Kingdom worth the flight

Kenzie Whyte
Kenzie Whyte

Don't believe everything you read about a game. Despite what the gaming scribes say, this ain't no dud.

Kingdom Under Fire:
Circle of Doom
(for Xbox 360)

3 stars (out of 5)

This is one of the salutary lessons of gaming: read widely, and consult reviews of games before buying them, but make you sure you eventually make up your own mind.

The widespread opinion in the dedicated gaming press is that Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom is not one of the better games on the Xbox 360. In fact, many reviews have been downright scathing of its attempt to be the first popular role-playing game on the console.

Well, raspberries to all of them. KUF: COD - now there's a snappy abbreviation for a game - is a more than decent waste of time.

It is, in many ways, a classic fantasy or RPG title, involving a lot of sorcery and hack-and-slash gameplay with dollops of levelling up and fancy weaponry.

The story goes that the world is in a state of flux, ruled alternately by the Lord of Light (Nible) and the Lord of Darkness (Encablossa) until the good bloke gets greedy and the bad bloke tries to permanently take over.

There are six playable characters, all fairly stereotypical stuff like the holy knight and the elven queen and the narcissistic old warrior.

In the tradition of all good RPGs, you increase your character's fighting ability, health and luck through slaughtering as many monsters, golems, skeleton warriors and archers as possible in a series of battles.

Simple gameplay involves equipping weapons to two of the face buttons and accessing an inventory and potions using the shoulder buttons.

It's got a real old-school feel to it, though the graphics are very nice, if a bit repetitive. The sound effects are great, though the voice acting is naff and the music gets mind-numbingly dull.

If there is a criticism of the game, it is its very linear progression. This is no open world, where you roam and complete quests at your own pace. There is a clear path to follow, and a regular group of enemies to defeat.

But I kind of like it that way. Too many fantasy-type games are so epic in their scope they are off-putting and ridiculously complicated.

KUF: COD is fun enough to play, levelling up your abilities and finding new weapons is simple and fun, and there is a sense of achievement at ticking off the levels. Nothing wrong with that, is there?

 

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