In the current economic climate, sometimes you have to take a new approach to your problems. In that spirit, the latest offering from Nitrome is almost the opposite of a standard tower defense game. Instead of building structures along a path to repel a gang of marauders, you play as the characters on the path trying to destroy the fixed objects shooting at you. Your mission? To protect your shareholders. Welcome to a long long time ago, when economic recessions went medieval.
As the head of Castle Corp, you're clearly aware of the state of the global economy. In fact, it seems like all of your business making flags and capes has gone to Happy Family Shields and Accessories Incorporated over on yonder hill... So what does a failing business do to get itself back on its feet? (I should warn you that if you say "federal bailout", I will have no choice but to smite thee with my mace.)
Of course, you fight back. To do this, open the "Inventory" tab at the bottom of the screen to see the crew of knights you can employ. A knight can be placed at any of the starting pads on the map, and will start walking along the path until he reaches the end. If a knight meets an enemy, they will engage in a melee-style battle. However, a brawl takes a long time and can drain your knights' energy, so it may be helpful to take advantage of his rocket boosters. (Stay with me, it gets even better.) Aim your walking knight's trajectory with your cursor, and click to fire him through the air. He'll tackle airborne nemeses, collect coins for spending, and do other things that authentic knights did back in the day with their rocket packs. It's like reliving the Middle Ages!
Your goal is to knock away all enemy soldiers and weapons with your knights. As you plunder your way through HFSA Inc.'s headquarters, your enemies' supply of warriors and weapons become greater and stronger, with automated crossbows, fire-blowing mysical eyeballs, and cannons that shoot pigs. Some will even take more than one hit to destroy, but that's where your loot comes in. Between levels, you can purchase power-ups that let you boost your strength for battle, cast devastating spells, and carry chickens that lay eggs on your enemies. Seriously, it's by miracle alone that I haven't made a Monty Python reference yet.
Analysis: While Nitrome isn't known for taking stabs at current events, they do so here with great aplomb, balancing overused phrases from the cubicle world with an almost absurdist sense of humor, and taking it all back to the Middle Ages. You'll know when you get to take your first chicken-aided flight that this game was meant to be a ridiculous parody, and it's done quite well.
Those who have learned to equate "Nitromehard" with "Nintendohard" might be in for a bit of a surprise here, since the game helps the player along with a lot of handicaps, especially when it comes to power-ups. Did you buy a bunch of power-ups you realized you didn't need? You can sell them back for full price. Did you pick up a power-up you don't want? Sell it, and get something else for your money. Did you blow a whole ton of money and power-ups on a level, only to later lose that level? No worries, you get everything right back for your next go. You might almost think this game is being just a bit too forgiving.
There are a couple of known bugs still floating around (but being worked out), but none of them really hinder the gameplay much. If anything, they actually work on your side. For example, there have been instances where losing a level restarts you with an extra power-up or two in your stash. Oh, and remember playing peek-a-boo as a baby? Here's a hint: If you can't see a mounted weapon like a trebuchet or pig-shooter, it can't see you, so you can walk right by it without taking damage.
At the end of the day, Castle Corp boils down to a fun little anti-TD game with a great sense of topical humor. Maybe what every businessman needs nowadays is to throw on some armor and go medieval.
Cheers to Julian, Mark, Funlerz, Emil, Maqrkk, Saladgoat, Ben, and Aethelind.cullen for sending this one in! =)
I love this game! Did anyone else notice that some of the Sirs are named after real ones? Sir Gallahad from monty python, Sir Paul - Paul McCartney, And Sir Elton John
Great game! 5/5 Did Did anyone else notice that those boxes where you get items from are from mutiny?
Lol, Sir Galahad "the pure" predates Monty Python by quite a large whack. He was one of the 'actual' knights of Camelot used in Holy Grail - as opposed to the made up ones like Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Film and Brave Sir Robin.
This is my favorite game nitrome has released since final ninja 0!!! I'm stuck on the level where you (first) see the eyes that shoot fireballs at you, any tips?
I finished it!
But i can't find one knight...
And I only used my sword cannons on the last level, and they worked perfect
:D
for eyeballs:@funerlz
I can't beat the dragons. I'm not even sure how to get near them.
How do I beat level 20? The two steam-spewing pipes block my knights. I can use chickens to take out some enemies, but they aren't too reliable.
I beat today. It was really easy, other than the last level. I still have three Nitrome games to beat though. If anyone has any tips for the three games I haven't beaten, can you help on the right pages? Hydra, you have beaten Nanobots, Pest Control, and Hot Air, can you help me? In return, I'll help you guys with some games.
Has anyone picked up on the Triple Crossbow joke? Look at the description: Does your regular crossbow miss the mark? Now with a revolutionary three arrow system and greater comfort you'll shave closer to your targets. Triple Crossbow - the best a man can get!
Have you figured it out?
I liked it well enough, but not enough to deal with the bugs. A few times it simply didn't register that I'd put someone in motion. Off-screen motion is inconsistent as well; it's all a bunch of minor annoyances that detract too much for me.
Not a bad game if these get fixed.
Whenever you click on a menu when you have a knight out, it launches him. :(
Come on Nitro, hire some bug testers. Their games are almost always released with glaringly obvious bugs (and they don't seem to fix them either). :(
Defeated it!
Unfortunately one knight missing.
(Can someone help?)
I like the reference to Lord of the Rings in this game. Anyone notice it?
The towers that shoot fires at you look similar to the eye of sauron.
@MH
Where is the last knight?
Does anyone know how to beat level 21? The pipes to the left of the spawn point block every enemy in there.
I'm on level 25, but I can't beat it because there are too many guys. Any cheats or hints to help me out?
Completed but also missing that final knight. I'm guessing it just hasn't been built into the game, as there's no caged knight on level 24.
I only used power-ups from levels 20 onwards. [And not all were completely needed] The last level was a close scrap for me as well, with me sniping the last three enemies with three knights.
All in all I think it's a good game, but with a few bugs that could be fixed. I also would have liked a reset button for when you make an annoying error and don't want to go through the whole menu again.
This is probably one of my favourite Nitrome games, although I too think there are a few bugs that should be addressed.
For example, in one level, I rocketed into one of my caged knights. No message came up telling me I'd freed him, he didn't appear to parachute out, and sure enough, he wasn't available to select in the next level.
In the level I'm playing now (16) I used the strength-potion-thingy, walked along the platform and destroyed three men. He had plenty of health, and was about to take on another two, when he jumped off for no apparent reason.
Glitches aside, this is definitely one of Nitrome's better efforts.
How do you beat level 22? How do you get at the knights in the pipes?
For lvl 22 you will need bombs to get at the knights. It takes two bombs to kill one knight.
The powerbomb promotion lied. I bought 1, and never got 2 more. It said, buy one, get 2 free! :D But it lied.
In game powerbombs get three uses before your guy parachutes
How can you get the knight on level 13? I tried to get him with an egg, but apparently, that doesn't count.
@Learner: It means that, when you equip one of your knights, you can drop three.
I just found out how to get Sir Sean.
This also is interesting.
Heh heh.
Great parody on the recession. VERY original. If this isn't a great game, I don't know what is. I like the Gillete reference for the 3-way crossbow.
I don't think you are able to 25 knights. I've searched every level 10 times but only got 24. Annoying.
Sheilds? ...
Either way, pretty fun game. :)
For level 21:
how do u beat level 23 i can't get into the pipe chimney thing on the right of the spawns??
how do you beat level 24.. i just don't know what to do about those things on the left?! its blockaded too much.
Ok so how do I beat leevel 24? I can't get past it because for the villains on the left everythign is blockaded and I can't get past it? help?
For the pipes on 23:
Nothing on 24 is blocked on the left, I assume you mean 25
For the left of 25:
Someone please explain how to beat level 25. What items do you need? Which way first?
How do you get the fire eye thing on level 21?
The pipe on the right is in the way.
I can't get through lvl 14. Got 10 knights, and don't know how to use them well.
25:
2 hints for 14
I use the horse on level 21 for the eye on the right, but how do i get to the eye on the left????
Does anyone know how to save the knight in level 5?
I can't seem to get him.. I've tried bouncing of the first pipe but it goes in the middle of the two instead of the next pipe. Maybe I need to be more accurate with my aim?
Does anyone know how to save the knight on level 5?
sir gallahad is from king arthur and the knights of the round table, as well as lancelot
I can't beat level 8. Please help.
I think I got the secret to the eye on the left for level 21.
Helpful tip for the sauron towers:
Knight at level 5:
someone help with level 24 - can't get the ghost thing on the far right
help with level 24 - can't get the ghost thing on the far right behind the vertical pipe.
For Level 21
@learner:
In level 25 how should I get to the saurontower? I have tried to beat it for hours.
If you think it's too easy, try completing the last level with no powerups. Hard but possible. =D
I beat it easily enough but I am still missing two knights - does anyone have a list of their locations?
For level 21, the "hard to reach fire eye" -
[edit: spoiler added. -eileen]
I can add another Nitrome game to my list of favorite games. This was so much fun. I thought it was a bit easy at first, but true to form, Nitrome cranked it up in later levels.
What makes this one a departure I think, is that beyond the minimum "ground-floor" difficulty, you have control over setting the skill level yourself. If you want to replay earlier levels for gold to buy powerups for later ones, you can. This certainly is not possible in say, Rustyard or Parasite. On the other hand, if you want to make it hard on yourself, you can do that too. This greatly increases replay value, in my opinion.
The "cute-yet-cool" factor in Nitrome games really appeals to me. I don't like them all. But like certain others, this has intriguing and inventive elements. One of their best.
And I WILL find that last knight! Or... maybe not. LOL!
Guys, you dont have to buy ANYthing to complete lvl25, you only have to get enough knights. I made it without buying anything but had to use 23 knights.
You can get the last knight by collecting ALL the money in EVERY level.
@PCvO@ Can you share any tips for getting all the moneybags on the above right side of level 25? I end up leaving the top & bottom at the farthest right.
Umm theres a big bug man... Im saving knights and they dont appear in the inventory -.- always stay with the first 4 i dont know why...and guys how do you buy from the shop where is the shop?
lol
ok guess what? i found a glitch!
you need to equip all of your stuff to your dudes and then pause and quit.
when you come back the guy will be holding it, and it will be in your inventory!
have fun!!
Someone have a list of where the knights are?
I need help on level 9!
Update