Level 2 Review: Crimson Alliance
-by BigRob
I suck at Role Playing Games. I like leveling, stats, and story as much as the next guy but games like Fallout 3 and Borderlands don’t really appeal to me. Crimson Alliance takes a more simplistic approach to the genre. It is actually an arcade styled action-rpg. It has weapons, hacking and slashing, and it even has multiplayer co-op (couch and online) complete with leaderboards. But, let me start at the beginning…
Boom! ...Killstreak!
Crimson Alliance, from Certain Affinity, is a hack and slash style dungeon crawler that pits your crew against a slew of creatures of the underworld who have taken over the city of Byzan. Your crew consists of a Wizard, a Mercenary and an Assassin. You can take on the world alone or with friends to traverse the lands and defeat the evil chick that took over…. disclaimer: as a “Level 2 Review”, I have not finished the game and am kinda fuzzy on the exact game details.
This is standard fare for arcade slashers- pick your character (they each have their own abilities and special moves), revive your friends, buy and use better items, and dont get killed. You hack and slash your way to victory- then rinse & repeat. Crimson Alliance spins this formula by adding stat tracking leaderboards and a pretty neat scoring system. The game rewards you like a shooter would- as you kill enemies you get kill streaks, the longer you go without taking damage the more you can rack up points with bonus multipliers. Getting through the level is fine, but getting through with the highest score is how you beat your friends. You can finish each level with a bronze, silver or gold score. The world map also shows you your friends scores compared to yours for each level.
BigRob’s Gripes:
-Why can’t I sell my stuff back to the store? You find and pick up weapons and equipment from chests scattered around the levels and you can buy them at various stores but you cant sell any of it back. This game is basically what Torchlight should have been on the xbla, (though I’ll only play it on pc anyway) but at least it knew how to let you cash in on your junk and low level items.
-Where is the Loot? I see money all over the place… but my stacks on stacks never seem to add up, I’m always underfunded at the armory. I can’t pile my money sky high in part because I have all this junk that I can’t sell… I guess they want me to spend a dollar to get more loot from the marketplace. Yeah right! Come on Certain Affinity, that’s ballsy, you’ve got more dignity than that. Don’t let Microsoft microtransact your gamers to death.
Decked out and ready to kick butt.
BigRob’s Protips:
-spend your cash wisely… you can’t cash in later.
-shield bash like a mad man, use weapons infused with magic as they will make everything you hit die faster.
-if this is your style game and you want to play with friends with even the possibility of playing through more than once… buy the 1200 point edition. Worth it.
For now…
Crimson Alliance is a great hack and slasher that’s a great addition to XBLA with just enough depth and hooks to keep you playing. I have not tried the multiplayer yet and am definitely looking forward to it. I’m about 5 or 6 levels deep and its starting to get a little crazy. Having a couple players in game with me would be very helpful with crowd control and miniboss battles. Despite the overall money issues, real and virtual, Certain Affinity’s Crimson Alliance gets my Level 2 Stamp Of Approval.
Louie Approves.