Title The King of Fighters NeoWave Manufacturer SNK Playmore/Sammy System/Year Atomiswave/2004 Genre Fighting Players 1-2 Ports None More of the same...but that's not really a bad thing, is it? Overview Much ado has been made about SNK Playmore's decision last year to finally drop the aging NeoGeo MVS architecture in favour of Sammy's more modern 128-bit Atomiswave platform. Gamers were hoping that SNKP's franchises such as KOF, Metal Slug and Fatal Fury would finally get the graphical upgrades that they had been lacking all these years. Well, the first SNKP game to hit the Atomiswave is The King of Fighters NeoWave, and while it may not be all that everyone was hoping for, it certainly isn't a bad game in and of itself. Graphics 6/10 To be blunt, NeoWave leaves the graphical potential of the Atomiswave largely untapped. The main improvements are the high-res GUI and backgrounds, which have a largely rushed feel to them. The character/mode select and order select screens are well done, and the art is largely decent. However, the in-game lifebars have a very bland look to them, and it's often hard to judge exactly how much life is remaining on the bar due to its odd design. The new backgrounds are fair, for the most part. They are drawn in high-resolution, and often have the look of paintings - beautiful, but sadly, very static. There is virtually no animation or even any use of parallax to be found in these backgrounds, which is definitely very odd, seeing how KOF installments on the MVS made use of these elements to great effect. The biggest problem, however, is that SNKP has retained the same MVS sprites without an ounce of cleaning-up - simply resizing them to fit the new resolution. And it shows - the old sprites clash horribly with the high-res backgrounds, often sticking out from them like a sore thumb. In fact, almost anywhere you look, NeoWave screams "underachievement" as far as graphics are concerned - effects like translucency are non-existent, and the same old flickering shadow effect from the MVS is reused. The only "new" graphical effect appears to be the redrawn DM flash, as well as the new background effect for HSDMs. The latter consists of pillars of lightning flashing around your character as he or she does the move. Needless to say, this looks very cheesy and most unprofessional. All in all, NeoWave's graphics are passable, but they leave much to be desired. Gameplay/Controls 8/10 NeoWave uses the KOF2002 game engine at its core, but makes a number of changes and refinements to the formula. First off, you can now choose from 3 modes to use when you play. The first, Super Cancel mode, is the most orthodox mode out of the 3 - you have access to KOF rolls, CD attacks, guard cancels, as well as a 3-level super bar that lets you cancel between specials at the cost of one stock, or from specials to S/DMs at the cost of one additional stock to the cost of the S/DM. Guard Break mode has the same mobility options, but removes access to the 3-level bar and guard cancel CD attacks. Instead, you gain a 2-level bar, and the ability to use the "Just Defend" mechanic introduced in Garou: Mark of the Wolves. By blocking attacks at the last minute, you reduce block stun and pushback. In addition, you gain an unblockable guard break attack, done by QCF + CD, that automatically does wire damage and therefore lets you follow up with a juggle. Finally, MAX2 mode features no rolls, guard cancelled or otherwise, and a single-level power bar that fills up on its own. When it's full, you can use a DM or a guard cancel CD attack. If your life is in the "red" region, you gain access to SDMs and HSDMs when your bar is full. This mode also has much higher levels of damage than the other two. The variety is appreciated, as it caters for people with different playing styles. Players who play on the offense will prefer MAX2 mode with its high damage, while defensive players or people who favour grapplers can use Guard Break. Super Cancel is a balance between the two. Most old-school KOF players will probably favour Super Cancel, but it can't be denied there are some nice options here. There are, of course, some characters who benefit from certain modes more than others, but this is probably an unavoidable consequence of having multiple play styles. Another new mechanic that was added to NeoWave is "Heat mode." Activated using the fifth button on the Atomiswave setup, it causes your life to drain gradually. However, your attack power rises in exchange, making it possible to deal out some heavy damage. However, this feature seems rather impractical since your life drains very quickly, and even getting tick damaged will take you out of the mode instantly. The only player that seems to be able to make effective use of it is the CPU, and in fact, it cheats a little, activating Heat mode in the middle of combos and special moves, something which normal players cannot do. NeoWave's speed is more akin to KOF'98's than KOF2002. The slower speed of the game is probably a welcome feature, seeing how later instalments of the KOF series almost appear to be on crack as far as speed is concerned. This may or may not be desirable, however, depending on how you like your KOF. Finally, something must be said of the roster. The roster is a carbon copy of KOF2002's, with some exceptions - Characters like K9999, Angel and May Lee are gone, replaced by old mainstays like Jhun, King, Shingo and Saisyu. Other characters like the Orochi versions of the NFT, as well as Ramon, Vanessa, Kim and a toned-down version of Young Geese are available through AW.NET (or inputting a BIOS code - more on this later). The shakeup is nice, but the absence of complex characters like May Lee and Angel to give the roster some interest for high-level players is disappointing. Their replacements all pale in comparision. Still, NeoWave fares well on the gameplay scale, and this works to its benefit. Sound/Music 6.5/10 However, it fares a lot worse on the sound scale. The sound effects are plucked straight from KOF2002, and in the case of the final boss, SvC. However, the quality is very poor, and sounds very out of place on a supposedly modern platform like the Atomiswave. An improvement in quality as was done with the PS2 ports and even the MVS version of KOF2003 would have been much appreciated. Even more astonishingly, there are a number of sound bugs - sound effects don't play during some of the character's winposes and taunts. This could definitely have been avoided by better debugging. The music fares similarly. The dominant word that comes to mind when considering NeoWave's music is "mediocre." It uses a wide variety of samples, but most of these would be considered inferior by today's standards. It comes off sounding very MIDI-ish, even when PC sound cards these days are capable of producing much better synthesised audio. All the tracks are original (there are no remixes), but they are also utterly forgettable - none of them are as memorable as tunes like Esaka, Tears, or even Cool Jam 2 from the recently-released KOF2003 AST. Sound-wise, NeoWave is utterly bland - there is no other word to describe it. Replay Value 7/10 The tiers in NeoWave are slightly more disparate than 2002's, owing to the fact that most characters have been slightly toned down from their 2002 incarnations (such as Athena). However, other characters have received boosts (Iori and Daimon, most notably), and a good number of the newcomers are also unchanged from their previous incarnations (KOF2000 for Jhun, KOF2002 for DC for Shingo and King, and KOF'98 for Saisyu). Still, the game is nowhere near as imbalanced as KOF2003, and should therefore have a good amount of competitive longevity. As far as the single player game goes, the AI appears to have been largely improved, although it occasionally does crazy things like Just Defending multihit moves flawlessly, or, as mentioned before, activating Heat mode at impossible times. For the most part it is a decently challenging opponent. However, the final boss of the game, Young Geese, appears to be the result of SNKP disregarding all the rules of boss design, then throwing the rulebook out the window. Simply put, he is the most insanely difficult boss ever conceived for a KOF game. Even Igniz from KOF2001 doesn't quite come close to matching Young Geese's speed and efficiency at decimating your lifebar. And this isn't because his AI is good - no, it's because his moves are designed so as to make you get up and leave the arcade in frustration. An uppercut slash that crosses up and does SDM damage, a no-lag projectile that absorbs super fireballs, an unblockable SDM that does 90% damage which he likes to toss out on wakeup - he's got just about everything to piss off any seasoned player. He definitely puts a damper on what is otherwise a decent single-player experience. Finally, let's discuss AW.NET, the system that Sammy uses to connect their Atomiswave units to the Internet. It allows you to gain points for victories in VS play, and to use those points to unlock secret alternate colours and the abovementioned secret characters. However, when releasing NeoWave outside of Japan, Sammy decided to drop the ball, and disable all the AW.NET features in the game. While the secret features may still be accessed through inputting codes into the game's BIOS, wouldn't it have been better to bring AW.NET to non-Japanese territories? It would have definitely provided an incentive for people to play the game more, as Virtua Fighter 4's and now Tekken 5's save card systems have both shown. NeoWave fares decently at best when it comes to replay value, in most part thanks to its strong showing when it comes to VS play. Overall 7.5/10 NeoWave, for the most part, is an updated version of KOF2002 that tries some new things, but drops the ball on a lot of others. It's by no means a bad game, but there are some things it could have done better, particularly in the area of aesthetics. If you're looking for something new, exciting and fresh, you won't find it here. However, if you're just looking for a fighting game that plays well and is reasonably balanced, NeoWave will deliver. - by ShadowSonic