"2D is back in business!"

We are seeing a glorious return of the 2D Fighter genre lately. Games like “BlazBlue”, “Street Fighter IV” (the graphics may be 3D, but it’s the gameplay that counts), the upcoming “Tatsunoko vs. Capcom”, the digital release of “Marvel vs. Capcom 2″, and “The King of Fighters XII” are breathing new life into what seemed like a diminishing genre.

The King of Fighters XI (ps2) was relatively well received when it released in 2007. It had a variety of modes, both single-player and multiplayer, and had a very large character roster. But, just as Marvel vs. Capcom 2 ripped a large portion of its assets from previous fighters (like 1995′s Marvel Super-Heroes), KOFXI was able to pack in so many characters by taking their assets from a combination of previous entries in the series and other SNK games.

This leads me to my first point of discussion: The King of Fighters XII, though it is the latest entry in the series, has less than half the number of characters that XI has. Why this is surprising to anyone is beyond me. Every character had to be painstakingly redrawn in High Definition from scratch, since ripping sprites from previous entries was no longer an option. Yes, there are a lot of characters not present in KOFXII that I miss, but the characters that made the cut feel as solid as ever, and there are already talks to add more via DLC.

"The graphical difference between XI and XII is astounding"

Of course, a fighting game is nothing if the core mechanics don’t hold up. Thankfully, KOFXII’s gameplay feels tighter than ever. I threw in KOFXI so that I could compare some of the features of the two games side-by-side. “Emergency Evasion”, a form of dodge roll that can be performed in both games, felt much faster and more responsive in SNK Playmore’s latest entry. The new “Guard Attack” is a nice addition that allows players to counter their opponent if they execute it at the exact moment they are hit. It feels very similar to the “Focus Attack” in Street Fighter IV, though it requires much more calculated timing which, at the same time, makes it all the more satisfying to pull off. Finally, grabs have been assigned to a two-button combination. Gone are the days of performing throws accidentally.

Unsurprisingly, I have a few complaints with the game. There is only one mode for single-player. Though it is named “Arcade Mode”, it feels more like it should be called “Time Trial”. It consists of five sets of three-on-three battles. Your score is based on how fast you can beat each of them. You can even replay any stage if you feel you can do it faster. At the end, there is no boss. Honestly, this is probably for the best as I’ve found that the average SNK boss tends to be such a cheap bastard that he/she makes Street Fighter IV’s “Seth” seem like a newborn kitten. Even still, I would’ve liked to see more single-player modes such as “Story Mode” or “Survival”.

My next complaint is the online experience. The menus are less than intuitive, and bad connections are commonplace. At this point in time, I have yet to take part in an online match that didn’t suffer from terrible lag. Fortunately, the creators have stated that they aren’t satisfied with the net-code and actually are planning on doing something about it. Until that time, though, I would suggest calling up a few buddies and enjoying some actual human interaction in local multiplayer.

"The new artwork really brings the characters to life"

Local multiplayer is where this game truly shines. “Versus Mode” can be played either with three man teams or one-on-one. I have had great, heaping gobs of fun playing this in local matches. Some of the characters’ move-sets have been mixed up a bit. Luckily, it is a two-way street. There aren’t just moves missing, there are moves that have been added as well.

It’s hard not to compare this to BlazBlue considering they are both highly anticipated 2D fighters that released in the same month. I have both, but have been enjoying my time with KOFXII more. BlazBlue’s learning curve is much steeper and though it has more modes and features, has only twelve characters as opposed to KOFXII’s twenty-two.

If you don’t have geographically conveneint friends to back you up, the single-player probably won’t be enough to keep you satisfied, and it might be better to wait until the online play gets sorted out. However, if you love 2D fighters and have local buddies who will play this game with you, the $60 price tag shouldn’t hold you back from such an incredibly solid fighting experience.

This review is based on the Playstation 3 version of The King of Fighters XII provided to us by Ignition Entertainment.

Tags: 2-D, 2D Fighter, fighting games, Ignition Entertainment, King of Fighters, King of Fighters XII, KOFXII, SNK Playmore

This entry was posted on Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 5:00 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.