Crimson Alliance review

[xy_game] The story found in Crimson Alliance is very simple and is presented in static artwork in between levels. It starts with a wizard has awaken to find himself with no memory of the previous events, he meets with a mercenary and an assassin and they set on their quest to piece together the events.. Like I said it’s instantly forgettable and you can complete the game without having to wonder too much what is going on.

Certain Affinity have taken on an interesting approach to the pricing of the game with two options. You can spend 1200 :MSPoints: on the game to have access to all three characters, or if you prefer to spend 800 you can play with one character of your choosing. If, like me, you always play as the Warrior in this genre you can save yourself 400 :MSPoints: and plump for that character and ignore the rest. It is a good idea and personally I think works well.

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There are fifteen levels in total with five optional challenge levels, together they should take you around eight hours to complete on your first playthrough. The levels split over a few locations include typical dungeon scenes, through to outside in a deserted port and back inside to a palace, nothing original and it is almost expected in this genre. The levels are set out in a simple ‘travel from A to B’ pathway design with a few short branching paths which contain secret rooms and puzzle rooms. The levels are broken up in to areas, blocked by doorways which will only open once all the enemies in that area have been killed. My issue with the game was the lack of story while playing, there are no side quests and few occasions while in-game where the story is told either via cut scenes or narration, it feels very detached.

Crimson Alliance is a hack and slash game but in some ways it is watered down compared to games such as Diablo or Torchlight. Combat is essentially a button bashing exercise with light and heavy attacks using a sword for the Mercenary, spells for the Wizard or daggers for the Assassin. A dash ability which slightly differs in appearance depending on your chosen character can be used to quickly travel to get closer to or avoid enemies. A defence stance also differs between characters, the Mercenary will bash enemies with his shield while the Wizard will cast a spell to stun enemies for a short period. Finally there is a special attack which charges up by killing enemies and when used causes a considerable amount of damage.

There is no XP system, magic bars to limit casting your main spells and no attack combinations. Instead your characters increase in strength by finding or purchasing weapons, shields and armour as they progress through the game. The stats are split in to four categories; light and heavy attack, defense and health. A sword for example may improve light attacks and health, but at the cost of a decreased heavy attack. Some equipment may have special abilities such as regenerating health and poisoning enemies. RPG fans will have some fun with the very light task of finding the ideal balance from the reasonable number of equipment found in the game.

Items can be found or purchased at the merchants, though there are only four which are accessed via a tap of the D-Pad. A lump of meat draws enemies to it, an axe causes massive damage to enemies, a turret fires arrows at enemies and a health totem restores your health. It is quite refreshing not having to juggle a bunch of items you will probably never use because they are hidden away in an inventory screen. The four items all work well and can be regularly used as there are always plenty to pick up in the game.

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Online multiplayer allows for up to four players to join a party. Some thought has been put in to playing together as areas and puzzles can often need two or more players to access or complete them. The puzzles are simple in design and task players to hit targets within a short space of time and stand on switches simultaneously. The difficulty of the game on Normal is very easy when playing in a group, the enemies do not scale up in number or difficulty so you can breeze through a level with little challenge. There are a five of difficulty levels from Easy to Ridonkulous! which gives a very good challenge when first playing but when replaying the game it offers considerably less of a challenge thanks to having powerful equpiment. It is also perhaps made easier due to any found items are automatically shared between players, including health jars.

The presentation quality is mixed, the equipment menus are easy to navigate and while a little basic they do the job. Some confusion may arise while in a party at the merchants and everyone is viewing their equipment, it clutters up the screen. The same cut-scenes are reused throughout the game which makes the game feel cheap. The voice acting is not great, voices are poorly performed and do not suit the characters style. Graphically the game looks the part with dark dungeons to explore with some good variety in scenery, through to the bright graphics found in the outside locations. The changing styles throughout the game is refreshing as are the enemies from little Orc creatures, monster wolfs and zombies that you get to hack and slash.

Crimson Alliance is a strange game, technically it is sound as I experienced no bugs or glitches but for me the game felt like it had no heart and soul. I played an online game with some of the website staff and we got chatting about random things while playing, we was not paying real attention to the game but still managed to complete the level with no care. For us it had turned in to a mindless hack and slash game which was disappointing as I enjoy a bit of story with a few twists and turns. I am not sure the game caters enough for fans of Diablo or Torchlight, but if you enjoy running through levels destroying everything along the way you will find this ideal.