Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders [Xbox]

At first glance, it's easy to write off Kingdom Under Fire: Crusaders as a clone of Koei's long-running Dynasty Warriors series. Hack-and-slash combat? Check. Hundreds of units on screen at once? Check. Devastating special moves? Yeah, yeah. You get the idea. But despite skin-deep similarities, there's a different beast at the heart of Crusaders.

Although you only have direct control over one character, you're responsible for the tactics of your whole army. You're the boss! If you get outmaneuvered and enemy cavalry flattens your archers, you'll be the one explaining yourself to the king -- that is, if you're fortunate enough to survive without them. Better hope no flying units come after you.

Far from the typical, dry real-time strategy game, players dish out orders right on the battlefield. Your information on the enemy is limited to what you and your other units can see, and thanks to forests and other cover, the maps are much larger than visual range. Ambushes, sneaking around woods to scout, and attacking with the sun at your back are all useful tactics. The interface is thought out enough to make these options feasible.

Crusaders' complexity doesn't end there. Once you're back at base and done scrubbing the gore from your armor, there's an impressive selection of troop customization options. Unhappy with your leader's performance? Buy her a new sword, or a protective charm. Even better, cash in some of the experience points you've gained on the battlefield and improve her skills.

Units can also be upgraded in more dramatic ways. Like Final Fantasy Tactics, there's a "job" system -- gain enough skills in the correct areas, and players can completely change a unit's classification. A basic infantry troop could become a unit of powerful knights or cavalry, and a group of archers might graduate to manning catapults. Each race has special advancement possibilities; it's 12th Century affirmative action.

Then there's combat. Unless you're fighting a "boss" enemy, the block button isn't very useful, so hammering the attack buttons is the way to go. Crusaders has a better trick up its sleeve to keep your attention -- if you kill the leader of a unit, his troops will either throw down their weapons, run away, or spontaneously die in sympathy (or something).

This instant win tactic means there's not much point in chopping down regular soldiers when you could be hunting for the boss. Sometimes they're conveniently mounted or dressed differently, but in most cases, they look very similar to everyone else. Having to watch the whole battle carefully stops the fights from getting tedious -- if they're taking too long, it's generally your own fault.

Each soldier model is reasonably detailed and, by golly, the game throws a ton of them around. 40 troops per unit is fairly typical, and even in chaotic five-unit scrums (that's up to 200 soldiers, math fans) the frame-rate stays pegged.

Crusaders offers several campaigns of varying difficulty and starring different leaders. Sometimes you'll find yourself taking part in a battle you've already played, but from the other side, even facing your own characters at times. It's a nice touch, and is used in imaginative ways.

Plot-wise, it's not War and Peace, but it does the job. The frequent cutscenes suffer slightly in translation from the original Korean, mostly due to the punctuation-deficient subtitles and lack of lip movement. A few unit leaders don't appear to have been translated at all, and issue comments in strident Korean. Also, the guitar-rock score is out-of-place and repetitive.

Most of the missions are very heavily scripted. While varied, it's irritating to replay a mission and be lead into the same traps. If you're looking for tactical freedom, you're better off heading for Xbox Live. Crusaders supports up to four players, cooperative and competitive, and your armies gain experience and persist between battles. If it's well supported, multiplayer has the potential to be the game's best feature.

Original games aren't exactly everywhere, but adding such deep role-playing and strategic elements to a combat game was an inspired move. Dynasty Warriors fans looking for something a little more novel and involving should snap Crusaders up without delay, especially if they're on Xbox Live. No doubt some won't connect with the strategy or find themselves put off by the rough edges, but overall, Crusaders is a very easy game to recommend.