Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom - An excercise in hitting the buttons and wondering why you're doing it.
Wrong.
I like story in my game. Any story. At all. When I booted up the game and picked the heaviest knight I could (His name was Kaelen or something. I never heard it again) I got a cutscene with two old men talking... one of them dying... the other declaring he would "Digest his mind... forever!" Then I saw my knight put on his helmet and ask in a monotone voice "Do I have to go back?"
That was it. Welcome to the forest! Here come those lizard men!!
The lack of any story or character development really shocked me. I didnt know anything about this universe or the game. Maybe it was developed in previous KUF games, but that does not help a relative newbie to the series at all. While pretty, the game was nothing special. I watched my knight swing his mace and shield in long strokes against the poor lizard men while they poked at me occasionally over and over again... then I met the BIG lizardmen!! Then archer lizards! Boring.
The inventory was unintuitive, the synthesis system was nigh unto useless and leveling up didnt make me feel any stronger.
I would give this game a wide berth unless your a big Kingdom Under Fire fan... games from the Gauntlet series have more story.