Kingdom Elemental Tactics is a game with a review a long time coming. Released in 2006 (and even on GameTunnel's Best of 2006 list), the developers wanted to get some updates and tweaks in to the game before a formal review was made and now... here we are!

Kingdom Elemental is a mash-up in most every sense of the word. With gameplay that is a blend of real-time and turn-based strategy and a story-line that is both fantasy and farce, KE's schizophrenia is part of its charm.

The plot, if you want to call it that, places the gamer in charge of a motley collection of units in a quest to move through four levels of play with the goal of besting the typical fantasy villains that threaten the land. Each level doesn't open with story, but with an amusing, over-the-top narration by a jilted Wizard-turned-announcer, who the gamer gets to "witness" descend further and further into disgust with the clichéd tripe he's forced to read off.

These narrations run a bit long (and are a bit cheesy), but are handled with gusto and are worth a few laughs. It's clear from these narrations that the point of KE isn't original story (and I think KE's point is also that most fantasy games that are taking themselves seriously aren't really about original story either).

KE is designed to get the gamer right into the gameplay, and the controls facilitate this. Other than the controls for the camera (pretty standard, really), it's point and click. Click to select units, click to place them. Click to start the level, click to pause it (or hit the spacebar). Click to select skills, click to target enemies. Very easy.

Gameplay proceeds like so: There are 10 unit types to choose from, which will be revealed as the game progresses. Each type has three skills that are unlockable. Every level, the gamer is granted a new unlock point with which to purchase a new unit type or a unit skill. The units have nicely diverse behaviors and attempting to balance their use together is the key to the game.

Levels are small (think arena combat), and your unit numbers are capped (you can only have a maximum of nine units that cost up to your coin total for the level). You set your unit starting positions and face off with the first wave of baddies. After a certain amount of time (like a tower defense game) a new wave will pop on-screen whether you're ready or not.

Using units in conjunction with one another is crucial. No unit in the game can stand alone and all units support one another differently. There are any number of ways to proceed about unlocking your skills and units to create your ideal squad, because there are certainly not enough unlock points to go around. The action is fast and furious and dense, so you'll need to pause and prompt skills and change targets and move units constantly. Keep your healers close to your melee units, but beware splash damage because they all go down fast. Keep your ranged units far back, but beware because they'll pull aggro on enemy units quickly and get themselves into trouble.

The game would be maddening without being able to pause and deliver orders, but being able to pause and direct the troops and then continue to see how your latest commands play out makes for a frantic and very satisfying experience.

There is a dark side, however small it may be. Kingdom Elemental is a very short game. There are only 4 stages, each with only a few short encounters in them. The final stage is a single fight against a giant enemy (the clichéd dragon encounter). The little slap in the face about the end of the game is also that although you spent the first three stages trying to balance a perfect team, carefully choosing units and skills for your precious unlock points, when you get to the final stage all the units are unlocked for you. So... yeah. I guess I was working really hard to have the game do the rest of the work for me. Great.

There is a Skirmish mode that allows the gamer to tackle varying collections of enemies with a pre-selected set of available units with their abilities unlocked, which makes for some good fun in experimenting with all your unit types, but once the single player campaign was done, the thrill had diminished.

All around, though, Kingdom Elemental is a fun title that draws worthy inspiration from classic titles like Myth (down the to the tutorial styling). I wouldn't hesitate to back up GameTunnel's placement of KE on its Games of the Year listing. It's a title that I started up and couldn't put down until I was finished (almost literally... when I couldn't beat a level, I wouldn't close it... I'd leave the game running in the background until I was inspired to take another go). It's polished, clearly was made as a labor of love and is a blast to play.


Graphics:
Sure, we're not talking Doom 3 here, but the game is colorful and clean and the models are unique and well-realized. Things get a little jumbled in close combat, but the ability to sweep and pan and zoom makes it possible to see just what you need at any time.

Sound:
The voicework is great in the game. All the vocals are clear and well-delivered and pretty amusing. Each unit has a series of lines it delivers when clicked upon and given orders, and those are always fun to hear... though I have to admit the talking overshadowed the music for me.

Gameplay:
Simple point and click play and easy to pause (which is crucial) and a stripped down interface made to be playable. The only difficulty you'll meet in the game is clicking on the wrong unit in a crowd.

Concept:
The concept of Kingdom Elemental is pretty much to make a fantasy game that makes fun of fantasy games... but to sneak in a solid game behind it. A successful blend of genres, to be sure, Kingdom Elemental succeeds in taking the tried and true and making it seem fresh.

Value:
The production value is high for Kingdom Elemental and for $19.95 it's a good deal. Just the same, I still say it could have been a stage or two longer. Skirmish mode is nice to have, though.

Overall:
It was great then, it's great now. Kingdom Elemental is fun to play, plain and simple. It's funny and, while it lasts, it's a frantic challenge with involved unit balance.