Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom

"KUF:CoD Good, The Bad, the Amusing"

Alright, to start things off, the day that Kingdom Under Fire was released, I decided to go pick it up for my local GameStop. I had heard mixed feeling about it, but I figured that since I didn't play the demo myself, I would give it a shot. When you first start up the game, the first thing you get to hear is that music. Personally, I like the background music, so I'll give that a plus. I started a new game and took a look at which characters you could choose from. I picked out a character named Kendal because with the look of all the armor, I figured he had to be a tough frontline fighter. Luckily, I was right.

Alright, so I started the game. I quickly learned a few things about the game. First are the idols. There are three idols which can occur (Love, Greed & Death). Love and Greed pretty much sell the same stuff, but Death has different things to buy including extra bag space, accessory slots and such. I thought it was pretty cool. The other thing I learned is that at the idols, which if you haven't guessed yet are the games versions of shopkeepers, I could also synthesize equipment. This allowed me to add something to a piece of equipment (A potion, some random object, or even other equipment) in order to change it in some way. Some of the changes could be good, some could be really bad. Also, the more times you synthesize an item, the higher the cost of the item. An item can be synthesized up to 25 times. This can increase stats, reduce SP cost (I'll discuss SP below) and add skills to the equipment. I personally liked it.

Now, as you look on the screen, you have two bars at the bottom, a red bar (Health or HP) and a blue bar (Stamina or SP). The use of Stamina in this game is something that I felt was a nice tough, even if at times it was frustrating. For things like spells or swing your weapon, it isn't set into stone, but is instead of based on your SP. As you use your weapon, SP is used up. The amount is based upon the weapon used. When you use a spell, you can charge it for better results. As you charge it, SP is consumed. Along with SP, you have an SP recovery rate. Though it doesn't affect spells, it does affect attacking with normal attacks. If your recovery rate isn't high enough, you won't be able to continuously attack. In a game where on a normal basis you are defending against 10+ monsters, the ability to keep attacking is important. The higher your SP is, the better weapons you can equip, but if your recovery rate is low enough that you can only get 1 or 2 attacks in before you need to recharge, it may not be worth it. The reason I liked the game is because, as an individual who trains melee weapons, I know how tiring it can be. The game tosses on that factor that normally an individual can not keep going on forever. It is with the magical equipment that you find/buy/create that you can keep attacking. I'll give it a plus there.

Now, it was very soon after I bought the game that I went to play it online. Now, the solo mode can be boring in my opinion, but the multiplayer is something that I feel was excessively fun. I've had little problems so far finding a game with people around my level on a difficulty I want to play. Overall, it has been almost easier to find a group then it is for Team Fortress 2, which probably still is my favorite multiplayer game for Xbox Live.

Now, I've been mentioning my likes primarily, but I figured a pros and cons section would be easier to clear up things I've encountered. These are things that I alone did not mention, but I've heard from a variety of people.

Pro: Character Variety
-When you start the game, you have an option of five characters, a sixth one can later be unlocked. Each character has his or her own specific weapons, some ranging from bows to swords to giant hammers to guns. When you level up, each character spends a different amount of earned skill points for different attributes (Health, Stamina, and Luck). For example, Kendal pays 5 skill points for 1 point into luck while Duane only needs to pay 3 skill points for 1 point of luck. This allows the characters to be customized different ways, but it does keep the character in the same range that the game feels it should be in (Kendal does a lot better as a tank then a caster MOST of the times for example).

Con: Glitchy Last Level
-Now, someone might say. It is one level. Why should a single level's problems be bad enough to be mentioned as a con for the game? For those who have played the last level, you probably understand the frustration. For those that do not know, the last level is notorious for accidentally making characters stick to the side of the road so that your only hope of escape consists of you being knocked free or killed by your opponent. Personally this pisses me off to no end. On later on difficulties, extreme specifically, but even hard, you can sometimes have enough to worry about with the mobs. The last thing you want to deal with is the game programming turning against you also.

Pro: Unique Storylines
-Each character has some sort of storyline. This is nice as it gives the character a reason to be there. Also, each quest is different. You aren't doing basically the same thing for a different response, but instead, you are doing completely different things. Duane is the perfect example as with his storyline, instead of doing quests, it is based off of dueling with someone in the dream world and raising favor with the woman he is in love with. However, once you complete the storyline, it is done. Even when you move to a new difficulty, you do not redo the storyline. It is done with that character. If you kill someone in a storyline for example (Almost a spoiler), that person will always remain dead.

Con: Storyline Relevance
-AKA None. When you play the actual game, what you achieve has almost nothing to do with completing the game. An individual could complete the game without bothering to do any of the storyline and it doesn't really make a difference. The only benefit, from what it seems to completing the storylines is getting an achievement on the most part (Duane does get a skill for his though. And Kendal is able to open the door at the End of Desolation for his storyline, so there are some pluses)

Pro: Armor Appearance
-I'm a sucker for character appearance. This is why games like Ragnarok Online absorbed me for all to long. As you get higher level, you get access to different looking armors. My perfect example is the armor I have for my 120 Kendal. I think it is perhaps one of the coolest looking armors I've seen for a game in a long time. It is my opinion, but the look of it is something that I would give two thumbs up.

Con: Skills

Alright, I think the skills look cool and some are amusing as hell. So one would ask, if I like them, why is it a con. The reason is because of what you need to do to unlock some of them. With the skills, most of the time, you will be doing a lot of repetitive grinding on levels over and over. To unlock a skill, you need to kill a certain amount of certain enemies. To top things off, most are monsters you need to kill on normal difficulty. When you get higher up, it can just be annoying to go and repeat a low level map over and over again just to unlock a skill and sometimes it really isn't worth it.

Other Things: Synthesizing

-Synthesizing for me is a pro and a con. You can synthesize an item and it can make the item better or worse. The good side is you can see the results of combining two specific things BEFORE you agree to do so. You have a chance to fail synthesizing...technically, if you don't pay the amount for 100% success (Even when it is a great deal of money, there really isn't a reason not to pay it.). Synthesizing can add or remove skills to an item, increase the damage on a weapon, affect SP costs and regeneration, increase health from items and even go as far as add your name to the item. I think it was well done because with combining skills, if you combine a weapon with skill A at level 3 and another with skill A at level 2, the result is a weapon with skill A level 5, adding the two skill levels together. This can result in some pretty good equipment if done right.

I could ramble on more and more, giving more Pros and Cons about the game. What it comes down to is I believe it is a game that a person should try out. If you are hesitant about buying it, rent it and give it a try. It is a hack and slash, which is something that is different for a Kingdom Under Fire game, but if you get past the KUF is a strategy series, you may enjoy it.

This is Lyku, or Kunn as I've been nicknamed through this game. Best wishes and thanks for taking time to read. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me through Live. As with my name on GameFAQs, you can find me at Lyku. Peace.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/22/08

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