Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom, the latest installment of the Xbox-exclusive series that has been all but lost amid a flurry of triple-A holiday releases. Slated as one of the first releases of the New Year, this role-playing offshoot of the traditionally strategy-oriented Kingdom Under Fire series still promises plenty of hack-and-slash action. With a near-final build in hand, we take a look at this dark new adventure.
Circle of Doom tells the story of a feud between the Nible, the Lord of Light and Encablossa, the Lord of Darkness. The deities each take turns ruling the world, shaping it into their likeness and then ceding control after a set amount of time passes. Fed up with seeing his creations destroyed by the forces of darkness when his rule ends, Nible decides to retain control beyond his allotted reign. Encablossa naturally became enraged and launched a full scale assault against Nible. While the forces of light have successfully beaten back Encablossa's dark minions, the war is far from over. Warriors trapped in the dark dimension are fighting to escape, one of which you control.
The game offers a choice among five playable characters, a sixth unlocked when you've finished the game with a specific warrior. Attributes and abilities differ among the cast, which obviously influence how you play through the game. For instance, the half-vampire Prince Leinhart has great agility but low health. His counterpart, the religiously zealous knight Kendal, possesses both great strength and health at a loss of speed. Differences in attributes eventually can be minimized by accumulating enough experience, but it's important to note that each character is limited in the types of weapons and armor he or she can equip.
Two locations were on display in the preview build: the dank Forest of Embracing and the ghastly City of Desolation. The game opens with a pan across a gorgeous field of flowers deep in the forest, granting full control over your selected character after a short tutorial. A mini-map helps orient you to the surrounding environment, although the levels are straightforward enough that you shouldn't need much guidance. In fact, the mini-map can be quite deceiving since it doesn't relay variations in terrain height. Walking about the City of Desolation involves navigating through all sorts of twisty pathways and hilly roads that are confusing if you only refer to the mini-map. Getting lost isn't that big a deal though, since it provides an opportunity to gain a few extra experience points.
Focusing more on the action portion of action role-playing, Circle of Doom has you hacking and slashing enemies apart in real-time combat. Up to two weapons can be equipped simultaneously, each mapped to the A and X buttons. Successive presses of either button yield a string of attacks for added damage. Attack frequency is limited to how many skill points (SP) you possess, indicated by the blue meter sitting at the bottom of the screen. Every weapon comes with an associated SP cost that is subtracted whenever you launch an attack. Not taking an action allows you to recover lost SP, although it also leaves you vulnerable to attack. It seems smart to run away from enemies when you're trying to recoup SP since movement is allowed, you just can’t issue any blows.
Upon accumulating enough experience to level up, hitting the start button opens the character advancement screen. Points awarded with each new level are spent on enhancing three attributes: hit points (HP), skill points, and luck. You're free to divvy up points however you like, although it's wise to beef up SP since it determines your ability to execute attacks. High SP enables more consecutive attacks with stronger weapons, which in turn makes it easier to kill tough foes. It's also worth noting that some characters possess low HP that should be addressed before too long, otherwise you'll find yourself overpowered by some of the heartier enemies.
Complementing attribute enhancement are special abilities learned independent from experience; instead, special quests accepted in the dark dimension allow you to acquire skills through combat. Each ability requires you to slay a set number of enemies before they become available for use. It's not the most intuitive system nor is it enjoyable. Having to backtrack through previously-played levels hunting down specific creatures isn't exactly thrilling. When you're finally able fulfill the requirements for ability, you can map it to the B button for use in combat.
With a somewhat lackluster ability system, combat essentially boils down to mashing the face buttons for weapon-based attacks. This brings Circle of Doom down to the level of a basic hack-and-slash role-playing game, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Most enemies don't appear to be too intelligent, relying on sheer numbers instead. Most battles consist of beating back dozens upon dozens of creatures versus one-on-one confrontations that are saved for boss fights. The one boss battle we did play--a protracted slash fest against the massive guardian of the Forest of Embracing--didn't offer up much of a challenge. Hopefully the difficulty ramps up the deeper you delve into the game.
