Game Review: Kingdom Under Fire

Jon & Chip Carter - Tulsa World

Jan 28, 2008

Circle of Doom Role-player Has Winning Moves

Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom, for 360 -- Strap on your sword and get ready for war with the latest installment in the awesome Kingdom Under Fire series.

Since the beginning of time, Light and Darkness have remained separate entities. Nible, the Lord of Light, and Encablossa, the Lord of Darkness, made a deal.

They would take turns ruling the world, doing with it as each saw fit. For example, in the Age of Light the world took on a happier tone with puppies and sunshine, whereas in the Age of Darkness said puppy and sunshine both have fangs, oddly enough.

Since only one could influence the world at any given time, peace flourished; even when it was bad, it was peaceful. But one day, Nible decided that he'd had enough of Encablossa ruining his beautiful creations, and refused to give control back to him for the changing of ages.

Naturally, Encablossa was not pleased with this, and so he sent his Dark Legions out to crush Nible and bring an end to the Age of Light. During this time, several heroes rose to the call and drove Encablossa back to his Dark Dimension.

Now he waits, with nothing but time and a plan for revenge. It's your job to find out exactly what he's up to, and to stop his evil plan dead in its tracks.

Take charge as one of six heroes -- a few of which are familiar from the previous Kingdom Under Fire games -- in this epic role-playing, beat-'em- up.

For those of you who played the earlier games, you should know that Circle of Doom is completely different in a few key aspects.

For starters, KUF is no longer a strategy game and there are no armies to move about. It's just you, your weapons and possibly your friends (if you're on Xbox Live).

That said, there's plenty for you to do by yourself. Characters have their own sets of weapons, abilities and a completely independent storyline, whether it's the half-vampire Prince Leinhart, dashing from foe to foe with his katanas, shurikens and chained sickles, or Regnier, a hulking beast of a man who wields giant swords, chains and hand cannons while searching to wipe clean his memories and sins of the past.

Found a sword that you really like, but it just doesn't seem to pack the oomph that you're looking for?

Use the weapon synthesis system to give it that extra punch, as well as customize it to your liking. You can end up with a flaming frost bow that punctures enemies and leaves hordes of burning icicles in your wake.

Or you can always buy a new weapon from one of the idols, which function as shops and storage areas, and appear depending on the phase of the moon in the game.

Each idol has a different emphasis on what it sells. The Idol of Death, for example, can upgrade your inventory, your skill slots and will sell you some ridiculously powerful defensive items, while the Idol of Greed has a keen focus on attack power.

Explore six vast stages, each filled to the brim with enemies, each one with an angry boss just waiting to smack you around.

Once you clear the game the first time, an extra difficulty level opens up, allowing you to play through again and still feel challenged as you climb your way up to the extensive level cap of 120.

Kingdom Under Fire is really a pretty solid game, all in all. It has something for almost everyone, whether it's the avid role player, the action addict or the adventure nut.

The handling on the game is fairly fluid, though sometimes the combat system is nearly reduced to simple button mashing.

The leveling system allows for a decent level of customization, letting you choose whether to upgrade the ever-important health, skill points (which allow you to use better items and abilities and also represents your stamina) or luck. The last attribute is a factor in many aspects of the game.

The game looks absolutely beautiful, too. So, if you're looking for one to crawl into where the only drawback is some possible repetition in the combat, Kingdom Under Fire is for you.

Jon says: Gotta say, there's nothing I enjoy more than just mowing down hordes of enemies with a Gatling gun. There's no victory like anachronistic victory. -- B

Chip says: Hey, man -- a win's a win, anachronistic or not. -- B

Overall rating: B -- Buy it for fans of the series.

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