King of Fighters XII Review -- GamesAreEvil.com

GrE writes, "After almost a decade of yearly King of Fighter installments, the development team has decided to step back and start from scratch. Instead of iterating on the same basic game engine, King of Fighters XII starts at ground zero, working on breaking the cycle of sequels, and reintroducing the franchise to the world. The real question is whether the newest monarch will continue to reign triumphant over the fighting game masses, or will there be a coup by a newer, fresher face?"

[bgrundman]

This game looks like it could have been really good but ultimately ended up being a disappointment.

[Information Minister]

KOF XII is a great game. When it comes to gameplay, it belongs on the same league as SF4 And Blazblue. The only problem is that it's SERIOUSLY lacking features, particularly when compared to previous entries in the series. Still the 2D artwork entirely drawn by hand looks gorgeous and it's very different from SF4's 3D and Blazblue's mix of 2D/3D.

Is it a good game? Yes.
Is it worth $60? No.

It should have been released at a reduce price (in a "starter pack" fashion), because it's just screaming for DLC.

[bgrundman]

I really wish that they would stop using Arcades to seemingly beta test the future console versions of a game.

[wondroushippo]

Well, it's part of the Japanese culture - arcades are still around there. It sucks for American fighting fans, but at least that's a bunch of quarters we've saved.

[wondroushippo]

I have never been too big a fan of the KoF series, but I'm in love with the high-definition 2D art here. In a parallel universe, we'd see more games that look like this. However, this review seems to convince me that I should probably just stick with SF4 and MvC2 for my HD fighting needs.

And reading that the online is flawed? After how great SF4 made fighting online to be, that is DAMN disappointing.

[bgrundman]

Flawed is an understatement. I was the biggest issue with a game that is supposed to be multiplayer centric.

[Neco512]

Fighting games suck anyway... there is nothing new that ever comes to them other than punching and kicking. LAME.

[wondroushippo]

Have you actually played one with a friend any time recently? My roommate and I had plenty of drunken nights playing Street Fighters past and present and just enjoying the hell out of it. There's a reason why the genre stays stagnant - there's not much reason for it to change at times.

Also, give SF4 a shot, the online play is immaculate, incredible netcode job (unlike KoF XII sadly)

[roblef]

I just can't get behind fighting games. At all.

[Tony P]

Neco, you should give Tekken or Soul Calibur a shot. Lack of features was my biggest complaint as well until Namco started bringing it in spades.

[Hobadoon]

Why a lot of people don't like/aren't interested in fighting games is that it's one of THEE hardest genres to excel greatly in. Then people try to belittle the games by saying "It's just punching and kicking" only masking the fact that they absolutely blow at playing them.

Yeah a n00b can get lucky and get a kill on an experienced player in COD or Halo but it's usually highly unlikely given the same situation in say SFIV, Blaze Blue or MvC. Noobs will get on those games thinking that they're gonna whoop peoples asses and end up just getting destroyed. I think that frustration turns into anger and/or just an overall disinterest in the fighting game genre.

I got mad respect for those who are awesome at fighting games. I'm not saying I'm horrible (SFIV is my game) but trust I have definitely been given my fair share of beat downs but all that does is just make me want to learn more. I mean come on... Serious fighters measure movements all the way down to the frames. It's craziness.

Ever been to http://forums.shoryuken.com... ?? I guarantee that most people would need a decoder to be able to figure out all that fighting game language ha.

OT: Shame about KOF. The art style looked amazing.

[Gun_Senshi]

:x

[-Mezzo-]

This game was a dissapointment

[Marceles]

Good single player game, but the online is too broken for me to even enjoy it, especially after playing BlazBlue. That's the new bar to reach for all online fighting games.

[xxBATTLECATxx]

kof is def my fave fighting series, fighting games in general are just too damn hard to want to play for hours on end. its not worth 60 bucks but a game like this will easily end up in the bargain bin by november.