New KOF, new heroes....
Overview
The story for the KOFs has almost been the same each and every year. Big fighting tournament that attracts together fighters from all over the world, but the people behind the tourney always have a big dark secret. This time the person behind this tournament is Chizuru. She summons all the fighters to find out if they have what it takes to face Mukai. Mukai seems to be an underling of an even bigger organization which leaves this story on hold for another year. Not a really big story although my favorite character story-wise so far is Ash Crimson. He seems to want “something” out of Iori Yagami but you can find that out for yourself. Not a big and amazing story but it is better than most fighting games out there.
Graphics 7/10
Here’s a little iffy part about reviewing a Neo Geo game. The graphics for this game is nice for the Neo Geo, using some of the best backgrounds I’ve seen in a while for a KOF game. The graphics push the Neo to their limits, sure they don’t have the graphical appeal that games such as Guilty Gear XX have but that’s the whole appeal to KOF. It looks like an old school fighter yet plays extremely fast. Compare KOF 2003 with KOF 2002 and you can see a big difference in sprites. K’s sprite is a tad bit smoother including a new animation and new stance. Robert’s stance and moves have changed and look much better also. They are some characters that didn’t get the updated sprites they deserved, such as Iori. That aside the graphics are extremely good for a Neo game but doesn’t quite live up to the standard that the causal gamer is used to. The visuals still look nice although it uses that old school style.
Gameplay/Controls 9/10
The game play is like most of the fighting games. Four button layout; Light Punch, Light Kick, Hard Punch, and Hard Kick. They are some regular skills that return from pervious KOFs such as AB dodges and counters. We have some new faces in this game too, more on that later. You select your 3 normal characters, one a leader member (who can perform special Leader Death Moves) and the other 2 are support member. In this edition of KOF however we have a new feature, Tag Team Fighting. This feature may be a turn off to veterans of the series but this feature isn’t as abused in other games such as Marvel vs Capcom 2. Calling up a team member is simple press either BC or CD. To call a team member to counter an opponents attack you press QCF, BC or CD. The nice thing about this feature is it isn’t constrained to boring 3 vs 3 matches that KOF has always been constrained to. Adding a whole new layer of strategy, you can choose to rush down opponents, switch out, and crush them or you can stand back, let them fall for a switch out counter and start some moves there. The new level of play is a nice breath of fresh air for the series. There are limits to the tag feature however, when you tag an opponent in you can only switch back after a fixed amount of time. This time isn’t too long and doesn’t ruin the game play. There are some flaws that require getting use to in this game, because the fighting is so fast at time the response is also a little iffy, sometimes requiring you to push the stick 3 times to dash. This also makes executing moves difficult as well. The timing takes a bit to get use to but once you get the hang of it the benefits are rewarding.
Sound/Music 6/10
The sounds and music for this game weren’t that extremely good. They did include some nice tracks for the game such as Korea Team’s Theme, Ash’s Theme, Chizuru Theme, and Adel’s Theme. The sound effects sound like they have been used before though (SVC: Chaos anyone?). The sound and music isn’t as great as I expected it to be but some of the themes make up for this.
Replay Value 5/10
Some people may ask, “Does this game have anything to offer that’ll bring me back to the arcades?” Well let’s see with the 3-man team, tag feature, and nice backgrounds it really is nice for a competition with friends since it uses a familiar system. But the timing on the joysticks will take a lot of time to get use to for newcomers. Once you get use to that though it’s clear sailing from there. The only problem about real tourney competition in SNK is the scene is lazy. That doesn’t mean this is a good game you can play with friends.
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Overall 8/10
While this KOF may not be perfect, it’s the best one I’ve played in a long time. Great roster, great gameplay, excellent sprite updating, and that old school appeal. This may have been the best one I've played since 1998. Still it does have its bad point’s iffy timing, mediocre sound, and controls that take a while to get use to. The tag feature is a total life saver for this series that makes this KOF stand out from the rest. This is a solid game and if you ever find it in your arcades I would recommend giving it a whirl.
- by RBFATAL
