I got a chance today to play through the demo for Certain Affinity’s Crimson Alliance for Xbox Live Arcade at E3 2011.  If you have not heard of Crimson Alliance yet it is a fast paced action RPG that is slated to for release later this summer.  It supports four player co-op over Xbox Live and 3 character classes to choose from. They are the Warrior (melee fighter), Wizard (ranged magic) and Assassin (mixed attack style).

I had an absolute blast playing 2 player co-op on the show floor today. I got to play both the Warrior and Wizard for a while.  The controls are simple but allow for a good range of attacks.  You have a light attack, heavy attack, defense move, block and special attack. Additionally there are a few special weapons you can pick up like throwing axes and a plantable turret. With all these various moves your characters still play best when they work together.  For example the wizard can freeze enemies and then the Warrior can shatter them.  Because it is fast paced it plays somewhat like a hack-n-slash but there is enough variety that there is some strategy involved in the fighting.

The graphics look good with a fair amount of color even though your in dungeons. Like any good RPG there was plenty of loot, upgrades and secret areas. The campaign is suppose to clock in at about 7 hours, but since you are scored for you run through each level you'll be going back to try them again. Plus there are challenge rooms and the like to keep you busy as well.

Personally I had a blast during my time playing Crimson Alliance and I can't wait to play the full game with some friends.