Ron Zambie's Arcade: Crimson Alliance

I have recently been feeling burnt out from playing to many FPS, so I decided I wanted to play a good arcade rpg. I came across a game called Crimson Alliance and noticed it was for free. I began to download it only to figure out the game is free, but you have to download the characters seperatley. Each character costs 560 MS points and there are 3 of them. A warrior, a rogue, & a wizard. Luckily the game was on sale this week and I got all 3 characters for 800 MS points. I was impressed with the game immediatley as it reminded me of my favorite game Baldur's Gate. Hack & Slash RPGs are my favorite genre in videogames, so I was immediatley absorbed into the game. I will be honest and tell you I didn't have high hopes for this arcade game, but I am glad to announce that this game is AWESOME! The game design is very good. Nothing feels cheap in this game everything is well done. The hit detection is spot on and the enemy animations are fluid. The game says it has 4 player co-op, but there are only 3 characters to choose from; so I don't know how that works. I played two player co-op with my friend Munky and we experienced little to no lag. I think in the 3 hrs we played we got like 3 seconds of lag in one level. That is pretty good since it was an America to Canada connection. Also, your characters don't level up in the traditional sense. This game is like Borderlands in the sense that your character becomes stronger by finding equipment in chest during the levels, or by buying new equipment from shops. Gold becomes very important in the game as it helps you buy new expensive equipment that only serves to make you stronger. You can by armor,trhowing axes, enchanted weapons, or equipment. The equipment in this game is pretty good and has alot of strategic value. Some of the equipment you can get are health springs, throw this down and you can regenerate your teams health for a couple of seconds in the area in which the spring was set down. Turret guns that shoot arrows at any enemy that gets close to it. Monster Meat! Enemy hordes run towards the meat when thrown and are distracted for a few seconds; sorta like the pipe bomb in the Left for Dead series. You also have a power guage that fills up as you slay orcs. Once the guage is filled up you can unleash a special attack. Each of the 3 characters has a unique special attack. The rogue can slow down time allowing her to use her quick strikes to take down multiple enemies. The warrior can do a spinning attack that drains enemies of their health. The mage,well, I haven't used him yet, so I don't know what he does, but I'm sure its cool. You can also combo together these special attacks to take out hordes of enemies. The game has many secret areas filled with gold and traps. Enemies will use these traps against you, but you can also use the traps against them. You can pick up explosive barrels and poisonous urns and lob them at enemies to kill them. Crimson Alliance allows you to replay levels in an effort to find all the hidden loot, or to farm gold. It also has a game plus mode where you can take your powerful character over to a higher difficulty. In summation I really enjoyed this game and think it is a really good buy if you're looking to play a good Hack & Slash rpg. Remember its a free download and each character costs 560 MS points, so for 560 MS points you can have access to a well made game. I do recommend a buy.