14 DAY TRIAL // 
Independent developer The Behemoth impressed lots of fans with top-notch titles like Alien Hominid HD or Castle Crashers and now, after a pretty lengthy wait, the studio has finally released BattleBlock Theater.
The new title promises to deliver a hectic side-scrolling puzzle platformer experience that emphasizes not just going through a hilarious story but also working alongside friends and even against them through cooperative and competitive modes.
Is BattleBlock Theater a brand new behemoth-size success or should it be booed off stage? Let's find out.
BattleBlock Theater opens up with a hilariously hyperactive narrator who tells the story of Hatty Hatington and his huge group of friends who end up on an island ruled by a group of malicious cats that's turned a theater into a prison for stranded survivors.
After taking over Hatty through an evil hat, players control one of his friends who's forced to go through different stages and to act inside the theater, much to the amusement of the cats in the audience.
The whole single-player plot is quite fun and the narrator, while a bit aggravating at times, is hilarious and manages to keep players hooked on the experience and even relieves tension when dying in levels through all sorts of reactions.
In terms of actual gameplay, BattleBlock Theater is a side-scrolling puzzle platformer. Levels are quite imaginative and manage to hit a great balance between offering a relatively simple path towards the exit and throwing in hidden zones or detours.
Basically, you need to complete different acts who have a certain number of regular stages, a boss stage, and some encore ones. Each level requires the player to collect three gems, but a total of seven are scattered throughout the stages, as is a special ball of yarn.
The gems can be used to free up prisoners, who in turn bring new customization items for the player to use, while the balls of yarn can be exchanged for all sorts of outlandish weapons, from Frisbees equipped with timed bombs, to fans that can push enemies into spike pits or water, and much more.
The actual levels are quite imaginative and filled with all sorts of different block-based environments, ranging from regular ones, to ice-coated ones, slime-covered varieties, or even lava blocks that, instead of killing you, propel you into different directions.
Levels are also inhabited by different enemy cats that start following you, throw projectiles at you, or steal gems and need to be killed before taking the items. You can fight against them using either punches or kicks but also different weapons that you can buy with balls of yarn.
As you progress through the acts, levels get a bit more complex but, thanks to a great checkpoint system and impressive design, the game remains accessible to all types of players. For those that like a more challenging experience, there's also an insane mode that teleports you back to the start of the level if you die.
The platforming is extremely tight and you won't be cursing the mechanics for jumps that don't have the best timing or for the character who doesn’t stop at the right time. The puzzles are also well done, as while early challenges are pretty straightforward, others require you to think outside the box and really examine the environment for solutions.
There are a few glitches present, especially when you jump on top of enemies and they can't decide what to do, or when you begin to fight an opponent who's trying to run away from you. Even so, they aren't that important and will certainly be patched at a later time.
Besides playing alone, you can also play with others, either through the two-player cooperative mode or the four-player competitive one.
The co-op system sees players go through levels alongside each other and even allows a player to use the body of another as a stepping stone.
The competitive experience is where things get really hectic as you fight against others in different modes that include races to paint blocks in your own color or even some outlandish horse races against others. There's also a fairly traditional deathmatch where the action truly becomes hard to perceive due to all the hits, traps, and weapons being fired.
If you get creative, there's also a level editor included in the game, allowing you to devise your own stages in all sorts of ways.
BattleBlock's visual style is reminiscent of Castle Crashers or Alien Hominid, but that's not a bad thing, as The Behemoth makes it work flawlessly and you'll certain pamper your eyes by treating them to this great experience.
The soundtrack is absolutely stunning, managing to combine chiptune music with electronic one, although the only bad thing is that there aren't enough tracks so you'll certainly hear some of them multiple times.
Conclusion
BattleBlock Theater is probably one of the best puzzle platformers released in the last few years, managing to combine a hilarious story with top-notch mechanics, not to mention a gorgeous visual style and a fantastic soundtrack. There might be a few glitches but the title offers a great experience nonetheless.
