Developed by – SNK Playmore
Published by – SNK Playmore , Ignition Entertainment
Platform – PS3, Xbox 360
Age Rating – 12+
Official site – http://www.kingoffighters12.com/
Score – 5/10
The latest game in the long standing King of Fighters series King of Fighters XII or 12 has been released to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the series. It has been released on a number of different consoles and the main series has been in the arcades in Japan, America and Europe. The games in the King of Fighters series have been known to be good solid fighting games that rivalled some fans attention from the better known fighters such as Street Fighter and Tekken.
The game is basically your traditional fighter. You start on the left, the opponent starts on the right and you get to beat the hell out of them. The fighting in the game involves picking 3 of the 22 characters to have in your fighting team. Each character has their own special moves as with other fighting games. There are a number of different modes of play which are arcade, practice and VS mode.
Arcade mode you play though 5 matches against the clock. Before each round you can set the order you want your 3 fighters to fight as so you could save the best till last. When playing through the arcade time trial if you’re unhappy with the time you get you can always replay a stage before moving on. The mode is an incredible let down for the games price and compared with past entries. In 5 mere matches you don’t get to spend long fighting at all to complete the game and there isn’t even a boss battle. This is the main weak area to the game as if you are not a fan of multiplayer this leaves you with nothing to do except aim for the trophy’s which even expect completion within 3 minutes.
If you feel like really testing your skills you can always change the CPU difficulty within options on the main menu then game options. You can also change the play time of each round to give you more or less time fighting.
Practice allows you to learn or master character moves against a still opponent or against the CPU. In both arcade and practice there are two modes to choose from which are simple and normal. These both relate to the use of special moves within the level and what is required to use them. So in normal mode they can be performed using the standard control commands.
VS mode allows you to fight another person offline or online which allows you to play against anyone online or challenge people on your friends list. This is the main area to the game that really shines as the gameplay is very solid and feels like a traditional fighter, if a bit dated. If you get into fighting games for playing online constantly against other people and are bored of other fighting games this is the part that might be worth your attention. Now i should notice that on the few matches that our fellow blogger Alan had there was a little lag online compared with games like Uncharted 2.
Like with other fighting games you are able to customise the button configuration to set up the fighting moves to what you prefer to make fighting more comfortable to what you’re familiar with.
The graphics are made of 2D character sprites and hand drawn animated backgrounds. The sprites are slightly disappointing due to them being so rough and pixalated. The detail put into the backgrounds is lovely. Some of the stage backgrounds are rather entertaining when you look past the fighters as there is a lot taking place. The games soundtrack suits the overall gameplay and style nicely effectively setting the mood of each fighting stage.
The character designs although being 2D sprites their costumes have lovely designs that suit each characters individual personality. The game has a large selection of trophies/achievements to unlock with most of the trophies being hidden it gives the game extended game play and re-playability. Also the sound in the game matches what you’d expect from a fighter. Grunts and blasts from the special moves are the general noises and the soundtrack is alright if not good.
The main problem with this game is just the re-playability. In a world where games are expensive already and you get good cheap fighters or excellent quality fighters for cheaper prices then a short simple game like King of Fighters may not be worth your time. Overall though if you are a fan of the series or love online play you could always rent it to make your own mind up as the fighting itself is pretty solid.
Overall I feel that fans of this long running franchise would happily enjoy the newest game. However fans of the Street Fighter series may like this game if they feel like a slight change. But if like myself you are a fan of 3D fighters such as Tekken then it may be hard to adapt to the 2D style of the game.
