Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom

"It's a great game for the right audience."

I happened to be paying attention one day to the ads on xbox live and decided to download a demo of this game. After playing the demo I went out and bought this game without hesitation, so I recommend playing the demo before considering purchase. This game I think is only greatly appealing to those who enjoy this type of game, and only mildly amusing to those who do not.

Story 8/10

While there may not be any engrossing cut-scenes or lengthy reading in this title, there are a lot of story aspects to the game. Every character has there own story line and purpose for their actions in this game. For instance one character is looking for the end of his suffering, and the side quests go along with this theme very nicely. The reason this didn't get a better score is because you can skip nearly the whole story without it having much of any effect on the game play because the story takes place whenever you go to sleep at certain specified areas and talk to the people there.

Visuals 7/10

The graphics in this game are easy on the eyes I will admit but there are some things about them that bring this score down harshly. One thing that brings it down is the quality of the animation. While there may be good animations during the fighting, in slow places like the story areas when the animation is most important it comes out choppy like the characters can't stay still. Also I have noticed that the physics for the clothing and items draped from your body is kind of shoddy and your clothing can get stuck to various places on your being.

Pros: Nice environments that are "destructive" meaning that the player can put dents in the objects of the game. The animations of the actual game play are very well done.

Cons: The animations in the cut scenes can be very choppy which is not appealing in the least. The graphics are not nearly as good as other titles for the 360.

Sound 8/10

The sound in this game is no where near epic but it is still large enough to merit a high score. Mainly because the sound for attacks and actions are good and the voice acting to me isn't that bad either. The music in the game is mainly rock based with some easy listening sounds for the slow or safe zones. The background music for each area is different and fits the mood. Such as slow with treble sounds for an ice region to give that beautiful harsh feeling. The weapons sound affects are very nicely done as well, from the clang of a sword to the cringing blunt sound of a mace.

Pros: The sound does go with the feel of the game and the rock tone is very appealing for a hack and slash.

Cons: While the tracks of each level do go with the feel of that level, there is only one track for each level and it does get very repetitive.

Game play 9/10

To me this is where the game shines and where games should shine. I personally love hack and slash games which could add on a little to the high score of 9. So if I was not a big fan of this genre I would have probably given this game around 6-7 in the game play aspect. However, they made this game for people who like hack and slash games, not for people that don't.

This game has a deep system for improving your weapons and armor that is not understood by a majority of the players. All weapons and other equipment have abilities that they can have ranging from giving you more experience to giving you critical strikes.

When leveling up you receive points in a single pool which you distribute to three areas, you do not keep track of defense, strength, dexterity, or agility. Instead you improve your Health directly, your Sp which accounts for how much and how often you can attack, and luck which determines how good your drops will be and other aspects of the game that are chance based.

The combat is mainly hack and slash with magic and abilities to enhance the combat. Some of these abilities can be cheap and game breaking due to the humongous amounts of damage that they can inflict on the slow bosses of the game. I have seen someone one shot a boss with a spell that they had. Each character has their own weapons and combos that they pull off in the game to make sure each character feels unique. To expand on the uniqueness they even made it easier to increase some things with some characters, such as needing fewer points to increase sp.

Pros: Wonderful equipment improvement aspects that can get you respect if you understand them and can explain to others. Great simple hack and slash mechanics with good abilities to add on to the fun. This game also supports 4 player via live.

Cons: No Local multi player is a pain if you do not have live. This game's game play is not made for everyone. The pro of the equipment improvement mechanics are also a con because of its difficulty to understand.

Overall 8/10

In conclusion I think this is a very good game worth at least trying in the form of the demo before you purchase. This game was created with a certain audience in mind and you may not be part of that audience. This is not a game you just hop on and hop off thinking you are going to get anything done. It is a lengthy game that can encompass at least 100 hours of your life to get close to getting all the achievements and unlock ables in the game. There are six characters in total each with their own story to play and you have to get each of them to level 80 if you are going for all of the achievements.

Well I hope this review was useful and happy hunting!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/15/08

Game Release: Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom (US, 01/08/08)