The King of Fighters XII
Street Fighter IV must face a long-forgotten rival as SNK Playmore readies its flagship brawler for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
There was a time that you could call The King of Fighters (KOF) a Street Fighter wannabe, but that was many moons ago. With a string of arcade hits under its title belt KOF has proven more than a match for Street Fighter since way back in 1994. Both camps have experienced highs and lows. King of Fighters XII would be one of the highs – but with Street Fighter IV pleasing the crowds it damn well needs to be.
Though Street Fighter was first in the ring and laid down the ground rules in many ways, KOF has always enjoyed its freedom to experiment with the one-on-one fighting format. It introduced teams of three for starters, but the fans have also been treated to sublime individual character design and mind-melting moves lists. You could safely argue that Street Fighter is happiest as the everyman fighter whereas KOF attracts and even celebrates a kookier bunch of devotees.
This ‘Re-birth’ of The King of Fighters series for PS3 and Xbox 360 punches all the right buttons for its fans, but we suspect the hope this time around is that creators SNK Playmore also intend to share the spotlight with Street Fighter IV. And this means getting a ‘Simple’ mode plus downloadable content to keep casual players inspired. But more than that it means a graphical overhaul like you wouldn’t believe.
Comparing the visuals of Street Fighter IV to those of The King of Fighters XII is (sort of) like comparing The Clone Wars with something like Howl’s Moving Castle. One is a masterpiece of Computer Graphics wizardry; the latter is all hand-drawn majesty that begs endless scrutiny from connoisseurs. Although Capcom successfully heaps a ton of personality on its Street Fighter IV roster, the line-up in KOF XII can bristle with more menace and pack a meaner punch thanks to its comic-book presentation.
Our early first-look at KOF XII on PlayStation 3 shows that all 20 arcade characters, plus a couple more, have made a seamless transition to console. The two console exclusives are both female: Elizabeth Branctorche and Mature. Fans will recognise these ladies from previous games in the series, respectively KOF XI and KOF ’ 96. The KOF XII roster is roughly half the size of XI, and this is due to the phenomenal amount of work involved bringing the hand-drawn fighters to life.
Other extras for the console version are Practice Mode and a Gallery where you can view character portraits after unlocking them in Arcade Mode. There’s also a direct link to PlayStation Store / Xbox LIVE Marketplace to purchase extras for the game. We can only speculate as to what this might be, but additional characters could be on the agenda as SNK Playmore has previously suggested that there would be six console-exclusive fighters.
As beautiful as The King of Fighters XII certainly is, and with rock solid knock-your-teeth-out gameplay to match, the big question mark hangs over online versus gameplay. Our preview disc doesn’t allow for online anything, so it remains to be seen if SNK Playmore has matched Capcom for an exhaustive online experience or opted for a bare-bones Quick Match / Custom Match scenario.
Our closing thoughts for the time being are that The King of Fighters XII deserves your attention if you’re still playing Street Fighter IV until the small hours most nights. We’re really appreciating the lively battle arenas with screaming crowds and comedy bystanders. The fights are much faster paced than Street Fighter IV too, requiring sharper reflexes and greater accuracy performing the moves. Perhaps this final point could be intimidating for casual players. But if we’re being honest, there’s never been such a thing as a casual KOF player. And that’s no bad thing at all!
The King of Fighters XII is released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 this summer.
