Pressure under fire

Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom

Format: Xbox 360

Price: £44.95

KINGDOM Under Fire has never been one of the most popular or ambitious gaming series, sticking to a tried-and-tested formula and hoping that people will buy it because they are getting bored with World of Warcraft. But Circle of Doom attempts to break the mould by utilising the Xbox Live facilities to create a RPG game with enough character features to keep even the most seasoned gamer addicted.

Unfortunately it fails and fairly miserably too. The game is based around a stereotypical mythical land with your character using magic and might to defeat the baddies and become a hero. A lot of emphasis has been placed on making the characters highly customised but even obtaining the monster of all weapons and training your character to wield it like Beowulf cannot prevent even the most oblivious gamer noting that it's far too simple. The hardest actions in the game involve the pressing of a single button and sadly the character interaction isn't much more thrilling.

Graphically, it isn't too bad and indicates that at least some attention has been paid to the game's development. But even this is nothing spectacular and while the phrase distinctly average is thrown around far too often these days, Circle of Doom is the dictionary definition.

An OK game but definitely a last resort if you're desperate for a new game.

MAT BURTON

ä Graphics: 3/5

ä Longevity: 3/5

ä Playability: 3.5/5

ä Originality: 2.5/5

ä Enjoyment: 3/5