The creators of Castle Crashers brought their latest game, right now known as Game 3, to Comic-Con, an Xbox Live Arcade title heavy on the "TBA." Platforms, release date, final game name and just about everything is still "TBA."
But the game was playable on the Comic-Con show floor, split into three parts, each game type a multiplayer affair for up to four players. Is that the maximum number of players? Behemoth folks at the show wouldn't say. It's another thing that's "TBA."
Game 3 is, as far as we can tell from our hands on time with the game, a series of competitive and team-based multiplayer platformer games with a Behemoth flair. You'll customize the look of your adorably animated character, drawn in the Dan Paladin style, then enter a hub world full of doors, each leading to various game types.
There's "Grab the Gold," which features a floating gold whale that defecates gold bricks. Pick up those bricks and transport them to a floating winged safe to deposit your winnings. Whoever has the most gold when the timer runs out wins the round.
"Soul Snatcher" is a game of keep away. Players will lose their souls if they're knocked out, have their heads stomped upon, or burn to death. Grab the floating, frowning soul and play keep away. The longer one holds onto an opponent's soul, the higher their score. Big scores beat small scores. Obviously.
Game 3 also features a slightly less violent competitive mode, "Paint the World." Run your character over the gray and white blocks the level is built from to paint them the color of your team. The more tiles you own, the more points you score. The catch is that tiles your character touches don't instantly take on your team's color, meaning an opponent could swoop in and make it his own. The level will also "de-colorize" some tiles during a broadly sweeping desaturation event, forcing you to revisit some tiles.
All of these game types get a little more interesting, thanks to the combat items one chooses for their character. These include, but are not limited to, weapons like an exploding Frisbee, a mortar that launches blocks of ice, a fireball and an electric fan. That fan is one of the defensive options, pushing back opponents and the projectiles they'll send your way. A bouncing ball, described to me as the best item in the game, certainly didn't seem that way, based on my use of the thing.
At close range, players can melee with their fists. That's called "punching" someone.
The Comic-Con demo was enjoyable, if limited, and definitely promising. Game 3 is cute, customizable and combines familiar game modes into a package that's in line with The Behemoth's previous work on Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers. The flyer for the game indicates that there will be a single player component. It also promises unlockables, depth and replayability, features and [can't make this word out] and the reas... that word gets cut off too. Look, it's gonna have stuff in it.