Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes Feature Preview

Heads Will Roll

The battlefield ferocity of Kingdom Under Fire returns to the Xbox with the new sequel Heroes.

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It's always nice to be surprised in a good way when it comes to games. The catch is, of course, it doesn't happen often these days. More often than not, it's possible to get a fair sense of what a game has to offer well before it ships, which takes a bit of the fun out of trying to discover little-known gems. The upside to this is that when you do come across a great game that's flown below the radar, the experience is that much more special. Such is the case with last year's Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders, an original game from Phantagram for the Xbox that was the latest entry in a fairly underwhelming PC real-time-strategy franchise. Nothing in the game's past hinted at the greatness that was to be found in the Xbox version, which consisted of a mix of RTS elements, light role-playing-game mechanics, and a good old-fashioned dose of hacking and slashing. As a result, when KUF: The Crusaders hit, it made big waves on the Xbox and left fans hungering for more.

Thankfully, fans won't have to wait too much longer, because the sequel, Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes, is on the horizon. We got our first look at the ambitious sequel at this year's E3 and have since had the chance to hunker down and mess about with a fairly complete work-in-progress version of the promising game. The aspiring sequel offers up most everything that was great about the first game, as well as attempts to fix what was busted. Furthermore, it adds new content. So you're basically presented with pretty much everything you'd want from a sequel. Does it all work, you ask? From the looks of things so far, we'd say yes.

Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes is again being developed by Phantagram's Blue Side Studios, and it takes place on the continent of Bersia. The game is set before the events in Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders. You'll be dropped smack-dab in the middle of the Encablossa War, playing as one of seven new heroes that either hails from the good and noble human alliance or the evil, but invariably cooler-looking, dark legion. The war has been kicked off, in part, by the machinations of the kingdom of Vellond, a nation made up of half-vampires--led by the power-hungry Valdemar--and dark elves that are just looking for trouble. It seems that Valdemar has been hard at work destabilizing the nations around him by stirring up trouble and leaving everyone on edge. Unfortunately, when a mysterious army slaughters a small human village, the already skittish powers spaz out. And before you can say "Damn!", the shaky balance of power between the dark legion and the human alliance is gone, and a full-scale war, complete with a catchy name, is on.

Some of the cast of characters in Heroes will be familiar to those who played KUF: The Crusaders, as many appeared in the original game in lesser roles. The human alliance characters will include Rupert, a Hirondeiden messenger sent to rustle up help; Ellen, an Ecclesian army captain; and Walter, a soldier on a mission from God (almost an ancient Blues Brother). The dark legion is represented by Cirith, a female warrior who's a bit more savvy than her appearance suggests; Morene Strident, a scantily clad half-vampire who wields bone blades for anyone who gets fresh; Urukbarr, a powerful chieftain who guards the Dragon's Tomb; and Leinhart, son of King Valdemar. Each character will have his or her own unique storyline that's part of the larger tapestry of the war. As in the original, the characters will all interact in some ways over the course of the game, which lends a nice cohesive feel to the experience.

The action is just as furious as it was in The Crusaders--perhaps even more so.

As far as the gameplay goes, Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes seems to be nailing the right mix of old and new. You'll have the same basic options as in the original game--single-player and multiplayer--but both have been buffed up considerably. The single-player game will send you through each of the character's storylines, which amounts to more than 50 new missions of content. Once you've made your way through those, you'll also find some unlockable characters as well, which should continue to keep you busy. The core mechanics have stayed basically the same. The game will be broken up into several different stages as you play. Cinematics will move the story along and tie into the briefings you'll receive that will prep you for your next mission. The battles themselves will be split into tactics and action mode as you prepare your forces and then engage your foe.