Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom

For three games now Kingdom Under Fire has carried the flag for real time strategy fans, but now the series heads off in a completely new direction. That’s right, pick up your sword and let those bloodthirsty hoards take care of themselves: the latest game from developer Blueside is an all action, button mashing RPG that is hoping to draw a new crop of gamers into the multiple dimension of the Epoch of Light.

Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom places you in the middle of a battle of unimaginable scale. You take the part of one of six playable characters, each with their own unique weapons and abilities. The characters range from the loyal and deadly Celine, to the once proud warlord Regnier. Each character has up to eight weapons that can be modified with around sixty different special functions. For example, you can add a flight function to your battle-axe, changing it from a simple melee stand-by to a deadly ranged attack option.

As with every RPG, managing your stats is a vital factor in survival at the higher levels. Each time you level up you will have to distribute ability points between your health, your skills and your luck. Your skill stat usage is dependent on your choice of weapon and the amount of special functions you have equipped them with, while your luck stat controls your success with multiple melee and magical strikes.

However, if the gameplay in Kingdom Under Fire does not sound overly original or innovative, the world that you get to experience may be worth the price of admission alone. Or should that be many worlds? There are massive castles and their associated dungeons, mist-swept battlefields, huge living beasts and deadly nightmare dimensions. Everything in the environment is moveable, usable, or breakable. And then there are the monsters. Kingdom Under Fire boasts more then 70 different enemies, with absolute swarms appearing on the screen at any one time. The amount of on-screen action, coupled with the detailed and interactive environment, makes Kingdom Under Fire a stunning technical accomplishment.

However, it may be that it is online where Kingdom Under Fire will find its niche. The game supports four-person cooperative online play. Your character’s armor and accessories are interchangeable through purchases from in game stores and Xbox Live. You can connect and get help with your single-player save, or start a whole new campaign. Maps, stores and enemies are randomly generated in-game. This means that even though you follow the same story each time you play, each path you choose is unique.

In the end, though, Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom may have little that can truly be called unique. Early next year we will find out if switching a well established RTS title to the decidedly congested RPG genre gets a few new fans, or simply sends all its loyal followers running for the dark dimension.