Hands On: The King of Fighters XII [360]

29 May 2009 at 16:52:30 by Tim McDonald

Any game series that has roman numerals in the name which start with an X is cause for worry. There's the potential problem that it's gotten too long in the tooth; that the series has gone on for too long. There's also the potential problem that there's so much in the way of plot and added features, that feature creep has made the game completely impenetrable to newcomers.

The King of Fighters XII looks, from my brief experience, like it's trying to avoid both of these problems.

Oddly, the biggest thing about the game is likely the redrawn graphics, with every single sprite completely redone. This means two things: firstly, that the game's character roster is considerably lower than previous titles due to the amount of time it takes to create each character, and secondly, that the game looks pretty damn stunning.

That character roster, though. XII has 22 characters - two more than the arcade version, with the additions of Mature and Elisabeth Blanctorche - and while Ash Crimson is present, the game has pretty much no story at all, avoiding the continuation of his character arc in favour of providing a solid fighting experience.

By itself, the reduced character roster (as this is, I believe, the smallest set of characters yet in a King of Fighters game) implies balance, and a lack of bloat. It also implies DLC, and there is indeed a Marketplace option on the main menu. While it's impossible to know for sure at this stage, it might be somewhat telling that artwork on the King of Fighters website shows characters who aren't in the game at this stage, including fanservice favourite Mai Shiranui.

This streamlined approach is also reflected in the gameplay. Some of the more complex aspects have been removed, with noticeably less bars and gauges on screen at any one time, and we're back to standard 3v3 with no tag system in place. There's even a Simple control system which is there to make it easier to pull off certain moves. All of this said, there are still plenty of systems in play which will doubtless confuse newbies, like the new Critical Counter system that builds up as you fight, allowing you to unleash some devastating combos out of a counter. A lot of the lasting appeal of the title, and how it's received by the community, is going to come out of how well this handles.

The most important thing, though, is how it plays, and it plays well. Those fearing it's been too dumbed down needn't worry – XII is still a solid fighting game with a solid difficulty level. The new art style is fantastic, and the excellent hand-drawn animations lend a real heft to the proceedings, with punches, kicks, and telekinetic slams all feeling weighty. Considering some of the character reworkings (Iori Yagami doesn't have his pyrokinesis anymore after the events of King of Fighters XI) it's hard to comment on the balance at this early stage, and likewise, we've not had a chance to check out the netplay and see what the lag is like, but everything else feels fantastic.

The reduced character roster might cause some to worry, but the character redesigns should give fans plenty to experiment with. While it's not the most newbie-friendly series in the world, there are concessions here to help new players get involved, and yet the staggering depth inherent in the KoF games shines through regardless. King of Fighters XII could actually manage the impossible: creating a KoF game that pleases the experts but also ropes in some new blood. I'm eager to see how well it succeeds.

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