cc_screencap19.jpg

No date this weekend? Friends still pissed about you peeing in their aquarium? Cat looking at you with those cold, dead eyes? None of that matters, as this weekend you can entertain yourself with The Behemoth's awesome downloadable beat-em-up Castle Crashers.

Remember that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game where you could have four players simultaneously beating the hell out of the Foot Clan? Castle Crashers is like that, only with hyper-stylized artwork and the ability to customize the skills and weaponry of any of the game's 26 characters.

Yeah, the game sports a $15 price tag. That's a bit high for a title that you download from the Xbox Live Marketplace, but unlike all those crappy arcade ports or shoddy independent games taking up space on Microsoft's service, Castle Crashers won't end after a dull 20 minutes of play. Even discounting its innate replayability or any of CC's multiplayer modes, most will spend 10+ hours just trying to finish the regular game.

Even if you don't value my word as law -- you should -- at least consider this reason to download the Castle Crashers demo. It's free, cheapass.