Scratch

So this is the potential start of a review "series", for video games that already exist. I hope   that I can be of some use to people who aren't sure about buying a game.

Let's start with Crimson Alliance. A newly released XBLA (XBox Live Arcade) created by Certain Affinity. It is a top-down action game. The game is free...to a certain extent. You must purchase the characters in order to save your progress. An individual character will cost you 800 MS Points, or you can purchase them all together for 1200 points.

Now, away with numbers and to the characters you play as. Each has three attacks and a dash. The first, Direwolf, is a wizard themed character, with attack from a fire bolt to freezing enemies solid, to an area of effect lightning bolt. Something to note about Direwolf is that his dash can move through enemies, making him great for "crowd control".

The second is Gnox the Mercenary. He is a close range attacker with a normal, quick slice, an overpowering yet slow hit that does a lot of damage. His last move isn't really an attack. His other move is a shield bash that stuns enemies, but does minimal damage. I think that Gnox is a little overpowered, as his powerful strike kills most enemies in one hit.

The last is Moonshade the assassin. The only female character, she has a slicing attack, a stun move that can stun out to a decent range, and a dagger throw. The assassin is a very hard character to use, in my experience. Still, for those who like a challenge, there it is.

Gameplay is quite fun alone, but the real fun lies in online play. Fighting the "bosses" of the game is easier and more fun with friends, and those moments like one player killing one enemy and another killing another simultaneously are hard to match.

In a special note, there is a download for 80 MSP called "Rags to Riches". This gives you a key which can unlock the golden chests at any merchant. Doing so gives you 40,000
gold.

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+ Co-Op is awesome
+ Still fun alone
+ Great character variation...
- ...too bad one rules all
- Rags to Riches is EZ mode

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Thanks for reading. Hope you liked it. Any suggestions on how to improve?