Get ready to crash some castles.

Castle Crashers is at its best a co-op game played with 1-2 other players in the comfort of your living room. But it is possible to play single-player as well (just not near as fun). You can pick one of several cartoonish knights to help the King save his hot daughters who have been captured. Each knight has a different speciality in magic, from lightning to fire and all across the nerd spectrum. More playable characters can be unlocked by playing the game. 

Combat revolves around simple button mashing. But while it may seem simple at first, there is surprising depth. Not only will you learn new combos as you progress, but your character will level up. Yeh that’s right. D&D style. As you stomp enemies, earn experience that can enhance strength, magic, defense, and agility skills. Each, of course, has its strength and weaknesses, but you’ll probably find a preference, either becoming a tank, mage, or just all-around good guy.

Items are also integral to CC. As you play, you’ll pick up new weapons, potions, and bonus items. Weapons also buff your character, like any RPG. If you picked up a sledge hammer, you might get a bonus in strength but a loss in agility. You can also get pets in CC, from seahorses to bats. Each pet, like the weapons, will give your character special abilities. The downside to the item and pet system is that, in order to find out their abilities, you have to visit an area at the very beginning of the overworld map. It can be a pain once you progress further into the game.

Another problem occasionally is the shear amount of things onscreen. If you’re playing with three or more people, the action onscreen can make things confusing. It’s only occasionally a problem, but it’s still there.

While some might find the gameplay to be repetitive (this reviewer did not), CC is constantly throwing humorous surprises both into the gameplay and into the story to keep things fresh and hilarious. And CC really excels in the presentation department. It’s stylish, cartoon look is gorgeous and everything runs smooth. Did I mention humor? Expect a lot of poop jokes.

The game features 4-person multiplayer and plays both on and offline. If you have 2 people playing offline, jump onto Live and get 2 more players. Want to go solo? Your choice too. I played the game over the weekend with two friends and we had an absolute blast playing and leveling up our characters. Characters you level can be taken both online and to other friend’s houses, so you’ll always have your progress.

Gameplay: 8.5
A solid button masher, CC increases in depth as you play and level up. It’s just a fun game to play.

Graphics: 10.0
The animations are hilarious and look identical to a cartoon. Back grounds are also highly detailed with great gags. The poop animations are also top notch.

Sound: 9.0
The music is simultaneously reminiscent of the 8-bit era while offering lots of catchy tunes.

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 9.0
This game reminds me of why I loved the old side-scrolling fighters. This game reinvigorates that old genre.

Multiplayer: 9.5
The perfect multiplayer game. This game is best experienced with other people. Other modes, like Arena and All You Can Quaff are also (albeit brief) options to increase replay value.

Overall: 9.5
When you play this game with a room of other people, and you find yourself laughing at all the gags and references to old games, you’ll be in love with this XBLA treasure.