wraggster
February 9th, 2006, 18:06
Korean developer Blueside Studios is trying something new with its Kingdom Under Fire franchise. Its next game for the Xbox 360, Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom, isn't just taking the series onto a new platform--it's taking it into a new genre.
Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders and Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes were lauded for their mix of action and real-time strategy elements, but Blueside is deviating from the formula by making Circle of Doom an action role-playing game. Instead of taking to the field of battle in command of an army, players will explore randomly generated dungeons, learn new abilities, customize their weapons, and stave off enemies "swarming the screen in thousands," according to Blueside.
One thousand-on-one doesn't sound like a fair fight, but players will be able to better those odds by forming a four-player party through Xbox Live to hack their way through Circle of Doom together. Blueside is promising that players will be able to take their solo characters online for the multiplayer action or form a party of new characters that may have more complementary skill sets.
While the developers are taking a new tack for Circle of Doom, Kingdom Under Fire purists can take some solace in that this is not a direct successor to the series. Blueside has said that it is merely a link between the previous Kingdom Under Fire titles and the next, still unannounced, proper installment of the series.
Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders and Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes were lauded for their mix of action and real-time strategy elements, but Blueside is deviating from the formula by making Circle of Doom an action role-playing game. Instead of taking to the field of battle in command of an army, players will explore randomly generated dungeons, learn new abilities, customize their weapons, and stave off enemies "swarming the screen in thousands," according to Blueside.
One thousand-on-one doesn't sound like a fair fight, but players will be able to better those odds by forming a four-player party through Xbox Live to hack their way through Circle of Doom together. Blueside is promising that players will be able to take their solo characters online for the multiplayer action or form a party of new characters that may have more complementary skill sets.
While the developers are taking a new tack for Circle of Doom, Kingdom Under Fire purists can take some solace in that this is not a direct successor to the series. Blueside has said that it is merely a link between the previous Kingdom Under Fire titles and the next, still unannounced, proper installment of the series.