Games that have a reasonably good track record don’t always end up being what you expect when the franchise expands. Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom is the third game in the series to date and is more hack and slash than anything else, leaving behind the previous game template of strategic game play. Fans of the previous games might find the new game in the series differs perhaps a little too much.

KUF: CoD offers both single player and multiplayer coop game modes. The single player game allows you to play as several different characters (six in total) with six different storylines to follow. What this means in plain speak is that you will be required to follow a preordained path set up just for your particular character in the single player campaign. This is where the coop four-player game play comes in and takes you out of the single player doldrums.

The world of Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom is reasonable as far as graphics go. Don’t expect it to win any awards on the artistic side of things but adventuring in different ‘worlds’ (when you pass from one region to the next) will certainly make the journey a little more interesting, even if the game play is a little on the button-mashing, repetitive side. The audio however is actually really good with tunes being

Each character has a different story which includes separate quests to follow and different attributes and skills to acquire. The proven RPG recipe seems to work well in KUF: CoD where you can adventure, kill lots of beasties, gain ‘points’ to improve your skills and even obtain spells along the way. Weapons and money seem to fall regularly from slain beasts everywhere you go and you’ll be doing a lot of slaying.

As your character progresses, you must occasionally visit what is called the dream world. To be able to access the dream world, your character is required to enter into a period of sleep whenever you visit an idol. There are several different idols in the game; Idol of Death, Idol of Love and the Idol of Greed. Some of these idols will play a significant part in the progress of your character as you discover more quests and level up.

Spells and weapons are equally accessible in the game. As you progress in level you will gain points and will be able to add to your skills and spell lists accordingly. If you enjoy playing a caster, you can definitely opt to do this as well as fight with a weapon which is pretty cool. Take your time choosing what spells to add though. Some of the spells are a lot more useful than others.

Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom is a game that is best played as a coop experience rather than a single player game. This is primarily due to the repetitive nature of the gameplay. Most of your time will be spent finishing quests and killing things. Realistically, probably about 70% of your time in the game will be spent hacking and slashing (or spell casting) your way to the next level up. Whilst this may be fun for short sessions, it can become a little tedious after a while. Overall, KUF: CoD is a good game if you can stomach repetitive button mashing and linear game play. Playing as a group however will certainly make the experience that much more fun.