The second dream match of KOF.. many people think that the first dream match (KOF '98) was the best KOF up to date, is this game even better than KOF'98 ?
Overview
This game is supposed to improve the KOF and make it the same old KOF, with minor improvements, like with the inclusion of the KOF '97 (Yamazaki, Billy, Blue Mary ) and the KOF '98 (Yashiro, Chris, Shermie) team, Playmore wants to play it safe...
Graphics 7.5/10
The Neo system is old, very old, still it is able to make incredible graphics and very animated characters. There's nothing to complain about the in game graphics, however, the artwork and style of the menu's ect. are not that high quality. The artwork is dull and uninspireringSSSSSSSS and it is NOT the high quality of the other KOF's. And the "improvement" made to Yashiro is a shame, his face is messed up,however, I like what they did to Iori's face.
Gameplay/Controls 8/10
Playmore must have thought: well it's a dreammatch so let's make it one and put together all the cool stuff that happend between KOF '99 and KOF '01, but with some changes made to the gameplay bringing it back to it's old KOF'97, KO'F'98 self like the inclusion of the max system and without the strikers. I like the fact that it doesn't have the strikers because I always though that it didn't bring anything new to the long running KOF saga. They also implemented the HSDM's, which I think are a shame because they hardly do any more damage than the old SDM's and most of the time they are boring. The character choices are good however, bringing the old, but cool, orochi saga back to life... 1 huge fallback is that the game doesn't have any endings for the teams and that it doesn't have as much pre-fight movies, as I like to call them. They belong in a KOF game and the game doesn't have that specific "KOF feeling" to it that most others do have. The controls are very fluid and the game is a little bit faster than KOF 2K1 which is a good choice, and it is technically one of the best KOF's there is.....
Sound/Music 8.5/10
The music is a huge improvement over the mono KOF 2k1 and it has good sound effects, nothing to complain about..However, there are some stages on which the sound can be irritating but the character voices and the super sounds are fine.
Replay Value 9.5/10
The KOF saga has always been known for it's great replay value, and this is no exeption. The only minor thing is that it doesn't have any endings, making the 1-player game rather..uninteresting. The two player game however is very cool because everyone's favorite character is in the game, making it cool for anyone.. People that haven't played KOF for a long time will still remember familiar old faces like Kyo, Iori and the orochi team. That is, of course, a huge plus on the game making you want to play it more and more to see what improvements and new moves your old favorite character has and if he/she has new animation. This has as much replay value as KOF '98, if you want to play it singeplayer, than it's not super good, the two player is where it really stands out and that's why it diserves a 10, minus 0.5 points for the singeplayer...
Overall 8.3/10
This is a hard one to judge, because it has all the good old characters, but there's nothing really new that's very interesting. If you like a story based game, go for KOF '99/KOF 2k2/ KOF 2k1, if you like all your characters in one game and a good and solid two player game, go for this. The game has the best graphics of all the KOF's and it has a good balanced gameplay and a more rewarding combo system then any other KOF. This game is a nice closure to the not so good nest saga and i'm looking forward to KOF 2k3.
- By Daniel Franken a.k.a. deathknight
