Anyone pick up KuF yet? If so what are your impressions?

[Vindel]

Just wondering if the final game differs any from the demo. I thought the demo was so so and wanted to know if anything was changed for the final product.

[Vindel]

So no one picked up this game? Guess it's that bad....

[Chaz]

My copy's ordered and on it's way.

[Doopri]

I'm hopin' its not!  Its actually one of the games I think I might pick up in the next few - I'll let you know if I do 'til then I hope someone else has impressions I'm hopin' for pretty good! (heard some positive buzz so thats always good)

[Jancelot]

http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/475761.asp

It's doing pretty good at GameRankings.

[Bullwinkle]

I got it, but so far I haven't played any further than the demo.  So far it really is just Dynasty Warriors enhanced.  Not a problem for me, as I like the DW series, though I always like it more when I start playing and then give up after a few missions.  Nothing compels you to go on.  

With KUF, there's a story that is woven into the missions pretty well (DW's story was too muddled without a background in Chinese history, and the cutscenes felt like what passes for "story" in fighting games).  Not nearly far enough yet to tell if the story is good enough to want to keep playing.  The fantasy setting works, I think.

The voice-overs are good for some, awful for others (I hate the "king" of your city especially), but the fact that there's no lip-syncing is quite distracting.  Also, no one seems to want to say the word "Patriarch" in my copy.

I'm not far enough yet to really get the feel for the strategy, but the battles are nicely varied.  However, the variations are trappings to disguise the fact that all battles will boil down to the Where's Waldo hunt for the boss, and then bashing away.  I did enjoy the fight against the huge troll, though (my character didn't...).

So, it's too early to tell for me, maybe this'll give you some idea though.

Oh, the driving mindless metal soundtrack is aw-ful.  I don't understand why DW does it, and it's even worse here.  Something classical would be awesome.  Look at how well the music works with LOTR.

[Vindel]

Hey thanks Bullwinkle for the quick impressions. If you get any further let us know what you think then. Thanks again....

[Sepiche]

Hmmm Dynasty Warriors you say?

Please oh please oh please tell me this has coop? Please??

s

[Bullwinkle]

It does seem to support co-op over Live, not sure about LAN or on the same Xbox.  However, according to an insert in the packaging (meaning it was probably a last minute change), Live is limited to two players.  Now, I think that means you can either play co-op or against each other, but I'm not sure.

[Sepiche]

I did a little research into my own question, and as near as I can tell it only supports head to head on XBox Live and no coop on the same box.  IMHO that's a totally boneheaded decision, but I'm sure it had to do with framerates.

Part of Dynasty Warriors success was the fun battles, but for me, 90% of it was sitting back with a few friends and slicing through hundreds of enemies.

Oh, well, at least this is one less game to buy.

s

[Console Games Best Player]

So on the way home should I get Dynasty Warriors 4 for $25 or this new Kingom Under Fire $40?

I never played DW 3 or 4.

[Jeff]

Gamespot has their Kingdom under Fire Review up

They gave it a nifty 8.5

Given the Kingdom Under Fire series' inauspicious beginnings, it's really a great surprise to see that The Crusaders has turned out to be such a uniquely entertaining game. Make no mistake, though: This is not a game for everyone. You'll need a strong appreciation for hack-and-slash action, strategic warfare, and some light RPG elements to really enjoy the game. Moreover, the daunting learning curve may turn off all but the most committed tacticians. If you're willing to stick with it, though, The Crusaders offers some amazingly epic battles in the many missions spread across its four campaigns. Ultimately, this is the kind of rewarding gameplay experience that's worth putting in a little work for.

After seeing Gameplay Footage #10, I'll definitely be picking this one up as soon as there's a decent price drop. The battle scene looked awesome.

[Lorini]

How much button mashing?  I'm not a very good button masher. My local Fry's has this on sale for $35 I think so I may pick it up if there's not too much button mashing involved.

Lorini

[Purge]

So on the way home should I get Dynasty Warriors 4 for $25 or this new Kingom Under Fire $40?
I never played DW 3 or 4.

I bought the game, I've played it twice sofar (my 'box is loaned to my bro, and I don't feel like driving to my parents house to play it right now; too many other things on the go).

Judging from the shakedown above, I'd suggest  DW4.

Now, I enjoy the chinese history in the Dynasty Warrior games, but you really have to get into the game to enjoy it. Dynasty Warriors 3 is also a pretty good game, although the gfx for either scream out PS2port.

For me, I like the fact that there is 40+ characters in DW, as opposed to 4 in KUF.  Plus, it seems like there are more deliberate fighting styles in DW4, whereas KUF has very little variation.

The cutscenes in KUF are almost distracting as nobody actually reacts to what their saying, the textures are weak and its almost like the pathfinding for the animations are too rigid, so they shake a lot.

For instance, a zeppelin floating overhead in the first human mission is "jittering" left and right as it flies down a predetermined path. Also, you notice the same linedancing  (as everyone standing has the same animation loop for weaving back and forth) while they're talking between battles. DW suffers from the same thing, but I expect less out of PS2 ports than from an Xbox exclusive title that's been in production for 2+ years.

Ah well. I own it, I'll play it, and then I'll come back and give a more indepth impression.

[denoginizer]

I have been messing with it today.  I rented it since I have the day off.  So far I like it very much.  I agree with previous posters that the voice overs and music are terrible.  But the battles are great fun.  There is just enough strategy to be able to feel like you are in command, yet not too much so you feel overwhelmed.  I like the graphics more than you guys seem to.  The scale of the battles is impressive.I  have never played the DW series, but if they are similar to KOF, I might check them out.

[rrmorton]

I bought this on an impulse last night. Haven't tried it yet. On a helpfulness & interest scale of 1 to 10, this post earns a 1.