Certain Affinity and Microsoft Game Studios are showing their upcoming, unique action-RPG Crimson Alliance at E3 2011. I had a chance to catch up with Mark Tucker, Lead Designer on Crimson Alliance, and play co-op to get a taste of what awaits in the fantasy Xbox LIVE Arcade game.
In Crimson Alliance, up to four players can join up to form a party of four distinct character classes. For the demo, I went with the wizard, while Mark selected the mercenary and took me through battles and secrets in The World of Crimson. Each character has their own unique ability and traits. With a swarm of skeletons charging towards us, I cast a spell that froze them in their place while Mark jumped in and slashed away at the incapacitated, iced enemies. The unique abilities of characters aren’t limited to the action combat. We soon stumbled on a wall with a unique marking. Mark and I weren’t able to get past the mysterious entrance, because we were lacking an assassin in our party. So expect to find unique areas that can only be unlocked by certain characters.
Crimson Alliance encapsulates those things RPG players enjoy: dimly lit dungeons seething with fantasy monsters, magic abilities, experience building, foreboding enemy bosses, and tons of loot. Mark reiterated that Crimson Alliance leans more to the action gameplay side than the traditional RPG (or many other action-RPGs themselves). And that was more than evident in the extent that Certain Affinity has undertaken to keep players in the action. Hot keys and equipment slots popup on a side of the screen. You won’t be buried in stat screens. There is little wordy dialogue, with a few moments that briefly cutaway. The scripted moments sometimes lead up to a frantic boss battle. If your party get slaughtered, hopefully you have a teammate to revive you. If not, there are checkpoints strewn throughout levels were players can continue. Continuous chained kills are also encouraged, with multiplier bonuses and killtacular rewards typically only found in FPS games.
If you’re wondering what inspired Certain Affinity to bring over these action gameplay traits to Crimson Alliance, the members of Certain Affinity have previously worked on maps for Halo 2 and Call of Duty: World at War. This also shows in their stage crafting talent, which comes across in the levels of Crimson Alliance. You won’t find randomly generated dungeons, but levels that require the player to analyze the battlefield to their advantage. Lay down arrow turrets to keep enemies at a distance, or keep a lookout for little nooks that could lead to rewarding treasure chests (secret areas). The environments encourage exploration, besides looking good. Crimson Alliance definitely can pass as a full retail title from the looks of it. The gameplay feels tight, and the action is fast paced. Environments are detailed and the lighting is filled with glowing magic effects.
Crimson Alliance‘s gameplay is estimated at about 8 or so hours, but with the variety of characters to play as, multiplayer gameplay, leaderboards and secret areas hidden throughout, completionist can expect plenty to keep them busy. This is definitely an action-packed fantasy game you want to keep a lookout for once it is available from XBLA. I went away from the gameplay demo only wanting more of the action, so it definitely will have you hooked. Crimson Alliance is estimated for a summer 2011 release, exclusively on Xbox LIVE Arcade.
Watch a trailer from Crimson Alliance below, or here on YouTube. See several screenshots from Crimson Alliance here. Visit the official website of Crimson Alliance at www.crimsonalliance.com for more details.
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