What happened to the olden days? The days when we used swords instead of guns and bows instead of grenades? Siege weapons instead of army tanks and spears as apposed to harpoons? Fish and chips were cheaper back then too - or so I'm told.

But now we live in a world of bullets and armed vehicles, which just doesn't feel authentic. Thanks to our friends Phantagram and Microsoft, we can all now return to those simpler times, because they've brought a game out that restores the authentic weapons from way back when. A true blast from the past, combining zoomed in free roaming combat with real time strategy elements to bring on of the freshest games out on the market this year.

You may think that RTS games take some getting into, but I can assure you Kingdom Under Fire is different; it's a lovely blend of real time combat and real time strategy. You may also think that games like these are drawn out, with too much dialogue and FMV's - but you'd be wrong to think that. You see, KUF is in a league of its own and I cannot think of one single game that is quite like it.

Most of the dialogue in KUF is spoken by various voice actors - most of which actually suit the face of their character! The voices tell a story like no other. When you're either in a town camping, or in the middle of a battle, the heads of the characters appear at the bottom of the screen, with a string of text next to the corresponding heads. These words are spoken for those who can't be bothered to read! The story won't be told by just one character though, no, there are multiple characters that all play a part in delivering a fine storyline through the art of convocation. There's quite a lot of humor too, to keep people entertained. I laughed out loud on several occasions. The female warrior says to the fat headed fighter that she doest want to be caught downwind of him, because he smells. The fat head numbskull replies in a witty fashion "oh, and you smell of roses?" Then the leader tells them to stop arguing and when they've stopped, he admits that he doesn't want to be caught downwind of either of them! Combine that with various curse words and nitty-gritty war phrases and you've got some serious, yet entertaining dialogue on your hands. Though it may be difficult to explain, I can only give the effective story telling art thumbs up.

You can play many different storylines, seeing war from two different sides, the humans and the dark legions, both having their advantages and disadvantages. It's recommended to get to grips with the humans first, because they are easier to control. Not only that, but you ought to see the story from the humans' perspective before you go and look at the Dark Legion -it's all down to preference though. I'm not one to spoil a story, it's just not me. And with a story like this that's actually worth playing through I really have no right. But after a little bit of dialogue you'll find yourself fighting the opposite side - commanding your comrades and controlling your heroes.

As you progress you'll end up controlling many groups of warriors. Some groups from the human side include Sappers - the trap laying schemers and archers, the bow wielding havoc causers. Most groups of men have heroes that are fully controllable when you're zoomed in - which turns the game into an enjoyable 3D hack and slash adventure. You can only control the hero when you are zoomed in; the other pawns control themselves with some rather smart AI. You must control the hero and lead your men to victory, even if it means sacrificing a few of the troops along the way!

When you can control a hero you'll have a few special abilities to unleash while battling. The human team has a hero and two officers, both of which can be summoned when needed. The officers fight for themselves like the low-ranked pawns but when you require their devoted attention or channeled help you can press a combination of buttons to call them over. Pressing two buttons such as X & A, for example, may call over the numbskull I was talking about earlier. By default, the numbskull will come over and bang his hammer on the ground, stunning and sometimes killing the opponents in your area! Both officers can be levelled up the same way and you can configure their special abilities and actions for when you call them over. This means you'll be able to get our friend numbskull to call down a shower of meteors, which deal a lot of damage and are visually astounding! Your hero can fend for himself or herself too, with their own abilities to use against the enemy. Tapping Y twice performs a twisting move with the humans and deals a lot of damage in the area - it's probably the most useful move of the lot!

It wouldn't be a hack and slash without paying the price though, would it? And like any other, Kingdom Under Fire has costs to use all these moves. Special moves are measured in SP and each move costs a different amount depending on the effect. SP can also be used with groups of troops, and also when you're out of the hack and slash mode and back into the RTS system. Get your archers to launch fire arrows, ice arrows, cursed arrows, or just about any themed arrow that these kinds of genres encompass. You can also get your archers to focus the arrows in one area, called the direct shot. You must be at a relatively close range but it's useful for taking down the opponents' leader in a jiffy! Also it costs you SP to lay traps with sappers, but things like disabling traps or sending out an individual scout come gratis and often earn you some SP if used correctly.

Controlling the troops when in RTS mode can be difficult if you don't know what you're doing. Thanks to the tutorials throughout the game you should learn the basics in no time, so there's really no need to worry. Switching between specific troops is a breeze; all you have to do is press the R or L triggers, to cycle through the groups and scouts you may have deployed. Moving the groups individually is where the pain may surface but luckily there is a button to move all the groups at once. You can move the groups by using a white line in front of you, or by holding down a button to bring up the map, from which you can easily tell your groups where to move. The map is handy if you need to tell four groups to go to different areas in one easy swoop and it's also useful for retreating. However, you can control the troops in third person fashion too, using a white line. You can move this line in a 360-degree radius and you can adjust the length of the line, which reflects on how far you want your troops to move. This method is perfect for moving your archers a little bit closer for better range, changing direction fast, or walking while looking for traps with your sappers and it's great to have so many options for organising your army.

You can select from three formations; there's standard formation, which spaces your troops out a little, giving them enough space to breathe, then there's the tight formation, which brings your troops close together, giving them little space to even fart and lastly there's the open formation, giving your troops enough space to swing a cat! [If they've been farting a lot, I really feel for that poor cat. Ed] Each formation does something different and they all play a vital part on the battlefield. The tight formation makes your troops move very slowly but they also move in a stealthy fashion, which is perfect for sneaking around enemy troops undetected. However, the downside to this is that if one siege weapon strikes a direct hit, then it'll be game over. The open formation allows your troops to cover ground fast and is perfect for chasing enemy troops, running away from enemy troops, or getting from A to B in double time. It's also handy for when siege weapons are afoot and you want to reduce the risk of your troops being bombed. The main drawback with this formation is that you move nosily and are easy to spot. The happy medium is the standard formation, which boasts no serious advantages or disadvantages! Not too fast, not too slow and not too risky - you'll probably use this formation for the most part.

As if you didn't have enough to contend with, the plot thickens with the sunlight factor! I was surprised to learn that sunlight made any difference at all; I could see right from the start that shadows adjusted when you turned but I was pleasantly surprised to learn the advantages of having the sun to your back! Facing the sun with your archers isn't a good idea at all, because you'll be firing into the sun and you won't have a clue where you are firing. This can severely reduce your accuracy. Having your troops fight with the sun in their eyes isn't a good idea either, as they will suffer from sun blindness, which again, affects your accuracy. So what happens if the enemy has their back to the sun? Why not lure them with a troop of fighters and send your archers around to fire arrows with the sun on your back? Then when the archers are in prime position, retreat back to the archers and double back to fight them with the sun in their eyes. This spells instant victory, which is very satisfying indeed!

When you're back at base, camping, you can configure a few things. As I mentioned earlier, you can listen to a bit of dialogue at the town, talking to your officers and your general. With this aside you can go down to the old pub and eavesdrop on your soldiers to pick up valuable tips - and the pub makes a good place to recruit new men, although I wouldn't look in a pub for a new manager of my business; it wouldn't be advisable from a business point of view! The town also makes a good place to train and as you progress new areas of training become available for every group of men you command. If you've just acquired some sappers for example, you can bet your left hand that the appropriate course will be there in the training centre! It's recommended to take these courses as soon as they become available. The other modes in the town include an Operations menu to receive briefings, a Main Gate menu to exit to the map and choose a battle and lastly the barracks.

The barracks is the place to level up using the acquired EXP you gained from the last battle. The EXP is totalled up and you must share it between the heroes and the officers. Spend your points wisely and be fair with them! It is possible to level you heroes up and leave the officers at baby levels, but that wouldn't be fair now, would it? At the barracks you can also buy new weapons with special properties burnt into them, such as the fire hammer or the freezing musketeer's blade! Again, the money is shared so don't expect to buy all your team new stuff after just one battle - you'll have to devise some sort of equipment rota!

Kingdom Under Fire boasts 60 missions and it will take you ages and ages to battle your way through all of these. However, the fun doesn't end there. You can go head to head on Xbox Live and fight against somebody with real skill! Although online play only supports two players, a lot of fun can be had. And because each match lasts for a good hour, you'll easily be entertained with Kingdom Under Fire in your games collection. You can even download new content to your Xbox as and when it becomes available - all adding greatly to the replay value of this game!

Graphically I don't have many complaints ! The third person RTS mode looks great and there's no apparent slowdown, even when there's tons of troops on the screen. The maps are highly detailed, with trees, rivers, gates and walls all looking very realistic. As half of the game is based in RTS mode it's in the developer's interest to get it right and they certainly have. The other half is based around the zoomed in action, which looks even better! Zoomed in on your detailed hero, fighting the enemy's heroes looks absolutely fantastic. Faced paced battles with special effects, all happening in real time - what more could you ask for? And with spells being cast alongside your hero - such as those lovely meteor showers, there's always a lot happening on screen and everything is highly detailed and beautifully rendered. Fight up close while your archers are raining arrows down on the enemies and watch them fall in droves. My only quibble in the graphics department is that the camera goes haywire when you are walking through trees and it's quite hard to see what's going on, unless you are fully zoomed in on a battle. But hey, when was there ever a camera that behaved perfectly all the time?

The in game audio gets a big thumbs up too. Being an Xbox exclusive game where the developers maximised on potential, there is excellent in-game Dolby Digital and it all sounds superb. Click, clank, tiss - that's the sound of a sword battle, which sounds crisp, clear and as far as I can tell, totally authentic. There's music that runs in the battles, mostly consisting of heavy metal guitar loops. It actually sounds quite satanic! Though the electric guitars take some getting used to, they fit the game like a glove and you couldn't imagine this game with pansy flutes playing in the background, or even a sweeping orchestral score for that matter! The voice acting is great too; most of characters have real personality. The Numbskull hammer wielding man has a deep, grunty voice that really suits his look, for example. All the voices in the game sound clear and everything is understandable - you won't find yourself wondering what they just said that's for sure! Some of the lip-sync is out on a few occasions but you can't win them all!

"Doesn't he go on?" Well, yes, I do. But I only go on and on when the game has touched me in some way or another. I love Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders - it's as simple as that. What's the point in pussyfooting around? I plain and simply love it! It melds two of my favourite genres - hack and slash with real time strategy - and delivers something fresh, exciting and compelling. With plenty of depth, tons of missions, lots of hours of gameplay, a good levelling up system, a sublime story and Xbox Live to keep you busy through the winter months, you'd be a fool to miss out on this! Toss in the fact that there's another side to play as, which I don't want to spoil the surprises of at all, and you're onto a sure fire purchase. Don't be a numbskull, go and buy this now!

Reviewed by Dexter Pearson for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).