Crimson Alliance

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.

Overall, Crimson Alliance is an enjoyable ride whether it with friends or alone. While the solo player experience is decent the game really shines when playing with friends online. The combat is fast and fun, and even though I wish the “leveling up” was a bit deeper, it does work well and makes it easier for a casual player, or new player to the genre, to jump in and play. If you looking for a co-op action game to play with your buddies you can’t go wrong with Crimson Alliance on XBLA.

Crimson Alliance earns kudos for its well-crafted levels, appealing visuals, fast combat, and co-op support across multiple difficulty settings. It is essentially the spiritual successor to Gauntlet Legends. Yet those weaned on games like Diablo will find the content too shallow to merit consideration. The limited loot, lack of randomized dungeons, and loss of leveling ultimately undermines this Alliance before it has a chance to shine.

Where Crimson Alliance could have joined the white noise of dungeon crawlers, Certain Affinity has managed to design a solid and - more impressively - distinctive game, regardless of whether the simple, pick-up-and-play approach turns off a few hardcore fans of the genre.

Every aspect of Crimson Alliance works together to engineer a fun cooperative hack n’ slash. From the quick and easy inventory to the excellently designed levels and rewarding combat, this is the downloadable game to play with friends this season.

Crimson Alliance could be a delicious piece of peanut butter and s'mores toast with raspberry jam, it's just that the proportions are distracting on this first attempt. Basic genre expectations are fulfilled, delivering an approachable, action-RPG dungeon crawl -- but with a bit more careful measurement, Certain Affinity could have made this good game great.