Castle Crashers (PS3)
vs.
Alien Soldier (Sega Mega Drive)
"Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind." - John F. Kennedy
"If you want to conserve your Pokémon for the Gym Leader... Then get it right!" - Cinnabar Gym
I lied. And I fooled you twice you silly little squid.
I will be comparing these two games in numerous categories, such as: Gameplay, Graphics, Story, Weapons/Power-ups, and Music/Sound, as with the last pair of games… so let’s get started then!
GameplayKessel Threshers is a beat 'em up game developed by The Behemoth; you can choose from a number of characters (depending on who you've unlocked) that can gain different magical abilities as you level up. I chose the Green Knight on my first playthrough: he uses poison-based magic. When you level up, you can also increase other stats, and throughout the game, you can get new weapons and "Animal Orbs" that can give you special benefits or further enhance your stats.
The game also has a postgame mode called... Insane Mode... *sigh* I am convinced it is completely impossible to do with only one player; you pretty much NEED at least two players in order to get through (one of which should optimally be the King, so that you can heal between enemy encounters, and not consume potions, which are invaluable for boss fights). I've just given up on trying... X_X
Alien Soldier is another run and gun game made by Treasure; apparently, it was originally only released in Japan and Europe (hence the "Mega Drive" title rather than "Genesis"), and was not released at all physically in the US until later. When you start the game, it greets you with such phrases as "FOR MEGADRIVERS CUSTOM" and "VISUALSHOCK! SPEEDSHOCK! SOUNDSHOCK! NOW IS TIME TO THE 68000 HEART ON FIRE!" Huh. I guess so. So when you actually start the game, you're presented with a slew of options: what weapons to choose, which of the confusing HUDs to use, and a list of moves and abilities you can use.
There are only two difficulties in this game: Superhard (the default), and Supereasy (the difference being that you cannot use continues in Superhard). This game does not **** with you. It ****s on you. There's no Supernormal. It's as if the game is saying that you can either be a ***** or be a man. I just realized that statement was sexist, and will amend it to say that it's as if the game is saying that you either be weak or be strong. As for the gameplay itself, it's mostly bosses. Wikipedia says that this game "is listed in Guinness World Records Gamers Edition 2010 under the category 'Most boss battles in a run and gun game'." This game takes a while to get a hold of, as it's mostly just preserving your health until you get to the bosses, and then trying to keep your health as high as possible during
those. One of the abilities, a teleporting-like ability, is extremely useful for this purpose (as in, you will most likely need to use it a lot).
Castle Crashers Score: 9/10
Alien Soldier Score: 7.5/10
GraphicsThe art style of Crustle Thrusters is very cartoonish, much like Alien Hominid (yet also violent at times); it adds a unique appearance to the game and gives it its own atmosphere, etc. etc. etc.
The same thing that applies to Gunstar Heroes applies to Alien Soldier. I'm too lazy to write more about it. The protagonist is an eagle-robot-thing, so I guess I could say that he looks cool?
Castle Crashers Score: 9/10
Alien Soldier Score: 9/10
StoryCastle Crashers has a pretty typical story (that still manages to be humorous and all-around entertaining): four princesses are captured as the evil wizard attacks the castle, and you need to go all across the land, rescuing the princesses one by one, as you encounter many kinds of great enemies (bosses) before your final confrontation with the evil wizard and his henchmen. You even get kidnapped by aliens once (yes,
those aliens); it's a bit challenging to explain all the minute details of the story.
Alien Soldier... uh... where should I start.
Just read this. READ IT.
Castle Crashers Score: 8/10
Alien Soldier Score: 9/10
Weapons/Power-upsIn Cushing Mushers, you get a great variety of weapons, some of which raise stats, others which raise some stats but lower other, and even more weapons that DO NOT RAISE YOUR STATS AT ALL (usually the default weapons). According to the Castle Crashers Wiki, there are 83 weapons in all, of which my favorite is possible the Evil Sword. Pretty impressive. The power-ups you get in this game (or other items, rather) vary from things like a Bow, to Bombs, Sandwiches (which make you BEEFY), a Boomerang, a Shovel, and Health Potions. While in the levels, you can find food items that restore your health. Pretty standard fare.
Alien Soldier gives you a selection of four out of six weapons from the start: Buster Force, which shoots a stream of energy balls out in front of you; Flame Force, which, uh, shoots a jet of flame out in front of you; Sword Force, which shoots a laser; Ranger Force, which shoots a flurry of projectiles in an arc in front of you; Homing Force, which shoots out flames (?) that bend toward your enemies; and finally, Lancer Force, which shoots a slow laser (I assume it's a stronger version of Sword Force that takes longer between shots). Each weapon has limited energy before it drains, meaning you'll need to collect more energy for the weapons in the levels. My only complaint is that it's difficult to switch weapons mid-level without getting hurt- the game doesn't pause at all while you're switching!
Castle Crashers Score: 8/10
Alien Soldier Score: 7/10
Music/SoundThe music in Castle Crashers is DELICIOUS. From the title screen to the map, to the
first song in the first level, to
Jumper, and
a lot of other stuff create a diverse tone for the game and enhance the mood for each level (and other locations) in the game, and is just plain enjoyable to listen to. VIDEO GAME MUSIC FTW!!!
The music in Alien Soldier is pretty good, but I don't like it as much compared to Gunstar Heroes' soundtrack (there is a
remix of the Seven Force theme in the game though, when you fight "Seven Force" at one point in the game). I didn't get to hear much of it in-game (as I only got up to stage 5), so I unfortunately can't say much about it in terms of in-game context, but I did enjoy listening to it on Youtube (although it was mostly just flipping through the songs- I don't have time to listen to each one individually, especially because I'm just going to write a paragraph summary of the whole OST!

).
Castle Crashers Score: 9.5/10
Alien Soldier Score: 8/10
ConclusionOverall, Castle Crashers is a great game; its art style is great, the gameplay is enjoyable, the music is wonderful; etc. However, on the other hand, I didn't really like the giant boss run feel that Alien Soldier had (because that's literally what it is)- it's still quite enjoyable, but it doesn't have the same impact (for lack of a better word) as other run-and-gun games like Gunstar Heroes have with me. I wouldn't call it a bad game by any means, but out of these two games, the choice is clear.
Castle Crashers Final Score: 9/10
Alien Soldier Final Score: 7.8/10
Reviewer Notes:
- I wish they had a Colonel Sanders statue as a weapon in Chicken Munchers!
- Alien Soldier has 25 (short) levels and 31 bosses. Yikes.
- FOR MEGADRIVERS CUSTOM. FOR GREAT JUSTICE.