BRAWLER games, which require you to pick a character and run through a punishing gauntlet of enemies, have been a favourite of folks who play mainly in arcades.

Castle Crashers aims - and succeeds - in bringing the genre to a wider audience via the Xbox 360. The plot serves only as a gentle nudge to get players into the fighting: An evil sorcerer has kidnapped four princesses and it is up to the players (up to four can play cooperatively at the same time) to get them back.

Controls are basic with several attack types - light and heavy, a magic attack, a bow attack and a jump button.

The game takes only five hours to complete on medium difficulty - a tad short.

More difficult levels, though, require teamwork: monsters gain health, speed and power, making it nearly impossible to complete the game on your own.

Making up for its short duration is its tongue-in-cheek humour and over a hundred 'unlockables' ranging from weapons to characters and pets. These will add another 20 hours or so of gameplay.

The only gripe is that the loot, such as health potions or treasure, does not increase when there are more players, causing inter-party fights to see who can get to a treasure first.

For less than $25, however, it is a great way to while away a few hours.

By Eugene Neubronner, a freelance writer

This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life on 5 November 2008.

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