I always thought swords, orcs, and dark elves worked in games. Guess I was wrong.
The story branches off from the previous KUF game, about 50 years after. The Human Alliance (kingdoms of Hironeiden and Ecclesia) and the Dark Alliance (a series of various creatures such as orcs, ogres, dark elves, etc.) are still at each others throats. The chaos begins with a human village being raided. From there, you’ve got your basic territorial disputes and the good ol’ powerful artifact thrown in there. The story doesn’t really keep you entertained or wanting to know what happens next. It lacks crazy twists and turns or well developed characters, which makes for a plot that can easily be ignored. Despite occasional cut-scenes, the way the story is carried throughout the game doesn’t help, since most of the time you will be paying attention to heads talking on a text screen. That doesn’t sound very interesting, now does it?
You start off the game getting to pick from two characters, one from the Human Alliance, and one from the Dark Alliance. There are two more characters that can be unlocked by completing certain missions. Immediately you’re put into some action, but not without a little help on how to start things off. After completing this small mission, you can actual partake in a couple of mini-tutorials on melee and ranged combat. You’ll quickly learn that there are a lot of commands and such to remember, making the learning curve fairly steep. Once you get into some real battles, you’ll also find out that the game can be difficult. In the latter part of the game, get ready to fight for your life at times, to the point where it can get frustrating. The learning curve alone may turn some people off from the get go.
The gameplay consists of two main elements, being the RTS and fighting factors. As for the RTS, it is fairly deep, but maybe a little too much. You get to control your troops with sometimes complex options. These help you sneak up to flank enemies, or use any other wily techniques you have up your sleeve. After the battles you gain experience and gold, which can be used to upgrade your troops. This is a good move, but there is one little problem with it. There’s so many things to upgrade that it’ll be very hard to choose. There are weapons and armor to buy, job advancements, new skills to learn, the list goes on and on. As you progress, you get new troops, so it’ll be tough to distribute everything evenly among all of them. Once you get close enough to engage in combat with your leader, this is where the fighting aspect begins. You will gain control of your leader in an attempt to reek havoc on your foes. Get that main finger you’ll be using ready, maybe even put a glove on. Because you’re going to be in store for some button mashing. Hitting the same buttons over and over again can be quite tedious. I do applaud KUF for demonstrating how repetitive this can be to the general public, so they will be prepared for other games that follow this same pattern. The inclusion of special abilities that only make use of a few combined buttons doesn’t really help. All of this is actually fun for the first couple of hours, but it quickly gets boring.
Visually, KUF has a lot going for it. The environments look sharp, and there is a fair amount of variety in them. Trees and fields are a vibrant color green, and smoke and rain effects look well polished. The character design is great, as you’ll meet all kinds of different creatures, or various armored humans along the way. Details are really nice in the game, such as the glint of the sun cascading off of armor, which is a very nice touch. Best of all is that the action looks really smooth. When you’re in one of the many massive battles in the game, it looks like it. All of the enemies and troops are fighting each other, whether or not you’re close by them or not. Attacks you unleash don’t look choppy or robotic, they just flow through perfectly, like something out of a Lord of the Rings movie. Although graphics don’t really make a game more enjoyable, they are the best single aspect in KUF.
When it comes to the audio, there’s good and bad. The music for the most part is decent. When you’re first reading some of the background to the story there’s great music reminiscent of ancient times maybe in Egypt or somewhere in Europe. From there it’s all hard rock and metal. In a way it seems both right and out of place. A lot of the time you’ll be in some hectic action, so the tunes seem well suited. But at the same time, you’re in a medieval setting, making the hard rock not seem appropriate. The music itself is good, it’s just a matter of if it fits. This being said, there’s some bad VO. The dialogue seems awkward a lot of the time. What exactly does, “I think I’ve got some Rupert on me.” mean? The voices themselves aren’t that great, and when they try to put some emotion in there, it seems fake. The music and voice-overs even each other out to make the audio just okay. That is until the sound effects come into play. Metal crushing shields and clanking with others’ swords has never sounded so good. If you can get past the weak VO, then your ears are in for a fairly good listen.
The game isn’t short, nor is it long. But the online play does add some redeeming replay value. You can face off with another on Xbox Live in basic head to head matches. You start on one side, your opponent the other, and you’re off to battle. You can approach it as a head on charge, or you can try some strategic moves like setting up traps. Through winning you get to upgrade your troops, which makes victories that more satisfying. Sadly, only two people can play at once. Four players and up in battle would have been great, or more online play modes. But what’s there is pretty enjoyable, and that’s hard to complain.
KUF: The Crusaders is not a bad game by any means. It’s just there is a lot of room for improvement. The idea of an RTS mixed with elements of a fighting game is there, but the execution wasn’t the best it could be. Don’t let this fool you when deciding to buy the game or not. A better scenario would be getting a straight up RTS or fighting game. The game does have its upsides, such as its looks, and that it is fun for a while once you get the hang of things. In the end, KUF: The Crusaders is a solid game, but nothing that will blow most away. At best, it’s a fair rent.