Shaun McIlroy of OneLastContinue writes:
I'd previously been anticipating the arrival of this game on European shores as you can see from my previous coverage but as it's my job to be honest it seems SNK Playmore have unleashed this title long before they should have. Let me explain.
Xbox 360 has never truly been known for having quality brawlers on the platform, perhaps with the sole exception of Street Fighter IV. Of course there are those out there who love a little bit of Tekken or Soul Calibur but those fighters were born in the dawn of the 3D era as opposed to the days of 2D brawlers like Street Fighter II when (wo)men were (wo)men and multiplayer was something you experienced at your local arcade.
GameDynamo - "Fighting games have enjoyed a period of spectacular growth after being a nearly nonexistent genre for so many years prior. Because of this sudden growth, we're seeing a lot of companies taking different approaches to the traditional fighting game formula that has stood since Street Fighter II first came onto the scene."
The Start Screen reviews King Of Fighters XII for the PS3. They cover how far fighting games have come and with the showing that SNK Playmore's KOF XII, how far we need to go. The game was seemingly released incomplete with an time trial for an Arcade Mode and a seemingly broken online mode. Did the 772 MB patch help?
Level7: At first glance, it looks good, but how is it in the long run?
King of Fighters is an old boat to the fighting series that competed with Capcom's Street Fighter series for many years now. With some twelve SNK Playmore takes a different approach than Capcom, and remains in the two-dimensional plane. The result is aesthetically pleasing, but the content of oh so limited.