Released on, September 7th, 2011, the team over at Certain Affinity bring us their long awaited new IP, Crimson Alliance. Hearkening back to the days of video-gaming old, Certain Affinity takes us into a medieval world of action, magic, and lots and lots of enemies. It’s time, once again, to grab a controller and some friends and set out to save the world from certain doom.
Right off the bat, the player is given a beautifully presented introduction to the world of Crimson Alliance; describing the rise to power and, ultimately, the destruction of the Soul Siren and her minions. Now, many years later, the cult of the Soul Siren has released her back into world and she must be stopped.
Upon starting the game, the player must choose to play through their adventure as the Mercenary, the Wizard, or the Assassin. Here, Crimson Alliance has something not seen in most dungeon-crawlers and action adventure titles. If the player wishes, they can view a wholly unique introduction for each character’s back story and why they have set out on their adventure together. It’s not only nice to get a little back story as to why a hero does what they do, but it’s very interesting to see some of the subtle story overlaps and twists Certain Affinity has placed within the foundation of the story.
While perhaps not the most amazing of features, after selecting a class, Crimson Alliance allows each player to edit their own custom character names as well as their characters primary and secondary colors. This not only gives each character a slightly more unique feel to them, but also helps players differentiate themselves from each other; especially in the case of multiple instances of the same class.
Each character class is essentially broken down into three attacks and the always welcome dodge/dash ability; designed to give them each a unique advantage in combat. The Mercenary is a master of the melee world. Using sheer power and his handy shield bash to decimate his enemies with swift efficiency, the Mercenary is a fast friend of solo and group players alike. The Assassin focuses heavily on disabling their enemies with their hyper-fast dash attack and finishing them off with their swift dagger strikes. They lend themselves fantastically well in a multiplayer setting. All the while, the powerful Wizard remains the physically weak yet resolute damage dealer; focusing on powerful spells – from fireballs to ice torrents – to thoroughly crush their enemies. The classes are so distinct, the game will truly feel completely different determined by what class the player decides to adventure with.
The first thing many players will notice about Crimson Alliance is the lack of a standardized loot and experience system. This is not to say their are no items or character progression, but it is definitely done differently than many dungeon-crawler fans may be used to. Each primary, secondary, and armor item the player has equipped will affect each of their three abilities as well as their overall health levels. Some of the more exotic and rare items even sport special blessings and elemental enhancements to further increase the player’s capabilities. These items can either be bought from merchants between levels or found in secret areas in each mission. While on the slightly more simplified side, this structure still has a solid progression to it that flows at a very comfortable pace. Returning to early levels, the player’s enhanced strengths will be blatantly evident in a matter of seconds. It’s not the standard leveling system, but it certainly works.
The visuals are truly fantastic, far beyond the current standards found in console dungeon-crawlers to date. Not only are the character designs widely varied and impressively detailed, animations – the life blood of the game’s visuals – are absolutely brilliant. They keep the world breathing and alive, complimenting the rather breathtaking amount of detail found in both the level designs and structure perfectly. The sheer variety of enemies and level themes found throughout Crimson Alliance is amazing; by both arcade and disc-based standards. Every level puts the player someplace new visually, which really helps when going back to old areas to explore for new treasures or to achieve higher levels of completion. It gives each level a bit of life of its own, screaming for the player to come back and explore until they’ve found everything.
The secret areas hidden throughout the game are a brilliant design to keep players coming back for more. Filled with everything from gold to item pickups and new weapons, these spots are crucial to find no matter what class the player has chosen. Many can be found through simple exploration while others will require the usage of specific classes to access them; further supporting the concept of multiplayer co-op gaming.
The sound effects of Crimson Alliance, from clashing steel to the scorching bellows of an exploding fireball, do an amazing job of filling the world with a feeling of tangibility and interactivity. The enemy’s release powerful war screams as the Assassin dashes by with a battle cry amidst the Mercenary’s powerful whirlwind of metal slashes and impacts. The audible world is just as alive as the visuals on-screen, yet the musical score at times seems to be a bit weak.
The primary focus of Crimson Alliance is, without question, multiplayer. The game is a solid experience for you lone-wolves out there, but the experience found on the co-op side of the game is amazing. The game runs smoothly aside from the occasional frame rate drops. Also the classes blend together flawlessly. An Assassin’s stun attack mixed with the Mercenary’s whirlwind attack or the Wizard’s Ice torrent will have most enemies running for their virtual lives. While the game may be roughly 5 hours in overall length, the gameplay brings the player back to the days of sitting on the couch with their friends and battling endless hordes of enemies for no more reason than the fact that it’s fun.
One unusual choice made by the team at Certain Affinity, however, is their decision to go with a “micro-transaction” business model for their title. Anyone can download the game for free, but must, instead, pay for each class they wish to play as. This has been greeted by both complete acceptance as well as harsh judgment by many. If the player decides to buy a class at a time they will be penalized and will be forced to pay twice the amount of the full class pack. A bit harsh by many’s standards. The micro-transaction design found inside the game itself via the magical treasure chests found in merchant areas allows the player to buy additional gold using their Microsoft points. The design is not bad by any means of the imagination as it allows players to cut out needless gold runs with a few Microsoft points; but it does lead into one of the game’s greater flaws.
If the player decides to play the game without purchasing this additional gold via the micro-transaction model they will be confronted by the harsh realization that they will have to grind for gold more than any dungeon crawler in recent years to buy even the lowest of items at the merchant shops. A micro-transaction design to help ease gameplay is ok, but one that massively penalizes players who don’t pay definitely hurts the overall experience.
Overall, Crimson Alliance is a fantastic, fun, and well designed dungeon-crawler romp through the gaming days of yester-year with a slick new polygonal paint job and solid multiplayer to boot. In the present gaming world, good multiplayer dungeon crawlers are usually unheard of and it is truly refreshing to see the genre still alive and kicking. It does have its flaws and definitely leans toward the multiplayer experience over the single, but this title is absolutely a worth-while experience. If you miss the days of sitting on the couch with your friends over a nice game of Gauntlet or you’ve never played a dungeon-crawler in your life, Crimson Alliance is a great place to start.
