Game Review: The King of Fighters XII (360, PS3)
One of game maker SNK’s most popular and long-running series is The King of Fighters. This year, King of Fighters celebrates its 15th anniversary. So what better way to celebrate than with a new game? But does KOF XII live up to the legacy? Read on to find out.
KOF XII is a 2-D, one-on-one fighting game. Like the other games in the series, you choose a team of three brawlers consisting of new and familiar faces from SNK’s vast fighter library. The character sprites have all been redone and feature new, hand drawn animations and it’s some of the best 2-D graphics found in a fighting game. And just like any other fighter, players utilize intricate joystick movements along with quick button presses to perform special moves and counter-attacks.
The online modes of KOF XII are extensive with varied rankings and plenty of matches. Arcade lovers who enjoyed playing against others will really enjoy the online portions. Unfortunately, the single player modes aren’t quite as robust and only consists of an arcade mode that’s really a cleverly disguised Time Trial mode, a versus game, and a limited practice mode. More single player options, like a Story Mode to flesh out the colorful characters, or a better Training Mode for beginners would’ve made KOF XII a contender. As it stands, only fighting game experts who love to play online will enjoy this. Good, but not great.
Kid Factor:
The King of Fighters XII is rated T for Teen with an ESRB descriptor of Violence. Of course the game’s violent, it’s a fighting game. But since there is no blood or grisly deaths, the cartoony brawling is no worse than some of the anime cartoons on TV. I would be OK with kids a little younger than teens playing it. Usually the KOF games also have suggestive themes thanks to underdressed female fighters like Mai Shiranui, but since she’s not in this game, the suggestive themes are even milder borderlining on non-existent. Younger players and less experienced fighters may get frustrated at the difficulty, as even on the easiest settings, KOF XII is still VERY HARD! But it is a good two player game.
In the comments section, let me know who your favorite KOF fighters are. Mine are Shermie (not in this game), Leona, Athena, and Ralf & Clark-The Ikari Warriors.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
A KOF without Mai? What will the fanboys do!?
I’m kinda bummed that there isn’t a story mode. Does the game still have some kind of lead up (animated or otherwise) to the final encounter? And do the characters have any endings?
August 12th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
@iodine
No, and no.
There are some really slim (almost nothing there) bits where “newscasters” say “Oh, the crowd is so excited here, just look at them!”
But there is no story, and no intros, no endings, no encounter animation….just nothing.
Also, there are only 5 or 6 stages…(I forget which). And, of those, two are the same stage one for day and one for night. Also, as nice as the backgrounds are, you can’t “interact” with them as you could in some previous games.
We are big vs. fighters in this house, but I wouldn’t recommend this title any more than I would CFJ (Capcom Fighting Jam). For completionists only.
Oh, and one more note, the engine is really basic, and you’ll find all your specials (mostly) gone. It plays somewhat like KOF ’94. A reset, if you will.