King of Fighters XII is the first high definition iteration of this long-running 2D fighting series. Only SNK know just how many games there have been in the series, and even then I’m not sure that they could possibly keep track. As indicated by the subtitle, “Rebirth,” this is meant to be a reboot of the series for a new generation of consoles. In reality this seems to be a cover for having a limited set of characters and a very limited set of game modes that just don’t entertain for as long as they should.

Reborn but needs a little maturing

As always in King of Fighters, before each fight you choose a set of three fighters to fight against another trio. In previous King of Fighter games that I’ve played the roster of characters to choose from has been huge, but in Rebirth there are only 20 available. The characters are reasonably varied, but are nevertheless a little disappointing because of the poor number of available options. They certainly look better than ever because they’re in high definition, but the animations are still made up of very few frames. Considering its heritage from the heydays of 2D fighters, King of Fighters XII needs to be compared to the recent “rebirth” of Street Fighter, and it compares very poorly in animation quality in particular. There is a certain charm to pure 2D sprites, but they’ve been drawn and animated better recently in BlazBlue, for example.

If care was taken to build a robust story or a good set of single player modes then the decrease in roster size could be overlooked, but it’s clear that very little time was spent creating an enjoyable single player game. The “arcade” mode is simply a set of five consecutive 3-vs-3 matches interspersed with some short cut scenes that are the same every game, and not particularly interesting. The goal of this mode is to complete the five matches in the shortest time possible, and the only reward for doing it quicker than your last time is the odd trophy. It’s clear that the Versus and Online modes are the focus of the game; there are no other interesting single player modes to help you hone your skills, other than a standard Practice mode. After enjoying the Trial mode in Street Fighter IV I found myself wanting a similar way of learning combos instead of the sheer trial-and-error method we’re forced to use in this game.

Focused, otherwise known as “limited in scope”

The gameplay is focused; each character has a limited set of special moves available to them to complement to the standard set of two different punches and two different kicks activated by the four controller buttons. Special moves are relatively simple and immediate; they’re all of the “quarter-circle punch” variety as opposed to the lengthy button sequences found in Tekken or Soul Calibur. This means that King of Fighters suits arcade fight sticks much more than it suits a DualShock controller. Moves are also very tightly timed so it’s not easy to create long combos (although this means it’s quite satisfying to pull them off).

As you fight a special gauge fills up, and once it’s full you’re able to pull off an impressive character-specific special combo that does extra damage. Once a round is finished, and assuming you won, your health meter replenishes a certain amount (which seems to depend on the time left) and you immediately fight the next character with your current character. If you lose with your current character the next one will take over in a new round, and if you lose all three then you lose the match and can either drop out to the main menu or continue to fight again. There is a short load screen between rounds which is a little annoying considering some older games had a smooth transition between rounds that kept the pace up. The load times can be shortened a bit by installing the game to your hard drive, but they still break up the action and seem longer than necessary.

Still fun after all of these years

It’s extremely difficult to measure the quality of a fighting game in terms of its ability to support a “community” until a reasonable period has passed, so I have to judge the enjoyment of King of Fighters XII on what it offers in terms of single player as well as how fun its fighting mechanics are to me. I have found that some characters are far more powerful than others, although this could simply be because they matched my fighting style (I tend to prefer Ryu-like characters – generic, I know). I also can’t say that this version of the game is better than previous ones – in fact in all ways except the quality of the 2D sprites and the online play option it is inferior. Its single player modes are particularly poor when matched up against recent offerings in its genre, and while the fighting is still fun it isn’t very new or interesting. Nevertheless King of Fighters is still a quality series – I just hope the next one offers more: more stages, more modes, a better main single player mode, and especially more characters.

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