Let's face it, strategy games have yet to find a natural home on consoles, especially Xbox, and recently it's felt that all we were worthy of was PC rip-offs. But thanks to Phantagram, the developer behind Shining Lore, 21st-century strategy gaming has truly arrived on Xbox with Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders.

The game, which has a few similarities with Dynasty Warriors 4, sees you taking on the role of one of four commanders from the dark and light forces that inhabit a typical sword and sorcery realm. You're then given units of troops to command that include cavalry, spearmen and archers, which you move through the different missions, upgrading and equipping them as you go.

There are storylines for each commander, with objectives spread out over the missions. These include setting up ambushes and traps, chasing down the enemy and engaging in adrenaline-filled up-close-and-personal battles, where you fight alongside your men in hack 'n slash brawls and put your own special moves and combos to good use. It's great fun watching your little minions dishing out death and destruction on an epic scale.

The game has quite a short, sharp learning curve and, although it feels like you've been thrown in at the deep end, it's nice not to be treated like an imbecile. The controls take a bit of getting used to and your troops can seem to have a life of their own, especially when they occasionally get stuck going around in a circle like a load of hyperactive kids who've just drunk a barrel of Sunny Delight.

The Crusaders has lots of great little realistic details in both the environment and in the strategic gameplay. Archers can't shoot well with the sun in their eyes, for example, and the air around you distorts when you're near flames. The sound's pretty good too; battles actually 'feel' bloody and sweatilled, and when you come out of them, ideally alive, it really makes you feel like you've done some hard work! Xbox Live makes an appearance in the form of downloadable content (missions, weapons etc) and full Live play is the icing on the cake.

As the first 'proper' RTS on Xbox, this bodes extremely well for all the beard-scratching armchair generals out there, and the exhilarating combat should introduce a whole new legion of fans to the genre. Royally great!

1. Great realistic atmosphere through both the in-game sound and weather effects such as rain and snow.
2. Genuinely strategic and challenging in the way you have to utilise the skills of your troops and the environment.
3. Frantic battles against hundreds of enemy troops and deadly combo moves for your commander to perform on the battlefield.

1. Controls take a little while to get the hang of and there are occasional troop movement glitches, but nothing too detrimental.
2. Decent voice acting for most of the characters, but bad lip synching that just makes the characters look like they're chewing gum.

As a strategy game and a beat-'em-up it works very well, with a superb sense of atmosphere. Bloody and beautiful!