Crimson Alliance Preview

Certain Affinity’s XBLA hack’n’slash has received another brief preview, this time courtesy of the folks at Hooked Gamers. As far as I’m aware it doesn’t provide any new information, but it should serve as a quick starting point for anyone who hasn’t followed the game so far. Here’s a sampling of this short piece:

And, really, combat is the main draw of a game like Crimson Alliance. Up to four players can play together locally on a single screen (no split screen) or online through Xbox LIVE. However, since there are only three classes available, at least two out of the four players will have to double up. The classes are RPG standards and should be instantly familiar to veterans of the genre. The Mercenary fights up close and personal with a sword and shield, the Wizard blows things up from a distance with fire, ice, or electricity, and the Assassin mixes things up with a combination of ranged and melee attacks and the ability to slow down time.

There are no skill trees in the game. Instead, players can improve their characters through loot drops. Donning a new set of armour will not only change a character’s look, it will also increase health and provide ability bonuses as well. Crimson Alliance does away with mana bars and stats like strength and dexterity, and leaves behind simple button-mashing fun. Leaderboards, a scoring system, and combo multipliers encourage a bit of healthy competition amongst players, as does a ranking system at the end of each level that tallies up points, secrets found, and clear time.