Phantagram has been polishing this little gem for a few years now, and with Microsoft onboard as publisher, Kingdom Under Fire has generated some high expectations. Does it deliver? Depends. If you love the mindless button-smashing of Dynasty Warriors, then KUF is definitely worth checking out. But be warned, this is only half of the gameplay. The other half consists of real-time strategy that, while engaging in theory, fails on a number of levels. And the addition of this RTS element pushes the game into a niche genre that may only attract hardcore gamers (and of a certain caliber at that). The online play does little to remedy this fact, and suffers from its own shortcomings as well. Still, KUF is a beautiful game filled with frantic action, and remains a one-of-a-kind gem in the Xbox catalogue. How precious a gem is really up to you.
