The RTS genre hasn’t quite gotten the play it deserves on consoles.  While the genre has been tearing it up on PCs for many years, Real Time Strategy games have been few and far between on home systems.  Developer Phantagram is looking to change this with their new action-RTS game, Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders.  The game provides a medieval storyline with some fantasy elements interjected, with warring tribes like Orcs, Humans and Dark Elves facing off against each other.  The gameplay is a mix of strategy, hack and slash action and some RPG elements.  However, some of the sections are more successful than others, and the action elements kind of fall into button-mashing hack and slash.  However, the strategy elements are deep and complex and ultimately carry the game, making it a very solid entry to the lonely console RTS genre.

The storyline in Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders follows its predecessor, Kingdom Under Fire: A War of Heroes, which was a modest RTS game that came out on the PC a few years ago.  The human world and the Dark Legion, an alliance comprised of Dark Elves, Orcs and other races, are in a period of ongoing strife, complicated by the destruction of a human village.  The humans retaliate, attacking the Dark Elves and leaving no survivors.  However, it soon becomes apparent that the Dark Elves were not responsible for the destroyed village, and matters become much more complicated…

Kingdom Under Fire starts out very simply, with an expanded tutorial taking you through the first couple of missions.  At first, the game seems a tad on the simplistic side, as these first few stages focus primarily on the action elements.  You start out by moving your brigade of infantry soldiers to a location on the map with enemies or a spot to interact with. When you engage or attack a group of enemies, the action switches from control of your unit to control of your individual character as you partake in some Dynasty Warriors style beat-downs.  These portions offer little more than button mashing, requiring you to swing wildly and knock around as many enemies as you can.  You can perform some very effortless combos, but nothing fancy or elaborate.  Most of the battles can be settled quickly by seeking out the leader of the current group (they’re the ones with the red bars underneath them as opposed to the green one that’s under your character) and killing them off, effectively removing the head of your enemy.  The action elements therefore can be relatively quick and have little depth to them.

However, as you progress through the campaign, the RTS elements begin to stand out and provide the game with most of its meat.  There are two different ways to command your troops.  You can cycle through your available squads by pressing the shoulder buttons and cycling through them, or you can micro-manage them a lot more effectively by using the map and assigning objectives to your squads.  Whereas a lot of the RTS elements are simply “run here and kill this group”, some of them have a lot of really cool teamwork and pre-planned strategy aspects, giving them a surprising amount of depth in a console RTS.

The game also has some great customization factors.  As you complete missions, you can increase your main character’s stats and learn new abilities and combos.  You can also hire mercenaries to join your group and help you in the campaign, buy upgrades for your units, and many other great things to help you through the game.

The graphics in Kingdom Under Fire look great.  The character models have a very cool look to them, with a great amount of detail to them and a unique aesthetic.  The game also has some great looking environments, with details like individual blades of grass and detailed castles throughout.  The game also features some awesome visual effects, like glimmering armor and rain dripping down the camera lens.

The sound effects leave a lot to be desired.  The English voice acting is very campy, although the Korean language track is pretty good.  The music feels out of place, with chugging metal power chords dictating the onscreen action.  While this music sounds alright, it just doesn’t seem like it should be in a fantasy themed medieval strategy game.

Kingdom Under Fire has a few problems, like undeveloped hack-and-slash action and a poor sound presentation, but the strategy elements are deep and fun, making for a title that any strategy fan with an Xbox happy to try out.

Gameplay: 8.5
Kingdom Under Fire starts out rather simplistically, with some rather brainless hack and slash action elements.  However, the strategy components are very deep and complex for a console game and the RPG elements allow for a great level of customization, making for a deep RTS experience.

Graphics: 9.0 
The graphics are great, with detailed character models and nice backgrounds.  The graphics have a ton of polish with some cool special effects like rain drizzling off of the screen and sunlight reflecting off of armor.

Sound: 7.0
The sound is a bit problematic, with an out-of-place metal soundtrack and some poor English voice acting.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard  

Concept: 8.5 
While some of the action elements weren’t exactly fully realized, the RTS elements run deep and provide the game with its depth.

Multiplayer: 8.5
Kingdom Under Fire features some nice multiplayer elements, with XBox Live support for two-players to amass their troops and settle their differences with a good clobberin’.

Overall: 8.5

Kingdom Under Fire is a good game with some cool strategy features.  While the action portions aren’t as good as they could be and are little more than mindless hack and slash, the RTS elements are a lot more fleshed out and add a lot of depth to the game.