I have to get something off my chest - I've rarely been so absolutely infuriated with a game than I am with Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes. It's not by any means a bad game; it's unique on Xbox, a real time strategy (of which there is a chronic lack on our favourite black box) and it has a lot going for it in the gameplay stakes. However, I can't remember the last time I got so angry that I threw the controller down and walked away in disgust.

It was all looking pretty hopeful - KUF: Heroes had been getting rave reviews and while I never got around to checking out the first game, the screens looked great and the fantasy setting is right up my alley. However, it wasn't long into the game before the doubts started to set in.

One thing Heroes really has going for it is that it's absolutely massive. There are no less than seven huge single player campaigns to play through, you can create your own custom games and then there's Xbox Live multiplayer too, meaning that the lifespan, for those that take to the game, is virtually limitless. However, you'll need a lot more patience than I have if you're going to get stuck in and get the most from it.

Heroes is set in your typical fantasy land - power struggles, deceit, crusades, corruption, invasions, it's all here, with several races vying for control - humans, elves, dark elves, vampires and orks. The plot is bogged down with politics and thus hopelessly overcomplicated; I'm not going to even attempt to explain it to you - suffice to say, there is a story to follow for each campaign, albeit one that is not particularly original or compelling. Still, this is a strategy game, not an RPG, so a gripping plot isn't prerequisite - which is fortunate, because the script is stilted and the voice acting mediocre. However, it's a brilliant touch that you can play as every side to the conflict in the single player campaign (and every race too), although you'll have to complete the easier campaigns before you're allowed access to the really tough ones.

Once into the game, everything looks quite nice, if not spectacular. The textures and backdrops aren't the most detailed or pleasant to look at, although there are a great variety of locations to visit as you journey across the land. However, the attention to detail on every troop type, warrior and monster is very impressive and considering that this is a strategy game, the most important part - the battle units - has been skilfully implemented. As well as the various races, whose look changes dependent upon their type, armour and role (which I'll come onto), there are some very cool looking beasts - flying wyverns (dragons), giant scorpions, swamp-mammoths and more, that wreak total havoc on the battlefield unless you have the right troops to counter them. You watch the action from a 3D, slightly overhead view and a simple click of the right thumbstick allows you to zoom to a higher viewpoint, to better oversee the landscape.

The first of many gripes I have about the controls is that moving can be a bit awkward. The camera is clumsy, often sticking to the ground so you can't really see what's happening, sometimes dropping down cliffs and completely obscuring the view of your troops, while trees or other scenery can often get right in the way of seeing what you're doing. You can scroll the camera around and watch a line move with it, then hit the button and off you go (either a single unit or your whole platoon, depending on which button you press). Alternatively, you can use the map to move your troops. The map screen is blank at first and gradually fills in as you move around the area, which is fair enough. However, while clearly marking the boundaries of a sheer drop, the map gives no clear indication of the terrain - sometimes you can see if there are trees or not, but there are no contours to indicate a steep hill. This means that you think you're sending your troops straight up the map, while in reality they could end up running off to the side to go down a hill, then even further away to get back up the hill on the other side, for example. It's not a big deal, but it can be annoying.

The game's biggest flaws show themselves after you've had a few battles. You have multiple units of troops to command, which you switch between using the left and right triggers. Certain units, like archers and spearmen, are useless in melee combat and must be kept at a distance from a battle. Archers are also more effective on higher ground and can't aim into the sun. However, the system for moving troops is basic in the extreme and it causes a lot of problems when combined with the other aspect of the battle mode, which is the one-on-one combat. You can control your character (or Hero as they're known) to fight individual units in his or her troop, and your hero is so powerful that your combat skills can make or break many a battle. The problem is that you constantly have to baby-sit your other units, switching to them to assign commands and leaving the competent AI to keep your character safe (but not half as effective without you at the controls) while you hand out new orders.

This wouldn't be so bad if there were more options and commands available, but the only commands are move, retreat and attack. You can also change a unit's formation (wide, normal or closed) so spearmen might spread out to impale a cavalry charge, while soldiers might close in and use their shields when slowly approaching a group of archers raining arrows down upon them. Anyway, say that your archers are on the west of two melee troops in combat with the enemy and because the sun is in the east, you need to get them to a position east of the battle so that they're facing west and not firing into direct sunlight. You can't just send them to the position straight away, because then they'd charge straight into the battle and lose a lot of health before they came out the other side. So you have to send them to a clear area in the north or south, wait until they've arrived, then send them to the position in the east, wait until they've arrived, then finally command them to shoot the scum that's attacking your melee units!

While you're faffing about waiting for the archers to move across the battlefield, you're losing valuable seconds of controlling your character to execute special moves, help keep your men safe and take out commander units that have powerful magic attacks. Of course, you can switch between the two units while you're waiting, but in practise you forget all about the archers as you swing mercilessly through the enemy hordes, meaning that valuable archer support time, which also cuts down the numbers fast, is also lost. Would it have been so hard to implement a system where you could tell the archers to go to the south point, then the east point, then turn and fire, all in one go, then just leave them to it? Also, if your archers get attacked, they just stand their ground and fight, meaning that if you don't pay careful attention to the messages flashing up on screen (admittedly supported by voices calling for help too) you'll suddenly realise that half your archers' health bar is red before switching to them and ordering a retreat from the melee attack they're under. If only there was a way to instruct them to automatically retreat or position themselves on higher ground/away from the sun's glare when possible, and just leave them to it. Too much automation wouldn't make the game very exciting, but as it is, there's so much to manage and the enemy troops can damage you so damn fast that it's often too much to do (and you can't pause the action to hand out orders either, something that I feel is needed).

In battle itself, you can't get that high up view of the action, so tracking down the commander that keeps casting magic on you amidst the chaos of literally dozens of enemy troops, can be very tricky, as you hack your way around, trying desperately to stop him casting the next curse spell. Admittedly it all looks very impressive, with so many very detailed men and beasts on screen without a hint of fogging or slowdown, but it's total chaos! Also the combat system is pretty mediocre - light and heavy attack, plus block and special moves limited by a power meter is all you get. There are a few combos to learn, but the combat feels too slow and unresponsive, you can't lock onto enemies and blocking is very unintuitive, as it's doubles as the dodge button, so it's almost impossible to anticipate whether one of the four enemies around you, fighting with other men, is about to strike you or not, making those counter-attacks (which give you valuable SP points to power up the special meter) more luck than skill. Yes, the magic attacks look very spectacular and the two officers accompanying you can be called upon to perform some very nifty moves too, but the combat just isn't interesting enough - it's less complex than Dynasty Warriors and just not as satisfyingly swift on the battlefield.

I've been very critical so far and there's more to come! While the sound effects are very good, I'm marking the sound right down for the absolutely abysmal heavy rock music that blares tunelessly on throughout every damn level and in the end I turned it off, something I just never do in games. I'll confess to not being a rock fan, but even so, the music is totally and utterly inappropriate for the theme. Where's the grand scale Lord of the Rings style sweeping orchestral soundtrack when you need it? I kid you not, this is rock of the worst, most generic and melody lacking kind that gets repetitive within five minutes and will drive all but the most ardent metalhead quite insane.

And now onto the reason why I walked away in disgust. It began with losing two hours' game progress because I accidentally quit without saving and had to start the campaign again. There's no autosave feature, you can't save at any point in a mission (even limited saves would be a godsend) and, get this, the save and load menu is so well hidden that I had to consult the manual, which told me NOTHING! Well, it told me, "You save or load the game while on the world map." That's it. That's all it says. And can you find a save option on any of the world map menus? No you bloody can't! I eventually tried (after a sudden stroke of inspiration) pressing the start button and up it came - a menu within a menu, because the world map is where you move around locations and find the next mission; you'd never think to pause the game at a point where nothing's happening and this is a terrible design flaw.

Anyway, having played my way back to the fifth mission once more, I hit an absolute brick wall in the difficulty. I played this one mission over and over again, for almost two hours, before finally getting too angry to play any further. It takes place in the fire caves, and during the first few attempts I died from the initial assault of three troops, followed by another two, coming in from the rear. After adjusting my strategy to use my spearmen to bait some of the enemy away, allowing me to take out their archers and paladins while the knights were busy, I got to the next point, where I gained an extra unit. Then we're hit by no less than six units from two sides and wiped out. A few more attempts later (including some disastrous cock-ups on the first section of the mission, where my archers are caught in melee and almost wiped out before I'm even getting going, forcing me to retry), I finally manage to retreat to a position where I can fend off the enemy, get my longbow troop to high ground and fight off all these knights, paladins and dark elves swarming in. Finally! Victory is in sight!

I charge around the last corner, seeing three dark knight troops - no biggy, I can handle that. Until one of them casts a blizzard spell and all four of my units are wiped out within thirty seconds. Talk about a low blow - the introduction of brutally lethal magic against which I have no defence, or any way of purchasing defence at this point. It took me another few attempts to get back to this part of the level, where I approached with great caution, sending in an expendable troop to bait them towards my archers. However, others come from behind and no matter how much I retreated to heal my dying troops (your hero can't heal on the battlefield, for some absurd reason), those blizzard spells kept on coming (and I couldn't even tell from which enemy unit) until we were all dead again. And that's when I threw down my controller and came to write this review.

With all the above said, KUF: Heroes does have plenty of good aspects and features, if you can get over the flaws I've mentioned above, some of which are most definitely subjective. Some might think the graphics are great, enjoy the story more than I did and not find the camera to be a big deal. Some might love the one-on-one combat and enjoy the challenge of directing the every move of multiple units in huge scale battles. If you're one of those people, then this game will keep you going for a long, long time.

You gain experience and gold in every mission, and at bases you can recruit new officers (complete with a unit of troops), upgrade your skills, learn new skills, buy new weapons and armour (with varying extra effects such as increasing stats or gaining more SP) and do the same for your officers of each troop, as well as upgrading the troops themselves (by the unit, not individually of course!) changing their role, weapons and armour. There are a range of troops you can have - knights, cavalry (on horseback), spearmen, archers of various kinds, sappers (with explosives), catapults, even aerial troops - and the system for upgrading your troops, skills and so forth is pretty cool and allows you to gradually build up a range of specialist units that are perfect for certain situations or against certain enemy units.

The inclusion of Xbox Live multiplayer for up to six players is a huge bonus. You can go for Hero Battle Mode, where it's either 3 vs 3 (with you controlling only your hero and not having to worry about multiple units), or 3 vs AI Enemies, where endless hordes of enemies attempt to overrun your base and you have to remain alive as long as possible. Or you can go for a full-scale battle with multiple units at your command and take on intelligent human competition. Either way, for those that love the single player, this will keep you going indefinitely.

I've possibly been a little harsh on Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes, because its heart is in the right place and it's absolutely packed full of content, campaign missions and customisable armies. However, the amount of cumbersome game elements, flaws and omissions I've experienced while playing, plus some ridiculously hard missions and repeat ad nauseum trial and error gameplay, bog down what could have been a much more streamlined and user-friendly experience. Perhaps real time strategy games are just too tricky to implement without a mouse and keyboard. Or perhaps KUF: Heroes attempts to blend two genres (slash'em up and RTS) and fails to master either. Or perhaps I'm totally wrong and this is a refreshing slice of gaming genius. Either way, I'm not recommending it and I strongly suggest that if you like the look of it, you rent it first to find out whether or not it's for you.

Reviewed by Geoff Holland for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).