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Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders Review
Chris Leyton
03/11/2004
Set amidst a fantasy backdrop, Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders manages to strike a perfect blend between action and strategy...
Placed right into the middle of a bloody struggle for the fate of the mythical continent of Bersia, Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders, pits players as the strongest warrior on the battlefield, in a less then subtle blend of hack ānā slash action and tactical strategy akin to the Dynasty Warrior series from KOEI.
Fans of that particular genre are in for a treat, as not only does KUF: TC match the many facets of this particular series, but also creates an experience that provides more variety and depth than the series from Japan. The game will also appeal to fans of fantasy, with the typical selection of human, dwarf, elven and orc races to fight as or against; splitting the various races into Humans and Dark legions across an interweaving storyline, that encompass four different campaigns with dozens of missions.
Beginning with a solitary unit, the game does a good job of introducing you to the basics along with the storyline and the various main characters within it. The basic mechanic is close to that of the Dynasty Warriors franchise from KOEI, with players watching the battle plan before each mission ahead of striding on to the battlefield.
The actual game is split into two distinct phases, with players taking control of a solitary character that in turn has control over multiple units, ranging from swordsman and archers to dark elf knights and almighty swamp mammoths. As soon as your unit enters into combat, the camera pans down to an intense close-up of the action and the gameās mechanic changes to that of a frenzied hack ānā slash, as you deliver bone crushing combos and pull off a variety of special attacks. During these moments the game is absolutely awesome, with over 150 different characters displayed on-screen to truly capture the chaotic nature of a fantasy battle; bodies fly up into the air after a special attack, blood splatter the screen and more importantly thereās never a hint of slowdown despite just how much action is occurring onscreen.
In the thick of the action the gameplay is kept delightfully simple, otherwise this particularly type of game could grow increasingly complicated and unlikely ever to get off the ground. Your main character has two different commands for strong and normal attacks, however thereās a myriad of combos available from this and with proper timing you can actually perform a cacophony of sword swings that looks fantastic and feels absolutely spot-on. In addition, thereās also a Special Attack that is reliant upon your Special Power (SP); each of the characters that you take control of have different special attacks, whilst in true RPG tradition, you can discover new types whenever you level-up your character.
SP also allows you to enlist the assistance of two officers that fight alongside you during your quest, using their special attacks to assist you whenever the odds are stacked against you and find yourself encircled by hundreds of orcs.
Despite the instant gratification during the heated action sequences, KUF: TC provides a surprising amount of tactical depth away from the intense battles. The main hero takes control of a unit and has full charge over a variety of options such as their movement and how tightly grouped the pack is ā“ naturally a ālooseā formation allows you to traverse at a quicker pace, however a tightly knitted group has better protection and is quieter for surprise attacks. Thankfully once again the implementation is kept blissfully simple, allowing you to easily perform retreats when events donāt go to plan and setting up assaults such as luring the enemy into an open area with an infantry unit as bait, before pulling them out and letting your archers have them.
Thereās a huge range of unit types that youāll take control of throughout the game, ranging from the standard infantry to archers, cavalry and even aerial units such as devastating zeppelin styled warships and ferocious dragons.
The sheer tactical options available to the player is more then welcoming, whilst weather also plays a crucial role with archers having a harder time aiming if theyāre facing the glistening sun, however players can also use this technique to their advantage ā“ thereās nothing quite like blinding a pack of orcs and slaughtering them before they even know whatās happening. Each unit within the game also has abilities beyond the basic combat manoeuvres; for example infantry units can send out a scout on a reconnaissance mission and archers can equip fire arrows to burn down forests and any troops that are concealed within them. The depth to this game is on a level beyond what weāve seen from other titles of this ilk, more akin to that of an RTS, but with far more gratification.
The game also introduces RPG styled features, with players able to level-up their characters in between battles. Not only do players have to look after the main character, but also the accompanying officers and the units they control. Focussed on the skills available to the character rather then attributes, players are free to increase skills such as Melee, Ranged and Gunpowder in addition to Spells based on the elements. Improving skills raises your characters overall level, which in turn also upgrades your unitās level and the relevant weapons, armour and items that they can use. Finally thereās a āJob Treeā which allows you to upgrade different units, encompassing an almighty 16 types of troops throughout the game and works closely to that of an RTS, with players needing to meet certain skill requirements before being able to upgrade infantry to archers for example. Itās a nice system with plenty of depth and distinction that borrows as much from ātech-treesā in RTS titles as it does to RPGās.
Itās the balance between action and tactics however that provides the magical ingredient behind KUF: TC. Whereas titles such as Dynasty Warrior suffered from repetition as you swathed relentlessly through hordes after hordes; KUF: TC creates an absolutely spot on blend between the two facets, creating a gaming experience that touches all of the right buttons.
The sheer range of tactical options is a delight and will please those that like to use their brains as well as their fingers whilst playing a game; however thereās nothing better then running into a pack of hordes and knocking them to the ground with a swing of your mighty blade, to deliver an immediate impact to your carefully planned decisions on the battle-map. It truly is a perfect balance, providing depth to the sheer action orientated nature of the battle scenes, whilst providing immediate relief to the attention focussed during your tactical manoeuvres.
Although KUF: TC doesnāt have anything particularly wrong with it, quite the opposite in fact as lot of things it does brilliantly, however there are one or too oddities that stand out. During the battle sequences the game enforces close restrictions on the area in which you can move and puts up invisible borders, so although you can see other battles occurring in the distance youāre powerless to have any impact on them and occasionally this does cause a few problems.
On a slightly negative note we were a little disappointed by the linear nature of the progression of battles. Despite the player having a lot of freedom to perform whatever operations they choose during the mission, the outcome of the battle is very much determined from the beginning and severely lacking in any change dependant on the playerās actions on the battlefield. One particular example requires you to set alight a forest to destroy a pack of rampaging orcs, however our archers couldnāt quite get it together and as such I had to resort to Plan B and attack with my infantry; despite the success we were a little surprised to watch a cut-scene after the fight that depicted the forest on fire!!!
Visually the game is a masterpiece with stunning attention paid to detail and the use of a range of visual effects to create a truly cinematic style. We particularly love the camera bob when following your troops on the move, whilst the lighting is one of the most defined weāve seen in an Xbox game to date. The overall look is one of magnificent beauty, the environments and character models pack detail and some of the beasts youāll come across are absolutely awesome; however itās when they combine and thousands of units scatter the luscious lands that the game truly comes to life.
The acoustic delights of KUF: TC are certainly an acquired taste, with a fusion of rock against a medieval background creating an atmosphere akin to the Knightās Tale ā“ itās something youāre either going to love or hate, we found ourselves falling towards the former particularly during the excellent cut-scenes throughout the game. Thankfully the voice-acting isnāt split down the middle as much, with bold sounding characters and a carefully written script.
In addition the game supports Xbox Live!, allowing up to four players to battle it out in deathmatch styled events, whilst also featuring downloadable content and a ranking system. Sadly we were unable to test out this feature at the time of writing, however if the experience is anything like the Single Player itās guaranteed to provide fantasy fun for many months to come.
