Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders Xbox
Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders Image
Metascore
81 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 50 Critics What's this?

User Score
8.3 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 23 Ratings

Your Score
0 out of 10
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  • Summary: Imagine you're a military hero in the Middle Ages, gallantly striking down the enemy and commanding friendly forces. Set 50 years after the events of Kingdom Under Fire, The Crusaders lets you lead hundreds of troops into war, while managing resources, augmenting your forces, and developing your combat strategies. You can choose to play as one of two races, Humans or Dark Legions, and you can select one of several character types within each race. While moving across the continent, you can stop by castles, gain endorsements from feudal lords, hire mercenaries, replenish or change equipment, and more. … Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 41 out of 50
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 50
  3. Negative: 0 out of 50
  1. Play Magazine
    100
    Many a developer has thrown hordes of warriors on screen to methodically mow through, but no one has ever captured the visceral beauty and brutality of medieval war like Phantagram has in Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders. [Sept 2004, p.58]
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  2. GameZone
    85
    While the action portions aren't as good as they could be and are little more than mindless hack and slash, the RTS elements are a lot more fleshed out and add a lot of depth to the game.
  3. GameSpot
    85
    There's so much packed into this game that it's almost too complicated for its own good--almost. But once you climb The Crusaders' steep learning curve and experience the wild frenzy of its massive battles, you'll find all that complexity pays off in spades.
  4. DailyGame
    73
    Feels like it should have been designed as a "Dynasty Warriors" clone. It would have done a wonderful job as such. The environments and character designs are beautiful accomplishments, and the sense of scale is an incredible feat. But the RTS aspects hurt the game badly.

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User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 17
  3. Negative: 3 out of 17
  1. MarioB.
    10
    Excellent, I like this game specially the relationship between Rithlin and Lucretia.
  2. ChrisM.
    10
    i think the game excelent but i think it would be better if you could choose which unit for each battle.
  3. Cyph
    5
    Ive played this game a bit, and here are my thoughts: The graphics are ugly, I expected something like this from a bad PS2 game, not an xbox game. The sound seems low quality, and the voice acting sucks, it has totally no feeling to it. The controls seem somewhat non responsive... There are cool options to upgrade your armies and characters, but really, at the end of the day, this doesnt have that much bearing on the actual outcome or strategies. The fights are pretty chaotic with heaps of men and action on the screen. It can become difficult to realise the actual scale of the battle and whats going on. The camera angle doesnt seem to be optimal considering the magnitude of the battles. All in all, the game has it moments, but it aint anything special. Its very disappointing actually.… Expand
  4. DanwiseG.
    4
    The graphics were great, it's amazing how great the graphics are becoming on the xbox recently for some games. The sound however leaves me wondering how a heavy metal soundtrack can go with a fantasy/middle ages game. The voice acting is decent but sometimes lacks any emotion, like characters just reading from a script. The gameplay is where this game excells and implodes. While it blends a RTS game with a hack and slash melee game, it implodes because it makes the missions as you progress in the game way too difficult to complete even for the experienced gamer. The novice or casual player will find this to be annoying, flustrating, and darn near impossible to really get into the increasingly involving story. There also is no way to lower the difficulty in the lucretia campaigns on, which leads one to wonder why I'm still trying to beat mission 9 for the 20th time. Unless you actually purchase this game avoid renting it because it's way too difficult to complete in a week's time. The high difficulty, weak voice acting, and strange soundtrack for a middle ages/fantasy game ruin what could be a really cool and innovative game, 4 out of 10. … Expand

See all 17 User Reviews