The sun itself stands out as the most unique as it can be a friend or foe at any given time. Outside of these, there are a few additional tactics that you can employ to overcome your foes. Every unit has a commander with stats and equipment of their own. Alternatively, sappers can detect and disarm enemy traps, set their own, and even interact with the environment to turn the tide of battle in your favor. For example, archers can set their arrows on fire to rain flame down on their enemies, doing catastrophic damage under the right circumstances. These upgrades come with a sleek new look, some stat buffs, the potential for new equipment options, and maybe even some new abilities.Īlthough buying new equipment for your heroes is exciting and can help you tailor your efficiency that much more, the special abilities of your units take front and center and there’s plenty of variety. It starts simple enough with basic units, but as these units gain experience they’ll be able to evolve into more powerful, faction-specific types. The wide variety of units on a single class tree immediately interested me.
The job tree has far more depth than you would expect and offers plenty of customization and versatility in your forces. You’ll never be overwhelmed by the number of units that you’re tasked with commanding and swapping between them to issue orders quickly becomes second nature.
The first few scenarios feel a bit Dynasty Warriors as you control one unit, so the required tactical thinking is minimal, but each new unit broadens your control over the battlefield. Floods and FiresĬombat is the primary, almost single-minded focus of Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders, and as your army grows, your ability to manage it just as well. The world map isn’t great looking, but it’s how you get from one battle to the next. I used to consider myself a purist of sorts and preferred music that might exist in the setting itself, but I can say that I’ve been converted more and more by the excellent use of modern music that has been adapted into titles where you wouldn’t necessarily expect it at first. The metal soundtrack surprised me, initially by its existence, and then by how well it fits in with and creates intensity with the game every step of the way. The overall graphics and art style do well enough to immerse you in the atmosphere though they’re certainly a long shot from what you probably prefer in an action game at this point. Others aren’t as impressive, such as how some characters seem to be chewing like a cow while they speak. Some aspects are fantastic, like the inclusion of an archer in the unit running up and down your line lighting arrows with a torch when you order a volley of fire arrows. The audio and visuals are decent enough, though as with most games released in the early 2000s, they’re certainly outdated when compared to today’s standards. Units look good and it’s exciting to watch them evolve over time. Scenarios are predetermined and the story itself is as linear as can be.
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Don’t expect any real narrative choice though your heroes and units are yours to build and customize as you please but the entire experience consists of moving from one battle on the map to the next with brief intermissions where you can spend experience and gold to upgrade your forces and engage in some setting-building conversation. You’ll choose one of four factions and play their hero as you battle through their involvement in the events to come.
There are heavily armed and armored knights, beefy ogres, terrifying dragons in the sky, and mortars on the ground. Humans, orcs, elves, and a handful of other staples of the genre show their faces here in a way that pays their respects to their inspirations while showing us something new. Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders tells the story of a war that has broken out in a familiar, but unique, fantasy world.