E3 2005: Level Up
A Hero's Return
Product: Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes
Company: Microsoft Game Studios
Date: 05/28/2005
Avaliable On:

Ask any gamer what they want from a battle scene, and they're likely to mention ?The Lord of the Rings? or ?Braveheart?. A few recent RTS's have managed to provide battles of this epic scale, yet few action games have managed to pull off the same feat. And, whether we'll admit it or not, everyone has dreams of being Aragorn swinging Anduril into oncoming horde of orcs and trolls rather than guiding the battle from a distance. In Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes, players will have the chance to do just that: command an army of troops into battle while swinging their own sword in the thick of battle. Imagine Dynasty Warriors with the option of commanding your armies, and you're not far off.

The original Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders combined the tactics and strategies found in RTS's with the white-knuckled action of a typical action game. While it was met with critical acclaim, the game never caught on with mainstream consumers, at least not in North America (Crusaders was a smash hit in Korea, outselling games like Halo 2). The follow-up to Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders, KUF: Heroes is a prequel to the original. In an interesting twist, the side-characters from The Crusaders will take center stage in Heroes, while the original hero will take a side-role. Heroes will also introduce seven new heroes who will decide the fate of the world in over 50+ missions.

KUF: Heroes will follow the same basis as the original. You'll begin as a lone hero charged with leadership over one infantry unit. As you progress through the game's missions, your army will grow to number in the hundreds (Heroes will feature over 200 soldiers on the battlefield at once) and include several new class types like arches, pikemen and even dragons. Success on the battlefield will reward you and your army with increased skills and more powerful moves and combos. You?ll also gain new armor and weapons, including giant siege weapons like catapults.

Aside from a lengthy, 50 hour long single-player campaign, Heroes will also allow you to take your armies online over Xbox Live. Heroes will include 3 multiplayer modes, such as Co-op fortress defense, army vs. army skirmishes and 6-player hero battles. Replay Save, Observer mode and Fair-match options will also be supported.

Look for Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes later this year.

Starscream aka Ricky Tucker

GameVortex PSIllustrated TeamPS2