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Fighting games are not my absolute favorite genre especially with the hardcore type of games. Most of the times trying to play them, I look like a fool and usually get my tail whipped. Street Fighter IV would have to be my favorite fighting game thus far. I’ve never been a Street Fighter fan neither, but the visuals of that game just amazed me so much I decided to check it out and liked the new age style of it. Unfortunately in the case, The King of Fighters XII sticks to its original 2D style old arcade look; which may or may not be a bad thing to some.
As said before, King of Fighters XII, unlike other modern entries in the fighting game genre, is pure 2d. Everything is hand drawn- there are no 3d character models, effects, or backgrounds. For the uninformed, the KoF series is notorious for reusing decade old sprites from their previous games over and over again. As a casual gamer it would be (and is) absolutely unacceptable to have crappy 1990 pixel sprites for a 2009 game. This is a reason to rejoice for it is a very expensive, labor-intensive way to create a game, especially in the HD era. The end result are some pretty nice visuals but me personally, not one too fond on the old look. Overall, the quality of the art of the game is pretty good if you like the pixel style. Some of the color choices are gaudy, at other times dull and unimpressive, and sometimes they even clutter up the screen or make things difficult to see. The backgrounds have been given the same treatment and are a sight to behold. Each stage feels alive, and the differing light/shade actually affects how characters look from one to. Unfortunately, there are only five stages. No you don’t need to see an eye doctor, there are only five stages in this game.
SNKP has always provided awesome tunes to accompany their games, and KoFXII is no exception. The music fits perfectly with the action, and while not the absolute best in the series, it's up there. Sound effects are crisp, with some of the best hit effects around. With vocals, you have a choice between ENG/JPN. If you're a veteran to the KoF series, you'll recognize your favorite character still has their trademark voice to go with their pretty new looks.
Moving on to the gameplay which obviously matters the most is where the problems and disappointments start to rise. As with the short number of levels, there are only 22 characters to choose from. That's right, only 22 when triple that is the standard. What’s even more shocking is the absence of some characters like K`, Mai, Yuri and even Rock who SNKP has been hyping up as the new star. Apparently they and others couldn't make the cut. Sure it would have been a very exonerating task for a big character roster since everything was hand drawn but this may come off as seriously lacking to a few. SNKP stripped away a lot of the systems/techniques introduced in KoF95-XI and brought KoF back to the basics with this release. Don't be mistaken, this is not a simple game - while easy to learn, there's more than enough here to make it incredibly deep.
In addition, this game is unplayable without a joystick. On top of the fact that I am playing this game on the Xbox 360 which we all can admit, is not the best controller for fighting games, the game has 4, yes that's FOUR different types of jumps and requires all sorts of different simultaneous button presses... try that on the crappy game pad... okay you might manage alright if you bind some of the combinations to extra buttons and triggers but really? Come on.
KoFXII allows for online gaming to compete against others online. Exclusive to Xbox 360 owners, there is the TrueSill ranking system that allows players to record replays and share their matches with friends online. Unfortunately, friends will wonder why your replays might be playing in slow motion. This game suffers from some pretty bad lag online which could ultimately cause one to never go back online again; it’s no fun at all.
SNK releases have never had the slickest UI's around, but KoFXII takes it to a completely new low. Confusing menus, obscured options, and hidden command lists can make navigating KoFXII's UI frustrating at times.
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Overall, either you’re a fan of The King of Fighters or you’re not. This is a simple 2D fighter that does what a 2D fighter is supposed to do but with better games on the market out like BlazeBlue or Street Fighter IV, why even think about choosing this game instead?
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