One of the largest downloadable hits the 360 has ever seen is Castle Crashers, the four-player medieval beat-em-up starring four differently-colored knights, pursuing princesses and increasing stats along the way. The creators of Corrupted, OnlyLuck Interactive, clearly wanted their game to play similarly, down to the four colored knights. The resulting game is one that, while less ambitious, offers a fun evening for three bucks.

The twist on the formula? You’re evil, and you’re capturing the princesses so an evil guy can consume their souls. (It couldn’t be less relevant to the gameplay, though.)

At first glance, the game looks a lot like the Indie Games service’s other offerings, with sub-par visuals and not a lot of polish. Once you get into it, though, you find the game’s smooth and visually balanced (though it wouldn’t have killed them to find some help with the UI art). The game uses a top-down perspective and both analog sticks, with the right one controlling the sword swipes. Holding down a trigger allows you to shoot arrows, and upgrading this skill turns the game into something more like Geometry Wars than Castle Crashers at times. The face buttons are used for special “corruption” abilities, temporarily giving your attacks (and those of allies around you) a fire or ice ability. (You can also heal in the same way using special stones.) 

In the campaign’s dozen or so levels, you go through, killing enemies, collecting gold to use for upgrades and beating whoever’s at the end. There are also mini-games to play, and players can save different characters to their profile. Up to four players can enter any of the modes locally.

It may show its lack of polish from time to time, and it probably won’t stand up to multiple playthroughs, but for three bucks, Corrupted is a wonderful little game. Gather some friends and give it a try.