The King of Fighters is a long running one-on-one 2-D fighting game series featuring characters from SNK’s other brawlers like Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, and more!  And now there is a new game with The King of Fighters ALL STAR.  But surprise surprise!  It’s not a fighting game, but a 2-D side scrolling beat ‘em up!  You’d think that kind of game wouldn’t translate well to mobile devices, but it actually works really well and I’ve had a lot of fun with it.  It’s available free-to-play to download on mobile devices, but reviewed on iPad here.

The story in this one is set up into chapters, each featuring a game in the King of Fighters series, starting with KOF ’94.  You wake up with no memory but you can take on the appearance and fighting abilities of KOF characters.  A friendly young woman helps you out and guides you around as you fight baddies out to get you, and there are people hidden in the background who say you’re some kind of bug in a program.  And…uh, I kind of got disinterested in the story after that.  But at least the gameplay is good!  Trust me.

The stages are short and fit perfectly for quick mobile gaming.  You move around by dragging your thumb on the left bottom corner of the screen.  The right side of the screen has buttons for your attacks, dodges, and blocks.  As you play, you’ll get materials to level up your characters stats, and there is also a skill tree where you can learn new moves.  You can carry three fighters with you into battle and switch between them at any time.  Not only can you do the story mode, but there are also other stages, events, and bonuses to help level up your characters.  You can get all sorts of characters from the King of Fighters series, like Terry Bogard, Mai Shiranui, Leona Heidern, and many more!  Some even wear special outfits.  I unlocked a version of Yuri in a baseball uniform who is absolutely adorable.

For a free-to-play game, I haven’t run across much of the things in those kind of games that I don’t like.  Yeah you do have a lot of items to use to level up your characters, and it’s a bit confusing at first.  But I haven’t run into a wall yet where I have to pay to level up my fighters high enough to keep playing, and I can keep going as long as I like.  While I think this kind of game would be even more fun on a console, I’ve been pleasantly surprised on how much I’ve enjoyed this one.  Sure it’s a bit repetitive, but if you’re a fan of SNK fighters and 2-D beat ‘em ups, you’ll want to download this one.

Kid Factor:

You do punch and kick bad guys, but they just fall over and disappear with an ‘argh!’ when defeated.  Some of the female characters, like Mai, wear revealing and suggestive outfits.  Reading skill is needed for the text, and parental supervision is recommended for the in-game purchases.

Tags: Game Reviews