34.1)The King of Fighters XII PS3 Review Part-1

On the twelfth game of KoF SNK gave to me...not much...

BEST FEATURES: Shiny new HD sprites, well-animated, superb fighting gameplay
WORST FEATURES: Ridiculously stripped-down single-player experience, smallest KoF roster to date with key figures missing and no boss character, iffy netcode

The King of Fighters is one of the hallmarks of the fighting genre. While never as popular as the Street Fighter franchise, KoF has found it's own niche as the flagship of SNK's fighting game efforts. Between 1994 and 2003, we were graced with yearly updates to the series. Then SNK broke from the yearly mold and released The King of Fighters XI some two years later in 2005 (a game that would go on to become my favorite SNK game to date). Now four years later, KoF makes a huge step into the current generation of gaming and debuts a whole new look and feel. Unfortunately, the game feels woefully incomplete.

Graphics: 10
This game is probably one of the nicest looking 2D fighting games ever. Even the Street Fighter III series (a series made famous by it's intricate and splendid sprite work) has something to look up to in this game. All the new hand-drawn sprites are rendered in a beautiful HD quality (though, there are some jaggies; this can be rectified using an in-game filter) and are all animated just as well. KoF has finally ditched the NeoGeo sprites of years past in favor of an entirely new bank of sprites (sprites that supposedly took nearly a year to create for each character). The on-screen characters are endowed with many frames of motion and the graphical effects (fire, electricity, etc.) are likewise sharp and animate smoothly. The backgrounds are full of life and color is well-used to bring out the best (plus ambient touches like shadowy areas that darken the sprites when they enter them show dedication and attention for detail in the design). Truly KoF XII is an amazing game graphically.

Sound/Music: 8
While the music isn't quite as memorable as previous KoF efforts, XII still provides a good selection of background music. It's chosen well for the various settings in the game (such as an Egyptian kingdom or a French bistro). The sound effects are loud and audible so you really feel the hits as the fight drags on. Particularly the sound of triggering a Critical Counter drives home the power of the blow. The only real caveat here is the characters aren't as vocal as usual. The characters are voiced by their usual voice actors (mostly) but SNK didn't add many vocalizations during the fight. While they didn't need to go to an extreme with the in-game dialogue (like Guilty Gear does), a few more quips from the fighters wouldn't have hurt.

Control: 9
Accurate control is a must for a competent fighter. KoF has never been a slouch here. The controls are accurate and quick, which is important for combo timing. Getting around the screen is never a chore and dealing out the damage comes without any notable problems. The only issue I could even find with the control is the new throwing system (holding forward or back plus both punch buttons, A and C if you prefer NeoGeo notation) is somewhat hard to do pull off on the default control scheme. However, since the game lets you freely reconfigure your controls, you can easily assign a single button to represent both buttons (the shoulder buttons are unused by default so you can put it up there). And...of course, if you prefer, you're free to use an arcade stick (not my cup of tea but I'm well aware of how many like it that way).

Gameplay: 8
To match the advent of the new age of The King of Fighters, SNK overhauled the gameplay engine. This new KoF installment legitimately feels unlike any previous entry. While there are some staples of the series embedded in the game, this KoF as a whole is different beast. From the hit detection to the general flow of the fight, it'll be a different experience for series veterans. However, despite this change, SNK did a great job of making the engine. It feels polished and the roster seems relatively balanced. New features include the Guard Attack, Deadlock, and Critical Counter. A Guard Attack allows you to intercept an incoming attack and then slam your opponent away from you in order to clear your personal space. Deadlocks occur when the fighters' attacks meet each other in the same instant and then the engine will push them away from each other into a neutral standing. Finally, the Critical Counters allow you to deal out heavy damage if you're able to time the perfect counter hit. The game feels accessible to KoF newcomers and even if you don't know what to expect, the game includes a "Simple" mode for easy move execution to get you right into the fray (though I personally don't advocate using it). Sadly, it's not all praise. The roster for this game is the smallest one ever featured in a KoF game. Only 22 characters made the cut (two exclusive to the console version) and among them, there are some important KoF names missing. While must-have characters like Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami, and Athena Asamiya are on the roster, other expected shoe-ins (like K' or Mai Shiranui; in fact no characters from the 1999-2002 NEST saga are present) did not make the list. In addition, many characters are heavily changed which makes the game feel even more foreign to veterans expecting their old favorites to handle the same. On another note, while this may be more of a personal issue, I do miss the tagging system from 2003 and XI. The addition of changing characters mid-match gave the game a far more strategic edge as now it was important how well your characters worked together as well as on their own. Going back to the classic 3v3, 1-on-1 matches is okay but I'm still more attached to the free-swapping gameplay of XI. However, not everyone will agree (I know many who said the tagging actually hurt the game's flow and balance) and I can respect that. All things considered, the game plays fine and I think that counts most of all.

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