X360 Review: King of Fighters XII
Pale in comparison in every way, when compared to the competition, is not how I expected to describe the re-birth of the King of Fighters series. If KOF XII was the first 2D fighter released in 2009, it would have received lots more praise in the following review. Sadly, even hardcore fans of this fighter series will shed a tear for their beloved game just hours after spinning it in their console(s).
Developer – SNK Playmore
Publisher – SNK Playmore / Ignition Entertainment
Genre – 2D Fighter
Price - $59.99
Everything about KOF XII feels un-polished and rushed; like the guys over at SNK felt the need to cut into a re-born fighter market and take a share of the profits Capcom and Arc System Works are collecting. With a broken online system and only an arcade mode to dabble in, the amount of content this KOF title brings to the table, in comparison to what’s available for 2D fighters on the market, looks so slim it’s nearly invisible.
20 characters compose the fighter roster of poorly pixilated, hand-drawn sprites. By default, KOF XII’s character drawings look dated. Luckily, the options menu allows for the use of a soft filter to blur out all the “jaggies” that make up the fighter sprites – but not without a loss of color. It’s also very disappointing to see a lightly blurred fighter sprite moving over a sharp, beautiful 1080p backdrop.
In 8 minutes, I fought my way through KOF’s 3 V 3 Arcade mode (which also seconds as a time trial mode). Players can then return to arcade mode to fight through another 5 matches while trying to beat the record time set prior. Being the only Single-player mode to play through (beside Practice), players are expected to truly love every minute of play.
KOF’s fighting system is, undoubtedly, fun and familiar. The addition of a critical-counter system adds a little more depth to fights, while the rest of the system itself sticks to the 2D fighting system handbook. The speed and timing required in fights are very accessible, and anyone who has played a 2D fighter can easily pick up a pad and play XII without feeling like an “uber-scrub”.
Today’s fighter market requires titles to bring a flawless net-code to the online fighting arena if their expected to survive. Since the “death” of the arcade in the U.S, online fighting has taken its place as a fighter’s haven and (IMO) the major reason the fighting genre has been so successful, in its return to the gaming market. In its current state, King of Fighters XII is unplayable online; major frame-loss and latency issues plaque the entire online arena.
In 10 attempts, to get into a smooth moving fight online, I succeeded none. Many of the fights moved at a sluggish 20-30 frames and a couple were nearly slideshows. The most recent patch for KOF has yet to fix the net-code issues and while I’m confident, in time, SNK will have the issue resolved it doesn’t help the hearts of the fans sitting at home with nothing but arcade mode to chew on for – “god knows how long” before the issues are resolved.
I wish I had answers to why the re-born KOF game that fans have been waiting for, is so shamefully slim and un-polished; why the character sprites aren’t beautifully crisp and sharp-edged or why the online component is in such shambles. While the fighting system itself is entertaining, the level of shading detail is gorgeous, and character animation is the best in 2009 (so far) – none of that justifies the price tag placed on XII. Enthusiasts of the fighting genre have much better titles to put their sticks on, with SFIV and BlazBlue already dominating the fighting space. Sadly, even the hardest of “core” King of Fighter fans have nothing to do with XII, until the net-code gets its patch. At this point, justifying a purchase for this title is as impossible as likely connecting to a flawless online match. (C)
- Jeffrey d
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It still should have been a 10 or 15 dollar downloadable title, instead of a full 60 dollar retail game. Just seems like there are too many problems to even recommend the game for a rental.
I’ve never been a huge fan of these games really, so its good to learn about this one and know that its priced a bit high. Perhaps if some updates tweak it a bit more it will be worth a look as a rental or picked up reduced as a used game. Way down on my list of game types.