Crimson Alliance

If it ain't broke, then don’t fix it. It’s not a saying I like and often developers that use it as their design foundation end up producing mediocre games at best. Initially, I felt that Crimson Alliance would fall into this category, with early impressions being that of an average fantasy hack 'n' slash clone. Fortunately, Crimson Alliance is able to step it up a notch, delivering a fun and enjoyable experience thanks to solid combat and an excellent co-operative platform.

Crimson Alliance can be played as a single-player experience, however, as Miss Johnston tells us, just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. This is evidently the case with Crimson Alliance. The potential of this game is not fully realised on a solo play-through, and you may find yourself getting bored quite quickly if you do embark on one. The story – which follows three adventurers as they battle the evil goddess, Soul Siren, and her minions through the once thriving empire of Byzan – is merely the vehicle for the action, and is driven forward with still image cut-scenes and competent voice work. That is not to say it’s bad, it isn’t, but the story is essentially there to move the action forward.

Players have a choice of one of three character classes – wizard, mercenary and assassin – with the usual combat abilities being tailored to either close or long range attacks depending on your selection. Gameplay wise, Crimson Alliance offers up a high level of accessibility which even the most casual gamers out there will find inviting thanks to a simple combat interface and user interface. That's not to say that the game is a cakewalk; there is a steady and gradual difficulty curve and the harder difficulty levels provide sufficient challenge, especially towards the end of the game. There is no character levelling, instead combat prowess is increased by adding and improving equipment upgrades. Additionally, inventory management is done in such a way that other players can continue fighting on while you work through your inventory. It is an effective way of keeping things going and maintaining the frantic pace and momentum of the game.

A common complaint with the masses regarding many Xbox LIVE Arcade games these days has been value for money. The general feeling is that there just isn’t enough content to justify the asking price, and for the most part, I agree with this sentiment. So it's refreshing to see a developer offering up an interesting alternative to the full priced XBLA game. Instead of a demo, Certain Affinity has released Crimson Alliance as a "full game" with limited characters. What this means is that content is limited to your character, rather than the game content being cut down. For example, playing in single-player, you can only play the first 3 levels, but in multiplayer, you can play the entire game but you're limited to 15 minute sessions. Where it gets interesting is that, instead of having to purchase the full game for 1200 MS Points, you can purchase only your favourite character for only 800 MS Points. So, if you're the kind of the RPG gamer who always picks a specific class, then you can get all the entertainment you want while saving 400 MS Points. I don’t think it’s a system that can work for all games, but it certainly works for Crimson Alliance, and hopefully we'll see it utilised effectively in future XBLA titles.

Barring its pricing structure, Crimson Alliance doesn't do anything particularly innovative, but its short, frantic and rewarding fantasy hack 'n' slash gameplay, coupled with an excellent co-op system, makes for a genuinely enjoyable experience that action RPG fans looking for something new to wile away a few hours won't be disappointed.

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