THE GOOD:Excellent melee combat system
Huge, frantic battles
Wide variety of troops
A good challenge throughout
THE BAD:
Some camera problems
Poorly translated English text
SUMMARY:
*Note: As of time of writing, the author has no Live subscription and so cannot take into account the features available for that section.*
Religion often gets a bad deal when aggressively used in political situations. With meanings twisted and misinterpreted, a political leader can often take advantage of the zealous nature in those who follow its creed. Just consider the Crusades - a holy war declared on the Arab people, when the real motivation was the capture of land and territory. Even in today's climate, we see religion as the excuse used for unwholesome acts. And so it's with a holy war that Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusades opens with. A crusade to the Dark Elf nations by the Human race with the purpose of recapturing the Holy Land that has been occupied for the past fifty years. Religion is once again at the crux of the conflict and, as in real life, the situation isn't quite as it appears.
Allowing you to play on either side of the battle, KUF: TC offers a long and weighty challenge to those who embark upon its journey. Adopting the role of one of four generals involved in the war (two playable characters for both the Dark Elf and Human nations), you travel from location to location via a 3D map, organizing and improving your troops before heading into one of the fierce and often hectic battles. This is where the bulk of the gameplay takes place, comprising a combination of real-time strategy and hand-to-hand combat as your army fights numerous campaign battles with a wide selection of creatures and spells at your disposal. The scale and pace of these battles is breath-taking at times, with hundreds of troops moving and interacting simultaneously.
Each battle begins in the real-time strategy mode, where you're able to switch between each individual troop to give out instructions, or command them all at once. Typically you'll be moving the units about, though you can also change the formation and use magic in this mode. Spells vary, depending on what abilities the leader of each troop has learned, but there is a good variety from the regular healing auras to visually impressive meteor showers and sweeping blizzards, which get stronger as the corresponding ability is leveled up. These use up SP, the game's equivalent of a magic gauge, but which can be regained through melee combat. There is also an intriguing tactical element in play here as well, since these magic accessories can only be employed when the respective troop is not engaged in melee. It forces you to consider whether to plow straight into battle, or leave some troops back as support. The access of an interactive map in each level helps provide even more precise control over your units, and is key to defeating the enemy in this respect. The type of troop available changes depending on which side you're fighting for, but the selection for both sides is really good, with every troop having it's advantages and disadvantages to balance them out. Troops are interesting too, with huge Swamp Mammoths, Scorpions, Bomber Wings and Ballistae just a few examples of a well designed and evenly weighed selection. Given the complexities of real-time strategies and the relative limitations of a control pad (hence the lack of this genre in abundance on consoles), the operational side of this mode works really well. Commands are kept quite simple which, while in theory would seem to undermine the potential for such a genre, serves to make the game enjoyably manageable for a console. The only real downside to this section is the placement of the camera, or rather, the inability to manually control it's placement. Positioned above the centre of the troop unit it serves admirably until you hit forest terrain or steep hill sides. Then it can become obscured by scenery or the troops themselves, which is frustrating when needing to look around or when about to engage the enemy.
But the melee combat is where the most fun is to be had and the intense, frenzied action in this mode will often leave you in a head spin. Once your main troop has engaged in hand-to-hand combat, the real-time strategy mode and controls are fluidly and flawlessly swapped in favour of direct control over the main character. Available to each of the four generals are an assortment of attacks and combination moves that effortlessly link together and are the real highlight of the game. Special attacks require a set amount of SP, but deal out large amounts of damage and are hugely satisfying to execute properly. They're needed as well, because at times - especially in the later missions - you'll find yourself in among hundreds of enemy fighters. With another hundred or so about to hit you. It's exciting stuff, and even with such a huge amount of polygons being shifted at any one time, the framerate remains impressively fast and smooth. The core gameplay of melee fighting is tweaked to perfection and is without doubt the best element of the game.
Interspersed between the titanic battles is the aforementioned 3D map, where troop management occurs and the majority of the plot is played out. Unfortunately, the narration is perhaps the weakest part of the game, probably due to the pidgin English translation throughout. For example, two members of Kendal's unit disagree about certain aspects of the war and voice their differing views to him. "Dually noted." replies Kendal. While not detracting from the game too much, these errors do serve to include unintentionally humourous moments at points which should be dramatic. The example given was one of the least severe, too. There also seem to be elements of the plot and characterization that aren't fully resolved or explored, and this counts as a lost opportunity to really push a promising plot alongside a gripping gameplay experience. On a more positive note, the voice actors do a competent job at delivering their lines, with some decent French actors chipping in for the Dark Elf characters.
If games are designed with fun as their main objective, then KUF: TC delivers in heap loads. Excellent, fast-paced melee combat - that cannot be stressed enough - combined with tactical elements creates both an intriguing and exciting experience. Add to that challenging battles that can be replayed in different ways depending on your troop selection and four different characters with their own storyline to follow, you have a game that will keep you occupied for weeks, if not months. And that's without a Live subscription to take advantage of. Truly, if religion is used as an excuse to create games like this, there can be no complaints with its misdirection.
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