Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes is the most recent console RTS in the Kingdom Under Fire series. On the surface, it plays a little like a more tactical version of Dynasty Warriors. You have a certain strategic degree of control over your troops, and direct control over the main hero, whom you will use to slaughter massive quantities of enemies that may all appear on the screen at once.
The fighting is based on a simple, kill as many enemies as possible, as quickly as possible combo system - it is intuitive and strangely satisfying. Unlike Dynasty Warriors, however, you cannot just go off as a lone ranger and ignore your troops - often you will need them for ranged support and backup.
There are seven playable characters, each with their own missions that explore the games story, which takes places before and during the events of Crusaders. Those familiar with the Encablossa War from Crusaders will find out more about Ellen, Walter, and some of the other officers. Each campaign tells a bit of the story from the chosen hero's perspective.
The story takes place partially on the battlefield, partially through cutscenes, and partially by speaking to people between missions. The dialogue attempts to capture the old-style fantasy feel of the game, and generally does a good job, with some characters being more believable and likeable than others.
Not all of the missions are critical to the story, there are a good number of side campaigns which contribute little other than being a bit of skirmish practice and some free experience, these missions are on small maps, and are slightly shorter than the other ones but still fun.
The music in this game is in the same kind of rock style of Dynasty Warriors, pleasant and inoffensive enough. The general background sound and speech is pretty good, and the environments are nice also.
Graphically, the terrain is OK, although nothing special, and the units are slightly blocky. The animation is smooth even with large numbers of units on the screen, however, and you get a good sense of the scale of the fighting.
The direct player controlled combat features a huge array of special moves and combos, but a lot of them are difficult to memorise and perform, and it is rather tempting to just slash at everything wildly and use the ‘summon secondary leader’ skill every time you get a chance.
The RTS part of the game requires more thought, however - each unit type has its own strengths and weaknesses, and terrain plays an important role in battles too - especially if where the Elves are concerned.
Once you have finished the campaigns, there are still randomly generated missions to keep coming back for, plus XBox Live features for those who wish to play against humans.
This game is not for the casual player - even the early missions take a decent amount of time to complete, and the game can get fairly difficult later on. If you are a fan of the console RTS genre, or Kingdom Under Fire specifically, then you will love this game, and get a meaty, satisfying playing experience out of it. If you are a newcomer that likes hack and slash style play, then be prepared to invest a lot of time into it.
To conclude, this is a good game, a solid sequel and very enjoyable to play.
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 7/10
Controls: 7/10
Story: 8/10
Longevity: 9/10
Overall: 8/10
