A fun and enjoyable experience Worth every penny
The cartoony visual style of Castle Crashers fits in perfectly with the sometimes over-the-top scale of the fights and levels, as well as the mute and funny characters. How else could you explain a half shark, half cat creature mounted by the bear-people? Or how all your weapons are stored in the bowels of a giant frog that go on for a lot longer than the actual animal? The cartoony style also lends an innocence to the whole feel that makes the fact you're burning, electrocuting, slicing, bashing, and in general mutilating other cute and funny looking enemies.
The control scheme is fairly simple and is easy to master very quickly. The game slowly gives you more and more combos as you level up, but mostly you end up button mashing the same combo over and over. Magic is also a simple affair: pull the trigger and you can cast magic! The game also seems to take care of using health potions for you when you get low on health. One of my friends came over, and he's hardly touched an Xbox controller before, and he picked up the controls in no time and was having fun with us the whole time instead of fumbling with the buttons.
The music is a bit over the top and doesn't fit the situation sometimes, like having techno playing in a cave and orchestral and full choir music playing in an overly flowery field while you fight bees. But most of the time it's fun and good background music while you're bashing another group of enemies.
All in all, Castle Crashers is a good game that is worth the 1,200 point price tag. An easily accessible multiplayer game with tons of replay value is always a good idea to have in your arsenal for parties and chilling with friends.