If you had a mobile phone back in 2014, you probably had Crossy Road installed on it. A modern day Frogger clone that added in endless running elements, it was a global phenomenon. Perhaps not on Flappy Bird scales, but not far off.
It’s a game that many would have grown up with, and whilst we were about four decades too late to be its target audience, there were no doubts over the addictive quality.
Since that time, it’s a franchise that has lain relatively dormant. Yes, there has been a Disney themed drop, but aside from that it was the Apple Arcade release of Crossy Road Castle that continued to push the vibe. Now that game is available across console, including Xbox. And frankly, it’s flipping brilliant.
There’s no way of getting around the fact that the original Crossy Road ideas that first came to prominence back in 2014 are felt here with Castle. This is one of those games that will drain your hours like no other, as you jump in for a five minute play, cursing as hours pass. It’s about as grindy as you could imagine too, but sometimes grind just has to be embraced.
In Crossy Road Castle you are tasked with making your way through a castle, with every exit door you walk through signifying the end of a stage. Those stages are randomly placed too, and so each run through the ten, twenty, fifty, one hundred levels you take in will feel ever so slightly different each time. Granted, occasionally feelings of repetition come to the fore, but for the most part you’ll enjoy the challenge.
Much of that is due to the swift nature of Crossy Road Castle’s levels. Some of these can be completed, quite literally in a couple of seconds, as you hop, skip and jump across a couple of platforms, nailing the exit with ease. Others are trickier, slightly longer as you get to grips with the puzzley nature. Death – and the removal of limited health points – drop in too, as you throw in enemies, traps, secret doors and pixel perfect jumping. The difficulty of this castle traverser is real.
Coins and Tokens are ready to be grabbed in Crossy Road Castle, accumulated to allow for various unlocks, pumped into a gacha machine, crossing fingers as to the reward that pops. More still is unlocked through sheer persistence, ticking off a multitude of challenges along the way, each described so you know what to aim for. Expect new characters, skins, hats, stickers and themed worlds to become available the more you play.
Those worlds are brilliant. You start off with the humble Unihorse Castle that emits Crossy Road vibes brilliantly; Uber colourful, well detailed and tons of fun. From there, multiple runs and floor successes will see you given access to the likes of the Construction Tower, Creepy Carnival, The Lost Temple and more. We’ve got a personal liking to Space Station 115 at time of writing, but in Crossy Road Castle, once a world is unlocked, you can jump into and out of it at will.
Each world is just different enough from the last to ensure repetition rarely raises a head, with some great ideas and theme elements injected in. Expect to be found firing the cast of Crossy Road out of cannons, up through magical rainbow roads, along conveyor belts and more.
The sheer thrills of Crossy Road Castle come about through the replayability, the need to take in another run, another set of levels, another fun boss, just in order to unlock more content. In those regards, it’s about as addictive as you can get. Whether that floats your gaming boat or not will dictate the love. And whilst we’ve pumped tons of hours into this already, perhaps that love will wane as months pass by. For short term hits though, Crossy Road Castle is right up there.
In an attempt to drag players in on a consistent basis, Hipster Whale have included some multiplayer action in Crossy Road Castle. It’s alright locally, allowing for some cooperative – albeit slightly messy – fun, but we can’t sit here and say that it’s the main enthuse. And whilst online multiplayer is also present, we’ve found problems in connecting to servers. Those problems roll down to leaderboard chasing too, with scores occasionally failing to show – we’d expect the devs to get on top of this with a fix.
A further addition is that of some special, preset challenges; a speedrunning style affair. Game changing it is not, but it does give a nice reason for additional Crossy Road Castle play, continuing the fix, boosting the coins and tokens gathered, in turn unlocking more stuff, quicker.
So, Crossy Road Castle – go and play it. This is a stupidly addictive, stupidly fun twist on the old Crossy Road formula, ensuring this is a brand and franchise that is capable of continuing to stay relevant. A grind in the best possible way, if you had love for the blocky endless runner the first time around, Crossy Road Castle should be seen as a near must-play now.
Going Up! Will Crossy Road Castle Hook You on Xbox, PlayStation or Switch? – https://www.thexboxhub.com/going-up-will-crossy-road-castle-hook-you-on-xbox-playstation-or-switch/
Crossy Road Castle To Conquer Consoles – https://www.thexboxhub.com/crossy-road-castle-to-conquer-consoles/
Buy Crossy Road Castle from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/crossy-road-castle/9pf9qs8qgdwg
