User Review : Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom

Ups

• Co-Op is actually a lot of fun.{Wonderfully detailed characters.{It is a great time Sink

Downs

• Playing by yourself is really depressing.{Really bad slowdown{Quite a few bugs and glitches.

Diablo it certainly is not. But that is okay.

New to Kingdom Under Fire? That's okay I don't think anyone else knows whats going on either. I personally have never played a single Kingdom Under Fire game before, but it would be hard to believe that anyone could figure out what the plot is when starting the game.

To sum it up if you people are looking for a quick and dirty answer this game is basically a watered down Ninety Nine Nights combined with Diablo 2.

When you first start the game you are greeted with 5 interesting and unique characters to build and expand on and get to know, but getting to know them is quite difficult. Each character starts off at some random point in time, in some random dark dimension where only a few people actually know what is going on but they will never tell you and only a few answers are given to you as you play through the game. So really if you have come looking for an RPG with a deep or engrossing story this will probably not be for you.

I compare this to Diablo 2 because much of the hack and slash game play revolves around building your character up, most of this is not done through allocating stat points (although that is a small part of it.) The majority of the time you will be searching for and customizing the statistics of armor through the game called "synthesization." It is really quite interesting since if you play it right you can make a sword which a level 1 character can use which does 1,000,000,000 damage in one hit, which is many times the HP of the final boss on the hardest difficulty. Or you can make your HP regeneration so amazingly high no one can possibly kill you.

The game play itself is a very basic hack and slash affair, no real combos, just mashing your weapon button over and over again as long as you have the SP required to keep mashing. Of course there are the standard RPG elements thrown in like picking up loot and magic spells, in the harder difficulty avoiding spells will become your biggest concern and making armor with high resistance will be your #1 goal. There are a lot of unique and interesting spells at your disposal as well, with very beautiful effects which can surprisingly be very useful when you least expect it.

You will also notice the game saves a lot, this is probably a good thing since the game also has quite a few bugs as well as collision detection errors. It is not too uncommon to find yourself unable to stand up or move because of enemy attacks, being pushed off into a zone you are not supposed to be in, unable to find your way passed an object because the collision detection is too awkward or to suddenly die without truly understand why you have been smited.

As far as graphics, generally it is very beautiful You start off in a lush green meadow, that looks like paradise, very detailed textures, your characters as well as their different armors are modeled very well and look great. Even the enemies look impressive, This all comes at a price though since there are times of unbearable slowdown where everything goes into slow motion as well most of the levels look bland, it is easy to get lost because everything pretty much looks the same. You should also be warned that for the majority of the time you will not be marching through lush meadows and waterfall filled hills, but mostly demonic dimensions where the roads are made of human flesh and corpses are spiked to the wall, for me it was rather surprising how dark the game really is. Most of the enemies you face will also look similar to what would be seen in a horror movie, with gruesome demons and mutated flesh beasts.

With the music it starts of similar to the graphics, you will first hear much light and pleasant dreamy kind of music which sooths and relaxes the ears, but more and more you will hear a disturbing and pounding rhythm which also sounds as if it comes from a horror movie, like the cursed drum rhythm of an undead army, so you will have to get used to a ton of creepy music, which most sound pretty much the same.

Now to get to the cold hard truth, playing alone in single player is pretty boring, I mean after leveling 1 character to 80 I was about ready to ignore all the other characters and give up on the game, but the game's real fun comes from playing the game co-op with friends, infact to beat the game on the hardest difficulties you will most definitely want people alongside you helping you out. When fighting so many enemies at one time or bosses which can attack you from so many angles, it is nice to have people watching your back, plus helping each other craft equipment and trying to figure out what on earth is going on is really quite fun. Plus the creepy music does not get as annoying when you have people to talk to.

Overall if you like Action RPGs and are desperate for something to play, this game will get the job done, or if you just want to try something new this game does wonders to pass the time in small doses, or if you want to beat up demons with a friend, you could have a good time with this quickly slapped together adventure.

Score

6.5

Graphics

For the most part very basic and simple, you will find complexity only one you access the highest difficulty modes.

7.5

Sound

Character models, textures and overall everything is very pretty and put together extremely well, although the environments are quite bland and boring.

5.5

Gameplay

The music really got on my nerves, most of the time you will hear the same awkward and agitating gothic marching tune.

4.0

Fun Factor

When playing alone honestly I had to force myself to keep playing for Achievement points. Practically no story either or at least it is very shallow.

7.4

Online

It is the saving grace of the game and really probably the only time the average person will actually have fun with the game.

Overall

6.6

[PS360WII]

Nice write up and seems like a decent enough of game but probably a rental if anything. The game videos just put me off from trying it out :(