King of Fighters XII Review (PS3)

It wasn’t that long ago I was playing the King of Fighters Collection on the Wii and telling you what it was like. Well here’s the next in the King of Fighters instalment.

The rules are exactly the same as the others in that you fight 3 on 3 and it’s the first to defeat all of your opponents that gets the win. You can either fight in Arcade mode where you have to go through only 5 rounds 3 on 3, and you can choose any three characters you like. Or you can fight in Versus mode which allows you to fight either 3 on 3 or 1 on 1 against another player or against a CPU opponent.

The option to go online has been added which will add to the longevity of the game and will really test your skills around the world as there are mutant people out there who can pull of the moves faster than Superman can whip on his red pants.

There are a ton of trophies for you to unlock so if you’re the kind of person who has to collect every single trophy in every game, this will keep you occupied for hours on end.

Graphics

For a PS3 game that’s meant to have HD graphics I have to say I was quite appalled. I know the characters are hand drawn which is why they look the way do and that the game is meant to have a slight “old skool” feel, but it would have been nice to have seen the characters a lot more polished rather than looking like something that has been ripped of a SNES and dumped onto the PS3.

The backgrounds are really nice and look a lot better than the fighters do. If there was ever to be a King of Fighters XIII, I would suggest much better visuals on the fighters because if you want to compete with bigger fighters like Street Fighter 4, then it’s the small details that can make a big difference to the feel of the game.

The overall interface of the menus looks nice and has a feel of the arcades, which I really liked.

Gameplay

Despite the below par graphics, the game plays really well and has some fluid animations and give your fighter the good old button bashing technique and you can pull of some cool moves. I like the option being able to choose how you pull of special moves.

If you’re a seasoned pro and have no problem in pressing left, right, down, diagonal right up, diagonal left down, right, right, left, down, up square in the space of half a second (maybe a slight exaggeration) then you can use the normal mode to show of your skills. But if you tend to find that a bit tricky, then you can choose simple mode, which still requires some combination of buttons, but only small ones like up and X or left, left, square.

This can make your fights seem a bit more enjoyable as you’re able to effortlessly pull of all of your characters moves. But of course some of you will find this a bit too easy and feel it takes the sense of achievement out of the game, but I do think it’s a big help to those wanting to ease into a fighting game.

In Summary

Overall I’d have to say I wasn’t blown away by King of Fighters XII, but it isn’t a complete let down. The formula hasn’t changed which can be seen as a good thing to fans of the franchise, or a bad thing if you’re looking for something different this time round. If you like your fighters and are looking for a change from Street Fighter 4, then you might find yourself liking this one.

Enjoyable fighter that you can jump straight into, but lack of overall depth and average graphics have made me knock the score down a tad more.

2.5 out of 5

Related Pages:

1. The King of Fighters Collection – The Orochi Saga Review (Wii)
2. Street Fighter 4 Review (PS3)
3. Samurai Shodown Anthology Review (Wii)
4. Play Street Fighter 2 Online For Free!
5. Tatsunoko vs Capcom Review (Wii)

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