Written by: Ian

 

 

 

Does the latest game from the makers of Age of Booty, "Crimson Alliance" bring back the joy of playing Gauntlet with friends? Technically the game is free, but in reality this is no new free-to-play revolution from Microsoft, as realistically to progress you will need to purchase at least one of the three available characters. What it does bring, however, if the interesting option to pay either 800 or 1200 points for the game, depending upon how much you think you’ll play of the game.

 

 

Crimson Alliance has a pretence of a story, but quickly it turns into a bit of a disappointment. The game opens with a fairly grand, although slightly generic cut-scene, and provides another one before the first game level. From then onwards, prepare to be disappointed- there’s not an awful lot going on, and you may go 2 or 3 levels without any indication of what is happening, other than by killing dudes you are getting gold and helping to save the day.

 

 

 

Remember Gauntlet? Well, this game tries to recapture that spirit of tight levels, loads of enemies, and co-operative play coupled with different classes and strategies to progress. The game is somewhat more advanced than this, however, as each class gets a variety of attacks to use on the face buttons of the controller, as well as an uber-power which can be activated on occasion, and a block.

 

The three classes are Mercenary Warrior, Wizard, and Assassin. The mercenary is a typical melee tank character, the wizard has ranged attacks, and the assassin is very quick, darting around the battlefield. Its odd there is not a fourth class, but even then, the assassin is an odd one, never really feeling at home with the others.

 

You can attempt some strategy, but for the most time, this is a game about button mashing. You may have to time some attacks, but that’s about all you’ll need to succeed as you smash your way through the levels. You get more powerful, but in a very different way to other RPGs.

 

 

Kills get you gold, and gold buys you more powerful equipment. It’s slightly more streamlined than many games, but there’s no inventory management, meaning it can get more complicated than necessary to select the right equipment. There’s plenty to do and see in the game, and it will probably take most people 4-6 hours to get through everything- then there are new DLC maps available already (not tested). For the quality and the price, that’s probably about right.