Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders

Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders seamlessly combines the action of Dynasty Warriors with the troop management and movement abilities of a real time strategy game. Only this time, instead of looking down at the action from above like in an RTS, you are right in the thick of battle fighting right alongside your men. It really is unlike anything you have ever played before. The learning curve is pretty steep, but it is absolutely worth the effort because The Crusaders is a must play title.

The Story

The Kingdom Under Fire series actually started out on the PC as an RTS called Kingdom Under Fire: A War of Heroes. It wasn’t all that well received and is only really worth noting because The Crusaders continues the story from A War of Heroes. It isn’t necessary to have played the first game to understand The Crusaders, but it is out there if you are curious. Anyway, the story in The Crusaders follows the conflict between the human alliance and the Dark Legion. The Dark Legion is made up of orcs and dark elves and half-vampires and ogres. The reason for the fighting between the humans and the Dark Legion is equal parts racial, territorial, and religious. Everything is explained through dialogue on the map screen as well as in game cutscenes. Something interesting is that the story is spread across four separate campaigns. Two are locked up and only open when you beat the first two. The difficulty ramps up in each successive campaign, and since each campaign gives you a different character to play as, going through all 4 and seeing the whole story is very rewarding and fun.

Hack n' Slash

Gameplay in The Crusaders consists of several different elements. The most basic of which are the straight up hack and slash bits. You play as the leader of several groups of troops and in each campaign you will be a different character. In addition to moving your troops around the battlefield you also have to get your hands dirty and do some hand-to-hand combat. If you have played any of the Dynasty Warriors games then you know pretty much what to expect here. You have a big sword and a lot of enemies around you and it is up to you to hack and slash your way out. As you defeat enemies, you build up points that can be used to call other characters to help fight with you, or you can use special attacks, or you can use special abilities. You can fight against literally dozens of enemies at any given time and it is extremely satisfying to hack through wave after wave of bad guys. The troops that are under your command can more than hold their own and do a good job of not dying, but it is clear that you are the one that can win or lose these battles and it makes your role seem bigger and just plain cool.

Real-Time-Strategy

In addition to the straightforward combat bits, another part of the gameplay puts you in command of your troops and you are responsible for moving them around the maps and getting them in the right positions. You command entire groups of soldiers at a time. Infantry, archers, cavalry, sappers, and much much more are at your disposal. You have to know how and when and where to use all of the different units you have. A couple of examples. Spearmen can devastate enemy cavalry so you have to position the rest of the troops behind your spearmen so they’ll be protected should some cavalry come through. Sappers can set traps as well as disable traps set by the enemy. Archers can shoot flame arrows to burn enemies to a crisp. You are responsible for putting your troops into the best position for victory from the infantry on up. The sense of control you have over battles is really amazing and is something that up until now we haven’t been able to be nearly this hands on with. Sure, you can move units around in RTS games, but you aren’t actually down on the battlefield fighting alongside them. That feeling of power and control and responsibility is what makes The Crusaders so awesome.

Skill and Weapon Upgrades

In between battles you can spend any gold and experience points you earn on upgrading your skills and equipment and even learning new abilities and spells. Each group of troops has its own officer and if you upgrade the officer’s skills and equipment, it will also affect the fighting ability of the entire group. You are also allowed to upgrade the troops directly and if you develop their skills and abilities correctly, you can even change their class. Converting your infantry into knights, for example, is cool as hell and well worth the time and trouble and gold you have to spend. What makes all of this so impressive is when you actually see the difference your upgrades make out in battle. Your limp wrested infantry fight like a whole new unit just by upping a few stat points. It is very satisfying to see that such seemingly small things can have a big impact. And it is even more satisfying to be able to watch your troops grow and change and improve over the course of each campaign. It really makes you feel like you are accomplishing something.