Others say...

"the best game i've ever played"
First off, all I could say was WOW when I first started playing it. It was everything I wanted in a video game and more. At your command you could call upon archers, infantry(which do most of the dirty work) Orcs, dark elves, cavalry, and just about anything you could think of in a medievil battlefield. It was like living in a war ravaged fantasy(which I love) and tearing through literally hundreds of orcs or humans(depending on which side you play). this was also the first RTS I had ever played, and now they are some of my favorite types of games. Alright, time for my review.

GAMEPLAY 9/10: as I've said above, this is a great game. the only complaint that I had about it was the overly steep learning curve. Once I hit the second mission I was like "um, how do I make'em move?", but once I really got to playing, I figured it out. As I said, I had never played a strategy game at all, so I was not used to having to move fifty troops or more at once. But don't get turned off by this, its not nearly difficult as it sounds. Everything does happen in real time, and when you engage in combat with the enemy, you get to take your revenge out the good ole fashioned way, sword to face. The combat is FURIOUS, and is downright enjoyable. your heroe, human or else, can handle themselves well. the combos are not hard to pull off, though I hated playing as Lucretia, I like powerful characters, I could care less about how fast they can move. My favorite heroe would be either Kendall or Reignier. Yes, you do have to open these characters(you start out with two open characters, Gerald (human, easy campaign) and lucretia (dark elf, normal campaign).
Kendall (human) and regnier (not sure, looks human, but is super strong, and leads the Orcs) are both the Hard campaigns. And trust me HARD is the key word. but they have much bigger battles, and the gold is more free flowing.

SOUND 9/10: its got great sound effects, but sucky music.

REPLAYABILITY 10/10: very fun game, and the battles never turn out the same.

XBOXLIVE ?/?: I have not tried it, but I have heard there is lag, so your better off playing KUF: HEROES.

"Almost like you're on the battlefields of Lord of The Rings."
THE SHORT: A fine mix of real-time planning and action. The scenarios feel like you're actually participating in battles from Braveheart or Lord of the Rings, but less complicated and more hands-on than typical strategy games. Like Dynasty Warriors with on-the-field planning rather than something like "Risk", there's no turn-by-turn stuff. Very good graphics and sound round out a solid but sometimes frustrating package.

THE LONG: Don't misunderstand when I say there is strategy to this game. Unlike Final Fantasy Tactics or the Civilization series, this game is much more hands-on, with real-time battle decisions rather than micromanaging in a turn-based environment. This is not in the least a turn-based strategy game.

Rather, KUF puts you in control of a character who, on each large 3d map, goes where you want him to, when you want him to, with his troops visibly around him. As you roam around through forests, meadows, and plains, you'll see the enemy and engage them. Do you stop moving and tell your archers to launch their fire arrows, or do you rush flying into their troops and enjoy some hack `n slash?

I'll give you an example from one of the levels. You guide your character and his troops (again, in real time- you use a targeting reticle to tell your guys where to go on an over-the-shoulder-view 3d landscape, and they start running). But you stop your troops once you see the enemy in the distance. You send out one of your troops to scout out the area, and he runs along the enemy's lines giving you an idea how many there are. They also have their backs to the sun, so you'll be blinded- you have to move around the side through the forest. Then, when your ally engages the enemy and sends his signal, you come raging out of the forest to flank the enemy. As your troops run, screaming with weapons held aloft, the game immediately segues into combat mode and you find yourself slashing away at the troops with thrusts and combos like a medieval Dynasty Warriors. This is all done in real time, with no turn taking- if you get too close to the enemy on your approach, they'll see you trying to sneak and will just come at you full force before you have time to know where to run.

That's the style of this game: interactive battles that, minus the positioning device that you move with and the window you give troop commands in, take place in fully immersive 3d real-time. And by the time you're 4 to 5 battles in, things get pretty complicated. Instead of just sneaking around the army, you'll find yourself setting traps in the ground as you lie around the side of a cliff in ambush. Then you draw the enemy out by riding through their ranks with your men on horseback. Finally you rush them with your entire army as they approach and are struck by the traps.

Though this game is entirely focused on the battles, it's fleshed out between. Each battle means something as your religious-minded characters slowly try to take back strategic locations on their quest to reclaim holy ground from the monster invaders. In between these campaigns is when you outfit yourself in towns and castles. This is where the game most closely resembles a strategy title- you'll go to a menu and pick places to go, such as the pub where you recruit mercenaries or the armory where you decide which items to buy for the gold you earn in battle. Do you buy your main character a better weapon, outfit your troops with better armor, or try for special items such as those which raise your resistance to fire? Finally, for the more strategic fan, your troops can all be upgraded. In a simplified version of Final Fantasy 10's grid system, you see a layout of possible types your troops can become (knights, bombardiers, etc) and can see what is needed to get them there (such as using experience points to raise a certain skill). It's not very hard to get your troops to advance, it's just hard to know how best to spend your experience points since like your gold it is used for the main character as well.

But again, minus these 10-minute intermissions, the game is all about battle. It's balanced so that you can't just rush and attack every troop head on or you'll die soon. But then it's not so strategic that you're sitting on a map screen, dictating which units will go where. You don't have to be a heavy planner, but it's more than just a button-masher for sure.

The graphics are pretty, though the characters' mouths don't move during cinemas. The acting is variable as well, though the main character thankfully comes off as perfectly fine. The sounds are very well done- when you command fire arrows, you'll hear your archers give the command, stand in a line and get their arrows lit by the torch wielder, then hear "loose!" as they pull skyward and fire. It's very thorough and realistic, and is the impetus behind the comparisons to similar scenes in the movies. It's a satisfying feeling of more genuine "on the battlefield" fighting than I get out of Dynasty Warriors (a series I still enjoy).

However, the game can get very difficult. Halfway through the initial character's campaign, battles become a lot more complicated. In one stage in particular you roam through a forest thickly populated by creatures, and the best strategy is to draw the armies out one by one and dispose of them until you can approach hiding places closer and closer to the goal. It isn't actually any "harder" to do than earlier levels- you just have to become more disciplined and patient as you wait, like a real tactician, for slower strategies to pay off and let you tread safely through the outnumbering foes. It's satisfying as hell when you win, but pretty frustrating when you lose, especially after a half hour of slowly making your way through a level. I did complete the level after a couple tries, and yes it was irritating. But when my head cooled and I made my way through more intelligently and carefully, I was able to get it done. By the last level of the initial character, battle is an all-out Return of the King war- with troops coming in from all sides, archers firing, dragons flying, and huge beasts launching mortar from afar. It's madness, and takes patience to beat. But once you do, there are several characters to replay the game with from different sides of the storyline. But be warned- the first character is tough and that's on "easy".

In all, this is a very satisfying and realistic game, which apparently even features online play (which I haven't had the opportunity to test). Give it a shot and be patient, and I think you'll enjoy it. But one last thing to be warned about- the box says "Custom soundtracks", and I haven't seen any evidence of that yet at 15 hours in. Oh well, solid game otherwise and only twenty bucks.


"False advertising and misleading labeling"
Well first off, check the box, it states that there is a custom soundtrack ability, which is totally absent as far as I can tell after playing for one day straight. Then there is the horrible grating rock music. I've played a lot of dynasty warrior and KUF: The Crusaders makes the same horrible mistake. I mean a gaming experience must have good atmosphere, and that is produced from the integration of music and gameplay.

I expected to hear the soldiers shout louder as they came closer
to the enemy, barely peep. It just didn't have enough "atmosphere".

Did Metal Gear Solid have crappy rock most of the time? No. Did Lord of the Ring games have crappy rock? No. Did Diablo have crappy rock? No. Everquest? No. Get what I'm sayin?

Get a good symphony orchestra, put some braveheart-ish themes, or music like from "god of war (ps2)" then I wouldn't say a word against this game. Then there has been no downloadable content when the box clearly stated that there was. Even after all this time, they still haven't made a patch that let's you have custom soundtracks or fix spelling errors in the subtitles. When you buy this game, be careful, because it promises a lot but does not deliver enough, at least to my expectations.

"Some faults but still good."
The graphics:Firstly i think these graphics are awsome.The girl dark elves skimpy outfit shows.The human armour glints and the moves blend nicely.I guess the only problem with graphics is the mouth movements although this would be stupid to complain about, as the point is to actually here or read the speech.

The sound:Sometimes i forget if theres even sound playing while im playing (there is) because im having fun with the battles.The main thing i love is when you atack with weopons.Ecspecially the special atacks.*Whistles*
Even with the intro the music goes with medieval theme.Also the cool cutscenes have an intense music track which i can only smile at.Although if youve seen the cutscene you can skip it.

The Controls:As some people say the controls can be challenging but I just keep trying.Infact they really werent to hard...i guess some people just had a hard time...Infact the only one i had trouble with was the turning of my kick butt calvary.

Controls 2:I was just talking about battles and field control but when you have control of multiple battlions it gets a bit harder.Of course it also gets funner.It was ecspecially fun when i had my melle group fighting swords.My calvary charging
through the enemy lines from behind and my archers continuously launching arrows at the enemy.The game was truly at a climax battle right there.

The Strategy/Tactics:I loved this part!All of it from making sure the sun isn't in your archers/axemans eyes or making sure your calvary isnt charging into enemy spearmen/axeman.Also theres formations.Hold tight when being fired apon by arrows or
spread out when enemy catupults unleash crushing rocks, and i cant forget changing jobs of my units.Having mammoth like monsters rocked!Or why not turn your expierenced archers into mortarists.


So thats why i hope any serious rpg/strategy player atleast rent this game.Its worth it through my eyes.


"Best Game Ever!"
Graphics are great. I can play for a million hours! The characters are really interesting and the players look so cool.