Kingdom Under Fire The Crusaders

by Microsoft

Product Features

• Choose two characters from the Light and Dark sides -- these choices will determine players' ultimate destiny
• Over 30 different types of units - watch as they follow your commands as do your will
• Create heroes with special moves and abilities, and deploy them to turn the tide of battle
• Between missions, players can visit their castle to upgrade weapons and armor, adjust ability scores to prepare for the next battle
• Exciting role-playing elements as heroes gain experience and improve their fighting skills

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0002CHJ2S
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: September 21, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,545 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders challenges you to lead a massive army in pursuit of the ultimate power. Experience chaotic medieval battle on epic scale, as you command hundreds of warriors all risking their lives for final victory. Fifty years have passed since the Second Great War of Heroes -- in that time, a powerful artifact called the Ancient Heart disappeared. In the town where it was last seen, orcs have invaded, leading to a new war, with new goals and objectives... And new choices for glory. Dynamic game direction make you feel like you're watching an epic film - Multiple camera angles, real soldiers' expressions of pain, victory and defeat, and much more Real-time ranking update system New Mission Downloads possible through Xbox Live

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Game...Get It!, October 17, 2004

By 

Joe J. (Milwaukee, WI) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Kingdom Under Fire The Crusaders (Video Game)

I bought Kingdom Under Fire/Crusaders on October 13, 2004. Overall, I found this game very fun, and very INTENSE. Below is a list of what I didn't enjoy, and what I did enjoy regarding the game.

Negatives:

1. The game needs a bird's eye view without the map. There are four views all together, two on a map (long/close-up), two in melee(mid/close-up). The game would be better if they had a third viewpoint where you could pull back the camera one step further without opening the map to see other units and manipulate them around the screen. This view could look something like a Warcraft/Command and Conquer View. The map does this to some extent, but it can become tedious manipulating the troops on the map on close-up mode. Another option would be the ability to split screens by units, so you could see what more than one of the military units is doing @ once.

2. The voices are pretty cheesy. In the future, phantagram should invest a little bit more in getting better voice actors who don't
sound embarassed to read their lines*
*This could also be viewed positively though

3. The game is lacking a bit in terms of varied gameplay. In the future, it would be ideal if we could customize our own characters, as opposed to choosing one of four templates. Additionally, it would be nice if there could be co-op modes - like in lord of the rings - return of the king or head to head modes outside of xbox live.

Positives:

1.Graphics - This game has amazing graphics that take full advantage of the XBox Platform.

2.The cheesy voices - People who take wars between fictional medieval soldiers and orcs and dark elves too seriously need to get a life. This video game has somewhat of a kill bill/B-movie quality to it, in that there are excessive amounts of blood and gore, bad language, and dark elf females fighting in thongs. The terrible voiceovers are a finishing touch to this sort of craziness.*
*This could also be viewed as a negative

3.Challenging gameplay - This is not the sort of video game which you can start and play the whole way through without ever losing. What I enjoy about it is that as your units/characters get better, you also get better as a video gamer. For example, a newbie couldn't just take your saved game from let's say the 20th mission, and just play as him. He'd die immediately b/c the missions get progressively harder with time, and in order to proceed to further missions, one needs to become a better video gamer.

4. Intense and complex battle sequences/combat. Fighting Melee Combat - Dynasty Warriors/LOTR style, while commanding your units - Command and Conquer/Warcraft style, while taking into account unconventional things such as terrain, sun, weather conditions, etc. all require extreme concentration. To the observer though, your battles will have the same sort of chaos/intensity as the battle scenes in Braveheart, especially as you shift from view to view. It's extremely satisfying to fight hand-to-hand combat with your character against an enemy and to see people dropping to the ground because of your archers, while your cavalry comes from behind and flanks them. That's only an example of three of the many units that you can fight with. This game reinvents the real-time strategy genre, taking elements from Dynasty Warriors, LOTR video game series, Myth, Warcraft, and Command and Conquer, by molding them all into one video game and taking the genre to the next level. This game's very ambitious and it works.

Although the game does have it's flaws, I do not feel that they are overly significant or that they detract too much from the game itself. One can accustom oneself to fighting using the map within a relatively short time, and even though you cannot customize your characters or go coop there are still 4 characters with over 60 missions.

On a scale of 100, I would give the game a 96. Even though it misses a few minute things, it gets the major and main things right. This game has the potential to bring real-time strategy (usually associated with PCs up to this point) to the video game console in the same way that Goldeneye brought first person shooters to the video game console.

I feel that this game will beocme a sleeper hit, and that they will make a really awesome sequel which corrects all of the minor flaws in this version if they take into account people's suggestions.

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant game! Must buy!, August 3, 2004

By 

The Man With No Name (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Kingdom Under Fire The Crusaders (Video Game)

From the moment I saw this game I knew it would rule.Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders is based 50% on real time strategy (RTS) and 50% pure action and destruction! When the action starts the game mainly plays like "Dynasty Warriors"(which is a good thing) except your fighting in a sci-fi version of the middle ages. It's your army against there's. Each army consists of over a thousand units! and over a hundred units on screen at once! You pick which general you want to play as at the begining(the main character) from the human side or from the dark legion. Before going into battle you can aquire more troops for your army (archers,knights,orcs,spearmen,ect), train them, upgrade armor, get more supplies, and even go to the local pub to have a drink and spy on your troops! When all is set and ready, it's off to the Battlefield! Heres where the strategy part kicks in. you order your troops to move wherever you think would be most efficient, you can set up archers on tops of hills, get your horsemen with lances to break the enemy lines, and even send out fire-breathing dragons to weaken your adversaries! The possibilities are limitless! All this combined with jaw dropping graphics and head-to-head online play, it's Perfect!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4.5 Star Review, October 19, 2004

By 

iHalo - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Kingdom Under Fire The Crusaders (Video Game)

Simply put, Kindom Under Fire is a great game. At first, I was slightly turned off by the heroes combat gameplay (not as flashy as Dynasty Warrior), but as the game progressed and things started opening up to me the game got better and better. Graphics are amazing, sound is top notch (Korean voices are better imho), gameplay is easy to learn (hard to master). The thing I really enjoy about this game is that not only do you have to control and manage your heroes, but also your units actually do make a difference in battle. Heroes are extremely powerful, but they alone will not win battles. I guess the best way to describe the game is think Warcraft 3, but you get to play as your hero/leader using Dynasty Warrior combat. Only issues so far are that:

- when you switch to other group, it leaves your hero extremely vulnerable (I think he just stands there and takes hits).
- setting up archers and spearmen is a little annoying
- heroes engaged in battle can't cast magic, so you have to either cast it before or have another group cast the magic

Haven't played on Xbox Live yet, but according to the website there will be updates soon to enhance Live play (* 2v2 options is one example *). There simply is no reason why not to buy this game. It will definately keep me busy until DOA Ultimate and/or Halo 2 come out.