The film Braveheart was fantastic for several reasons, one of them being its intense battle sequences, and until Phantagram's Kingdom Under Fire arrived on Xbox, gamers weren't able to experience anything even remotely close to the grandeur of that movie. But thank the gaming gods that Kingdom has arrived, as it's a cool smash-mouth battle game that's action isn't as violent as in Mel Gibson's epic, but it'll impress you for plenty of reasons.

Kingdom Under Fire is a hack-and-slash adventure where, as one of four characters (two need to be unlocked), you command an army of troops, running about on the battlefield and decimating your foes with brute force as well as some quick thinking. Thankfully, (even though the gameplay's solid), there's a huge story arc that makes playing through all of the single-player campaigns a worthwhile time investment. Basically, in a war-ravaged continent called Bersia, the tiny thread of peace holding the world together is snapped when the Dark Legion slaughters villagers who were living on sacred ground. The human race declares war, and depending on who you choose, you'll view the story from various sides, a very cool feature that puts an insane amount of personality on the conflict.

At its core, Kingdom Under Fire is a hack-and-slash adventure. You can control an army (up to 1,000 soldiers, but not all at once), and you run around 3D environments looking for enemies to slaughter in order to advance the story (as well as satisfy your blood lust). The battling is the game's most impressive feature, as scores of troops beautifully collide with opposing forces and commence fighting to the death. It's truly a sight to behold, and a showpiece for the Xbox system, not only because there are tons of guys, orcs, and elves beating one another to a bloody pulp, but also because the game tosses catapults, cavalry, giant scorpions, and other hulking behemoths into the mix as well. For just about every battle there's something cool to see, whether it be archers shooting eagles out of the sky or catapults decimating opposing forces.

Combat is the typical "repeatedly mash button to cause heavy damage" system, and you're able to do combos and call friends for help. However, it's not mindless gameplay. Because of the crazy number of characters on screen, it's easy to lose track of who's hitting you in the back, and with very few opportunities to heal oneself during battle, death will be quick for those who foolishly run into large groups of bad guys.

The game's action is excellent, but Phantagram spiced things up by including some RTS elements that set Kingdom Under Fire apart from its predecessors. Often times, blindly engaging the enemy is suicide, so you may need to send a scout to inspect the area and possibly bait enemies that'll run through a forest unaware that your archers are in place and ready to fire flame arrows into the trees. In another example, you may need to move a troop of spearmen around an army undetected to take out their cavalry. It's good stuff, and while the strategic elements are nowhere near on par with something like Nintendo's Advance Wars, it does add something extra to the game that keeps it from degenerating into a dumb slashing title.

In addition to the RTS stuff, you can also acquire new skills, level up your characters, and change their jobs. It's not an incredibly deep system, but it can consume you if you're not paying attention to time.

If you'd like to test your skills against a human opponent, you can engage a single enemy over Xbox Live. You basically pit troops against one another. The game gives each player one archer troop, three infantry troops, and one aerial support troop, and you go nuts. It's not as crazy as in the single-player game, but it's cool that Phantagram at the very least included some form of multiplay. Also, with the promise of new maps and missions, the game's online portion may hold your interest for longer than you think.

Kingdom Under Fire's graphics are simply amazing and worthy of a blue ribbon. To be able to put hundreds of detailed characters on screen all running around and interacting with one another without slowdown is a monumental feat. Sure, the environments could've been more detailed, the character animation improved, and the clipping fixed, but come on! Just pan the camera around while your guys/things charge down across a field, swords drawn, yelling their war cry and tell me that isn't one of the most impressive things you've ever seen. My only real complaint is the lack of gore during battles. Bloody mist appears, but given this game's brutality, it would've been nice to lop of limbs Bloodrayne 2 style.

The game's sound is equally impressive. In the beginning there's the epic music (and it's very well done), but the battle tunes are exquisite. Nothing gets the adrenaline pumping more than charging into battle listening to metal. Combined with the ancient time period, the music gives the game a marvelous old-school-meets-new-school feel that only enhances the experience.

As for the sound effects, what's here is a mixed bag but still definitely cool. During battle, the cries of your men and the sound of arrows cutting through the air, raging infernos, and the pounding of horses' hooves are well-executed. The English voice acting isn't the greatest, but I've listened to much worse, and if it really bothers you, it can be easily changed to Korean (with English subtitles), and while that may still not float your boat, the lines are delivered with gusto.

It's difficult to find fault with this game, but I managed to spot some annoyances. If an object (like a catapult) is sitting in the middle of your troops, when you order them to move they make the most moronic of decisions. Instead of doing an about face and dashing in the specific direction, they'll sometimes run to the other side of the object, awkwardly perform some bizarre maneuvers, then begin running.

Lastly, even though Kingdom Under Fire blows Dynasty Warriors to pieces, eventually, the hack-an-slashing becomes repetitive. True, the game has light RTS elements, but they don't make the game as deep as Advance Wars, and they often times serve to irritate, only because since the action is so intense, having to stop and disarm traps and scout the area takes away from the wanton destruction.

Kingdom Under Fire's MSRP is $39.99, and quite frankly, the game's one of the better bargains you'll find at that price. The incredible story arc, customization, and strategic hack-an-slash gameplay (I think that's actually a new genre), really push it over the top. Although it's in danger of being overlooked this holiday season, it would be ill-advised pass it up, as you'll be missing out on one of the more intense game experiences of the year.