Review | The King of Fighters XII
Format: PS3/Xbox360 | Genre: Fighting | Publisher: Ignition | Developer: SNK Playmore | Release date: 25/09/09 | RRP: £39.99
By Daniel Lipscombe
There’s a big problem with The King of Fighters XII that isn’t strictly anything to do with the game itself.
It has more to do with preconceived notions and ideas. Fighting games have had a rough time for a few years now, and the advent of Street Fighter IV has started a change in this cycle. For years, fighters were rendered stale by the same old move sets, and the only variety arrived through different costumes and endings. When Capcom’s giant beat ‘em up launched, all eyes fell on subsequent franchises – Tekken, Blazblue and, of course, The King of Fighters XII. These games have a lot to live up to, and SNKs franchise is taking a leaf from Capcom’s book, with newly designed visuals and ideas.
But The King of Fighters XII has the world on its shoulders. Street Fighter IV has revolutionised the fighting game genre. There’s now a need for the punches to snap convincingly, for the moves to flow effortlessly, for the characters to feel truly fleshed out, for the game to hold a challenge and for players to rise to it. But this feeling is lost in The King of Fighters XII. While on the surface the game feels as if it’s striding forwards, really, it’s hiding behind a mask – albeit a newly drawn one.
That mask is a new graphical engine, with each character and background drawn in 2D. Using this engine allows colours to flourish and hold onto the roots of where the franchise started. Unfortunately, while it may work terrifically in the arcades, it doesn’t sit well on home consoles. Characters look overly pixelated on a high-definition display, leaving the game looking blurred and muddy.
The backgrounds do look a treat, filled as they are great animations that are an archetype of the genre. From Japanese fish markets with customers joining in the shouts and screams for blood, to street cafes with patrons sipping on lattes while you batter your opponent, these backgrounds give the game the much needed life that the character models lack. The animations are glorious to watch too, as punches and kicks sweep through the air. But there’s a feeling that if this had been cel-shaded or used an entirely unique art style, it would have looked better.
//Fist meets face
Luckily, the actual punching faces side of the game has a lot more passion and energy to it. Each kick lands with a satisfying crunch, successful counters leave a wry smile on your face and landing eleven hit combos or super finishers will have you punching the air in celebration. Fighting styles are typical of the genre, with moves performed using quarter circles and charging directions. It’s all conducted with relative ease, and only becomes tricky when attempting super moves or counter attacks. The learning curve is quite shallow, allowing you to feel out the moves against a relatively timid computer.
However, as with any fighting game, much of the experience comes down to the fighters themselves. Again, these are largely as you’d expect – Karate style experts, military brass, bad-ass school girls… the list goes on. There’s an even mix of slow style fighters and fast paced combatants, but they’re all a bit bland, and no one stands out from the crowd. Whilst this is an understandable procedure in fighters, it adds to the disappointment that there’s a real lack of originality here. There’s very little to push The King of Fighters XII out of the crowd and onto the stage as a star.
//Bring your crew
What does make it different is the use of teams instead of fighting one-on-one over rounds. Each team is made up of three fighters, and as each person is beaten the next jumps in. When all three are beaten, the fight ends, and you move on to the next round. This works brilliantly as it pushes you to choose the order of your team’s starting positions and use different tactics against the opposition’s layout.
I would love to say this is a great tactic to use online, but unfortunately the broken net code is the biggest let down of all. Fighting games are made for two people to throw down the gauntlet to each other and better each other in combat, and if you can’t manage that in your own living room then online play is where you’ll be heading. Suffice it to say, you’ll be heading back to single-player pretty speedily. Lag is on the menu here, with a side dish of poor matchmaking. Punches land seconds after pressing the button. Your fist will hit your opponent and leave the health bar apparently untouched. Even the menu drops in framerate. This is quite obviously a crucial part of any fighting game as the outcome of the match will rely on split-second reactions, so playing online with The King of Fighters XII is simply depressing.
It’s compounded by a lack of any real story, no ending animations or sequences, a lack of unlockable characters and frightfully short single-player tournaments, which can be finished in four minutes. The whole game is lacking a certain finesse that’s really needed in a genre that often feels so stale. The King of Fighters XII’s few new ideas are heavily overshadowed by its wealth of problems. Perhaps it’s time to hang up the crown.
4/10
