34.2)The King of Fighters XII PS3 Review Part-2

Part-2

Replay Value: 3

Well...things took a turn rather quickly, eh? Up to this point I've been talking about what this KoF has gotten right but now we've reached a place where things are no longer as rosy. The King of Fighters XII is easily one of the most unfurnished fighting games I have ever played. I appreciate that a fighting game's greatest value is in improving one's skills and thanks to the sublime engine, that need is met. However, aside from that you'd probably demand more than what's here, especially for a $60 investment. There are only three offline modes: Arcade, Versus, and Practice. Arcade mode is a "time trial" event, where you try to clear out a five-stage tournament in the lowest time possible. You beat five teams and the game ends, that's it.

If you don't like your completion time for a specific fight, you can redo the match for a lower time. The game offers a couple of cinematics during Arcade mode but they serve little purpose other than filler. There is no boss stage at all, which is something you'd come to expect in a fighting game (the fifth team is the "Final Stage"). Versus mode allows you to fight in 3-on-3 or 1-on-1 matches against a friend or the computer. Practice mode is what it sounds like (an inanmiate opponent acts as a dummy for you to train your skills and combos on). That is the entire extent of the offline features in this game (and subsequently what kills the replay value; you'll fast run out of things to do by yourself). There is no story in this game, no boss (not even Rugal made this party; what happened to the infamous "SNK Boss Syndrome"?), no hidden characters (just unlockable art), and no other kind of single player mode like Survival. Even the game's Trophies seem trivial (and they're mostly online-related). The game has online support but it's very hit-or-miss and with any fighting game, lag is always the enemy. Sometimes you'll find a stable match connection and for others it'll be an 5 fps slide show (the game's online has been patched but it isn't a catch-all like BlazBlue's patch was). Given the extreme lack of features it's almost as if SNK wanted to release a stripped-down game, like they were afraid to make a really deep game. Oh well...at least the fighting itself unquestionably delivers.

Overall: 7
The King of Fighters XII can be described as the purest fighting game ever released. It's almost impossible to enjoy this game alone, you simply NEED live competition to really make this game worthwhile. There is virtually no single player to speak of here. A completely respectable fighting game engine is stranded on an island devoid of features and a slim character roster. The game's online will supposedly be patched for better performance so that will help give the game somewhat of a boost. However, as a whole, the requirement for human opponents is utterly mandated. I sadly cannot advise you get this game at full price unless you find people who will agree to play with you. If you are a hardened SNK fan, you may want to rent the game but anyone considering adding this to their collection, wait for a price drop (unless, again, you know there will be people to play with). The game's fighting gameplay is stellar and it looks fantastic but as the only factors that contribute to the game's positive attributes, I am sorry to say that SNK has not come through at least in the asking price for the game ($40 would probably have me singing a different song). The way SNK treated this game makes me think this was an "experiment"; something for them to test the waters of the newer hardware and graphical technologies of today after years of using older systems like Atomiswave and the NeoGeo. Maybe we can expect XIII to be more robust now that SNK has messed around with the current gen hardware but until then, XI and 2002 Unlimited Match keep their titles as the series champions.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10

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