The King of Fighters XII

Fighting games of this generation seem to have followed the same pattern. It's all about 3D and looking great. Some are just stepping foot into the third dimension, while others are just trying to perfect it. Street Fighter 4 opted for 3D graphics while staying fixed on a 2D environment. Soul Caliber 4 kept it's 3D routes and updated the graphics. The King of Fighters XII however is staying in 2D but is that enough to compete in today's graphics obsessed gaming world?

The graphics are obviously not the games driving force, or it's selling point. It certainly doesn't untilize the Playstation 3's full power in that respect, but it's definatly not a bad looking game. It's anime style is well suited to the game and it's characters, it is pulled off very well. The environments are bright, colourful and interesting, with sometimes a lot going besides the players fighting. The animation for the fighters is very well implemented, especially when the pace of the game increases as fights get more intense. The gameplay is what they expect players to come back to if they know the franchise. There is however, at least some incentive for newcomers to the series to pick up this game.

All of the 22 characters are unlocked immediatly, and costumes are selected randomly, with no visible option to pick one yourself. They do however, change colour randomly. Each character is different, with their own speeds, styles and special attacks. It just takes a little time for you to find out which ones suit you, and which ones you completely suck at. Not knowing anything about the series before-hand, I just picked random until I settled on a couple of characters that felt right.

King of Fighters XII has "Arcade" mode, verses, online, and a practise mode. The Arcade mode, is a little different than other games. Instead of having a story, which gets progressively harder, they use a time attack mode. You have five rounds. Your aim is to beat them as fast as possible. After each round you have the option to retry once to see if you can better your time. At the end it's all added up. Each round consists of your own three fighers, taking on another three. You choose the order to use your selected characters before each match. After one is knocked out, the next takes it place. It can be over in less than ten minutes, and it encourages you to do it even faster. Replaying can improve your time. There is animated cutscenes to give you some reason for doing this, but it hardly even counts as a story.

Unfortunatly, the online play seems to be a bit lackluster. You can create games with Winner Stays or Loser stays for up to eight players in one lobby. It does however seem to be filled with laggy rooms, boosting rooms or a mixture of the two, that have you waiting over ten minutes just to play. It does allow you to save replays, but unless you have a few good games, I don't see this happening very often.

The King of Fighters XII is not bad in any regard. It's a lot of fun to pick up and play, especially if you don't have time to sit for hours, although that's certainly possibly if you like to improve your score. The online play isn't pefect, but it can be playable on occasion. The single player aspects are short. It won't keep you entertained forever, and no matter how good the gameplay is, there just isn't enough meat in the final product to warrent a purchase. Perhaps it would make a good rental.