Crimson Alliance Reviews
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Games Radar seems unimpressed and awards it a 6/10.
Another problem with Crimson Alliance is its pay structure. You can purchase the game for 800 MS points and only get one character, or you can shell out 1200 MS points and get all three characters. Likewise, you can purchase 40,000 gold for 80 MS points while shopping at item vendors instead of farming previous levels repeatedly. We're not sure whether developer Certain Affinity is responsible for the pricing or Microsoft, but it would've made much more sense if the single character purchase was much cheaper. As it stands, Crimson Alliance comes across as either a normally priced game that's missing two-thirds of the content or a premium download.
Slow to start but fun to play, Crimson Alliance can serve as a tasty snack if you find yourself between games. While the leveling mechanics are a little too shallow to keep true RPG fans invested, the dark cel-shaded visuals and easy-to-pick up combat system can make for a fun weekend with friends. Just be sure to make the right choice if you're only willing to buy one character.
gamrReview, 7.8/10.
In its continued effort in battling the mundane, Crimson Alliance's fully integrated four-person multiplayer, both local and online, provides a shining example for all within the genre to strive for. As fun as hacking and slashing your way through Byzan by your lonesome is, having three friends with your make that much better. It's almost necessary to have at least the other two classes join you, as each character has specific doors only they can unlock, and to be honest, the game is just too damn easy on normal.
Yet with the addition of some friends, and pumping up the difficulty to at least hard, if not immortal, an awesomely challenging adventure awaits. Much of this supple challenge (at least, on harder difficulties) is due to the refreshing variety of enemies you slaughter. Though not terribly original, Crimson Alliance's enemies spout many different attacks and never feel repetitive, and more than makes up for sticking to the archetypal goblins, zombies, and skeletons.
Essentially, Crimson Alliance is a far, far superior version of the Gauntlet concept. Many of the basic mechanics of one of the most famous hack & slash series are kept intact, yet are greatly improved upon to gives us a much more satisfying experience. Featuring vast array of weapons, a solid skill set, class specific special attacks, and some stellar tunes and visuals to boot, it's is a steal at 800 points, even for only one character. Combined with the six hour campaign that is fully cooperative on both the couch and Xbox Live, it's hard to go wrong with Crimson Alliance, regardless of the flaws that permeate it.
Game Dynamo, 92/100.
Lastly, I was really impressed with how Crimson Alliance was packaged. Instead of buying the game outright, players are allowed to download a trial version with generic characters. They then have fifteen minutes of play time to see if they and the game are compatible. After that, you have the option to buy a permanent character out of the three mentioned earlier. Each single character is 800 MS Points ($9.99 plus tax), or you can buy all three for 1200 MS Points ($19.99 plus tax), meaning that if you buy two you get the extra one for free. Not only is this a good deal, I don't mind saying that it's practically a steal for what you're getting.
In closing, I can't say enough about how good Crimson Alliance is as an XBLA game; it's fun, exciting, and in this day and age worth every penny. I strongly urge you to check it out.
