Mighty Wardens is what happens when you take a cartoon styled beat-em-up like Castle Crashers, and interject the MMO inspired mechanics of leveling up and acquiring new loot. Now depending on who you ask, this initial sentence could be enough to either sell you on the game or chase you away forever, but for those still kind of unsure, let's explore further.

Controlling your chosen character is accomplished with an on-screen joystick for movement and three buttons. One button is attack, one is jump, and one is your class' special attack. Interchanging the mashing of said buttons will execute various combos, and as your character levels up, you will learn new techniques to decimate the opposition. Now the controls are so-so. As on-screen buttons go, they are quite responsive, but the problem arises with trying to pull off combinations of attacks. There is a certain lack of timing and fluidity to the combat, and instead of chaining together a smooth combo attack, you all too often find yourself just hacking and slashing with the base attacks. Now this will get you through the game all right, but it does a lot to lead to a feeling of malaise while playing it (and having each screen consist of the same fights over and over and over again, does little to aid matters).

But perhaps the MMO mechanics are to blame a little as well. In any other game, after a few screens of hacking and slashing your way through enemies, you might get bored and try another game or do something else, but we have this switch in our brains that is easily led along by a trail of bread crumbs (being levels and weapon upgrades in this analogy). These are known as skinner box mechanics, and can keep someone playing long after the fun has worn enough. This game pulls it off well too. In almost every screen you'll get a new weapon with a small increase in stats, but enough to make you happy to continue. Then every time you level up (which happens on a consistent basis), you either get a skill point to spend or a new move to try out. It keeps you chasing that rainbow, and with multiple classes to level up (plus the ability to play co-op multiplayer with friends), it's easy to see how a game like this could get its hooks in deep if you let it.

Those of us more accustomed to these tactics can see the game for what it is, but with its Chibi style presentation full of color, and the lure of playing with friends, it's easy to see how this could become addictive and popular. Mighty Wardens. Try at your own risk.