Crimsonland Xbox One Review

Crimsonland is a dual stick top down shooter in its simplest form now that's not necessarily a bad thing. On the title screen you're greeted with the image of a dude stood on a hill dual wielding machine guns surrounded by what can only be described as an infestation of various monsters, zombies spiders and lizardmen. Prepare to hit the ground running because crimsonland delivers what the title screen promises.

Literally stood in the middle of what can only be described as a futuristic wasteland armed with your pistol waves of beasties are about to descend upon you, all trying to take a bite out of you until there's nothing left but you're blood soaked corpse. Gruesome !, but the blood and gore doesn't end there you're going to need bigger guns and crimsonland isn't going to disappoint there are a total of thirty weapons to unlock each totally different with strengths and weakness's that you're bound to find out the hard way at least several times.


So you got yourself a pretty decent gun but the spiders keep coming the zombies are spawning faster than you can shoot them and new nests are popping up all over the place. The ground is red from the blood of a thousand enemies that's the ground you can actually see that's not covered by the ever increasing swarm. Its time, time for some much needed help in the form of perks. 60 of them to be precise everything from instant xp, faster reloads, health regen, becoming diseased to infect the evil beasts and more so much more. There's also power ups dropped by recently killed beasts and monsters such things as shields, nukes, freeze, fire bullets and even speed boosts. At times deciding to dive into the horde head on to collect the power up or deciding to not risk everything can be a game changer or even game ender.


The main quest mode will see you working your way through 60 quest levels over 3 difficulty settings completing these will not only unlock you're weapons and perks but also unlock 5 different types of survival game modes. Classic Survival, Rush, Weapons Picker, Nukefism and Blitz. Whilst these do offer a certain degree of variety, Classic Survival is really where the game was at for me. Using all you're unlocked perks and weapons you have to survive increasingly dense swarms of beasts. It's not long before you're thinking this is it and suddenly a nuke drops just on the verge of dying you grab it just in time to thin the swarm out just enough to give you some breathing space to continue the fight its this ebb and flow gameplay that's exciting and convinces you that you can go that little bitter longer next time. That "just one more go" gameplay is so addictive.


Each survival mode has its own global leaderboard for both solo and co-op play, which brings me nicely on to the co-op feature available whilst very welcome it is unfortunately local co-op only (no online co-op available) having said that if you have a couple of friends round for a game you're in for a great night of gaming fun.

Overall Crimsonland is a straight forward top down dual stick shooter that's pretty addictive fun but its not perfect. The game itself is promoted as a shooter with a touch of rpg, Which I really don't get there's no back story that I can see anywhere, no character customisation of any type and no character levels at all. If you purchase this game hoping to be touched by that little rpg you may be a little disappointed.
Secondly while I did thoroughly enjoy the game I did feel a little like I was playing the kind of game that's probably more at home on a tablet or ipad than an all singing all dancing next gen console. I mean the game is available on my windows phone and is just as enjoyable which kind of left me thinking I need more from a next gen game, such as online multiplayer and a rich back story and definitely a touch of rpg that was promised.

I'm going to give Crimsonland an 8 out of 10 a good solid game that offers some fun local co-op and addictive solo arcade action. Just don't expect anything more.

great review fella. I think I might check it out on my phone, but not on the xbox. Something to pass the times in waiting rooms etc for me I think

Good work mate!

Crimsonland is an all time classic that I now own on PS3, PS4, PS Vita and now XBOX ONE.

I love the challenge and the excitement of getting that one powerup that finally helps you complete the level!

Nice review Lethal.

Nice work Mr Threat. Crimsonland is a great game. I found it to be a grower though For me, it got much better after I'd spent some time and improved at the game. Just a thought for anyone who tries it and doesn't immediately see it's qualities.