From the Vault — originally published August 5, 2009. Some links, videos or prices may be out of date.
The King of Fighters XII marks the introduction of the series into the high definition game arena. The series began with yearly releases from 1994-2003 and has had longer gaps in between game releases ever since the series began to have roman numerals in its titles with the release of The King of Fighters XI in 2005, and now with this years release of The King of Fighters XII.
What set The King of Fighters series apart from other fighting games traditionally has been the fact that The King of Fighters games contained characters from other SNK games and that it was a fighting game based on “teams” where you can select your squad of three from a fairly large array of available characters. Team selections and the order of the characters in your team created a new layer of strategy. Older KOF games also placed more emphasis on the back story of the characters and many of the older games followed particular storylines relating to specific characters such as Kyo, Iori, and Ash Crimson for example.
Fighting Mechanics
With this new game being the twelfth iteration in the series its practically impossible not to compare the game to any one of it’s over eleven contemporaries many of which are considered classic fighting games.
The good news is that the core game that comprises The King of Fighters XII is great.The characters in the game are pretty well balanced and the fighting mechanics are very solid. In addition to KOF fighting staples such as short and bigger hops to get into your opponent there are a few new fighting mechanics now added that work pretty well.
The King of Fighters XII introduces a “critical counter” system which is new to the KOF series. When you land a close strong punch as a counter to an attack, your character enters into a critical counter mode where you have a limited amount of time to perform a combo, or string of attacks. At the end of the critical counter time period you can end the string of attacks with a special move.
The new “Guard Attack” feature allows players to intercept and attack an incoming opponent’s hit damage free.
A new “clash” system has also been added. This is also called Sousai, or “Deadlock” and occurs when players land blows on one another at the same time, the game displays a ‘break’ effect and repels the characters away from one another into a neutral standing.
There are 22 playable characters. This is about half the amount of characters that were in the last game. Mature and Elisabeth Branctorche are console exclusive characters. Long time fans may be a bit disappointed at old favorites that may not have made the cut.
Presentation
The characters are very large on the screen and the animations are smooth. I found the noticeable pixelation is a bit off-putting though this is also present in the arcade version of the game. The rough edges give the impression that the characters were perhaps up scaled and not truly created in an HD resolution. This is a particularly notable because when characters are close together on the screen the game zooms in on them making them and the jagged edges around them larger and more apparent.
There are filters included with the game in the options menu that blur the edges though it still just doesn’t seem like smoothing filters that’s typically used for old console ports should have to be used for a game that’s released in 2009. The last games I had to use these types of filters on were games in the Sonic Ultimate Genesis Collection and the Xbox Live re-release of Marvel vs Capcom 2. Both of these games date back to at least ten years ago. There is no reason why a 2009 game should require these filters. This is one of my big issues with The King of Fighters XII. Once you get in the groove of a match you can forget all about the jagged edges though so it’s certainly no deal breaker.
The sound in the game is actually pretty damn good. Punches, kicks and all the assorted attack hits sound right. The game uses 5.1 surround better than most fighting games. This is something you really do not hear anyone mentioning but its worth noting that there is a good 5.1 mix. You can hear the spectators and other sounds distinct from rear surround speakers. I have not seen many other fighting games mix distinct surround stage or set piece effects in a 2D game. An issue I have with The King of Fighters XII on the PS3 is the fact that custom soundtracks cannot be played while online. I have never heard a fighting game soundtrack I loved enough to always want to hear it. The games music can get annoying and repetitive though it’s mostly due to the fact that there are only five stages. Five stages seems like at least five too few for a game with 20 characters to choose from. The background visuals are very well done with interesting things there to look at though they can get repetitive because too few were included. This is an issue that hopefully will be addressed in a downloadable game update that adds stages.
Features and Modes
The bad and ugly about The King of Fighters XII is the very short arcade mode and the fact that there is no story mode. This may upset long time fans though I have never played fighting games for the back-story. The arcade mode consists of a time trial that is very short and only puts you through five or so matches. You can blink and have beaten the arcade mode. There are no bosses, pre match dialogue, or anything of the sort and overall it does come up short where the single player is concerned.
The vs mode contains a multiple controller select option which is a feature I have always wanted a fighting game to have. You can use up to four different controllers, or arcade joysticks all mapped differently in local multiplayer. When you enter this “vs mode” you can select which of the four controller/joysticks will be used. No more passing the joystick and then having to remap the buttons after every match. You can save up to four controller settings labeled as A, B, C, or D. This is nice if you have a group of friends over and each has their own individual joystick, or control pad and settings they like to use. The only thing missing from “vs mode” is a screen that tallies the wins and losses after each match.
As far as modes are concerned the game has pretty much all the modes it should. Training mode which is pretty much standard these days is included. Replays can be saved after multiplayer games and then watched later and even renamed so that you can keep track.
The games menus are very serviceable and have an almost uninspired, and clinical aesthetic. They work though it does seem like an opportunity wasted that could have been used to further brand the experience.
The online mode is pretty robust though at this time is riddled with lag and latency issues. The online mode has many features that competing games such as Street Fighter IV do not have. There are multiplayer lobbies and you can watch matches between other players in your room. As I mentioned before you can save these matches and you can play one on one, or three on three in vs mode though there are a few smaller issues and one major issue with this games online. A smaller but rather annoying issue is that once you begin to watch a match as a spectator in a room you do not have any way to leave. You cannot quit watching unless you cut the reset the whole game or cut your system off. The largest issue with the game is the fact that the online performance is one of the worst of any fighting game in recent memory. Most of the matches I played online were plagued with lag. The slowdown can be frustrating and even unbearable at times. At times I wanted to just quit the match but there is no option to quit back to the lobby. For a game with practically no real campaign, or story mode the fact that the online performance is bad does the game a huge disservice. The lack of robust single player modes drives people to the online modes. The online gameplay performance is not able to compete with games such as Street Fighter IV, and Blazblue. Hopefully a patch will be available sooner than later and Ignition Entertainment has released word that they are in talks with SNK Playmore and will have news regarding online performance fixes and other updates shortly.
The Verdict
At its core The King of Fighters XII is a fighting game plays well and is very fun. It’s a shame that an otherwise great game with plenty of modes is marred with lackluster online performance, too few stages, a non existent story mode, and arcade mode that is much too short. It is a great game wrapped in no a frills presentation though to many the barebones menu aesthetic will not matter. The roster of 20 characters is indeed less than previous games but still the characters included are all unique and the new fighting mechanics add depth that will surely interest fighting game fans. The games biggest issues, namely the online performance could possibly be fixed in an update which really leaves the final verdict out on this game until we know if the online patch will correct those issues. Of course, that is if you are in it for the online play. If you primarily play games with friends in the same room then there is no reason not to buy The King of Fighters XII today. It’s a top tier fighting game that I think is better than Soul Caliber IV and quite a few others.
