Title The King of Fighters 2003 Manufacturer SNK Playmore System/Year MVS/2003 Genre Fighting Players 1 or 2 Ports PS2 and XBox The King of KOFs? Not quite. Overview Year after year, SNK has been carrying the 2D fighting flag high by releasing annual episodes of the King of Fighters series. After KOF2000, SNK's swan song, the series was passed to Eolith. However, numerous fans lamented the lack of soul in the 2 instalments that followed. Now, the series is back with (a revitalised) SNK, and it is once more a swan song of sorts - it is the final KOF game on the NeoGeo hardware. Is it also the greatest? Well, not quite. But it's a good enough effort and a step in the right direction. Graphics 8.5/10 KOF2003, to be completely honest, is one of the best-looking games on the NeoGeo hardware. It manages to trounce the already visually impressive SvC Chaos, and even edges out classic games like KOF'98 in certain areas. The first thing you notice as you start the game is the fact that the intro isn't a slide show like KOF2001 or KOF2002's. There's a good deal of animation, definitely on the same level with the classic intros of older KOFs like '97 and 2000. However, this is just par for the course. The in-game interface is very well-done and consistent, although the "sci-fi/high-tech" motif used since KOF2000 is starting to show its age a little. The in-game art, once again managed by the adept Falcoon, is good, though still not quite as good as KOF2000's. Once you get into the actual game itself, however, the real graphical changes become apparent. KOF2003 sports a good deal of redrawn sprites, possibly more than any other KOF before it (except perhaps KOF'96). Old characters like Robert, Terry and Yuri have all been redrawn with great results for the most part, and the new characters Ash, Duolon and Shen Woo have well-drawn sprites as well. Malin's sprite is kind of a hack job, though, as she lacks frames in a lot of areas, but that could probably be chalked up to her playing style or lack of space on the cartridge. However, the abundance of new sprites means that the ones that weren't redrawn stick out more than ever - in particular Daimon's and Leona's sprites. Two of the new characters, Tizoc and Gato from Garou: Mark of the Wolves, have edited versions of their sprites from that game. While the results are rather good in Tizoc's case, Gato's sprite looks rather shoddily edited, and the timing on a few of his animations appears to be odd. It's possible that this was due to the pressure for a 2003 release, but it would have been appreciated had SNK Playmore done a better job editing the sprite, especially when many talented sprite artists on the Internet have already done so. KOF2003's backgrounds are (thankfully) light years ahead of KOF2002's. Where the latter looked pixelated and washed out, the former has good colour variety and a decent (not excessive) amount of background animation. The backgrounds in KOF2003 are also higher, like those in Garou: Mark of the Wolves, and actually scroll up and down during moves like Clark's Super Argentine Backbreaker. It's a rather inconsequential touch, but it looks nice all the same, and does much to reduce the feeling of being boxed in that permeated the earlier KOF games. Other little touches, like the redrawn flash effect for DMs, as well as the red flicker that fills the screen when an opponent is defeated, give KOF2003 its own visual flair and style, distinguishing it from other KOF games. Overall, KOF2003 is VERY pleasant to look at, but some sprite-related aspects could have been improved significantly. Gameplay/Controls 7/10 The crucial question must be asked - does KOF2003 stand up gameplay-wise? For the most part, the answer is "yes", although there are nagging problems with the game that prevent it from getting a better rating in this department. First, however, here's the lowdown on KOF2003's gameplay system. KOF2003 retains the 3-on-3 format of the classic KOF games, but tosses the multiple round format out the window. Instead, rolling changes can be made by pressing B+C or C+D when a "Change OK" light is lit up. In addition, tag attacks can be done by doing QCF + BC or QCF + CD. This results in the active character doing a quick attack, jumping out and the called character jumping in with an attack of his/her own, after which a combo may be done. Of course, this means that the knockdown attacks, previously assigned to the C+D attacks, are out of the game, although some characters retain those attacks in the form of command moves (like Chang and Athena). When a character is KOed, he disappears from the stage and the next fighter in the order jumps onto the screen immediately to continue the fight. This ensures that fights remain intense and fast-paced. In addition, KOF2003 implements a "Tactical Leader System," by which the first person chosen on the character select screen acts as the "Leader" for your team. The leader has access to his/her specific Leader Desperation Move or LDM, which in many cases are just their old SDMs or HSDMs from previous KOF games. However, unlike most HSDMs, the LDMs are actually useful, and considering various characters' LDMs is an important factor to consider when forming teams. Most of the other KOF conventions remain unchanged - you press A+B to roll forwards or backwards, you gain an extra maximum power stock when one of your characters is KOed, you can still cancel your guard stance into a roll or a knockdown attack, and you can super cancel certain special moves for the cost of an extra stock. The system works fairly well, for the most part. SNK Playmore has changed the control scheme to require more precise inputs for a lot of cancels and/or followups, and while these changes are somewhat disorienting at first, they eventually grow on you and become second nature. The game itself, as mentioned before, is very fast-paced, slightly faster than KOF2002. The tag system is designed to be used offensively rather than defensively, since tagged-out characters do not regain any life like in other tag-based fighters. For instance, after a juggle, you can follow up with a tag attack, tag in the next character and tack on a bit more damage. Alternatively, some tag attacks can be used as quick knockdown attacks to put the opponent on the defensive. However, there are some nagging issues with KOF2003 that need to be addressed. First of all, KOF2003 implements a rather crude damage scaling system where the first hit of any move that gets cancelled into receives some penalty. While this might not be an issue normally, it does become an issue when supercancelling into one-hit DMs. There doesn't appear to be much point to this system, and it might have been better had SNKP opted for a damage scaling system more akin to that used in the Guilty Gear games, or better still, not implemented one at all. Another problem is that the system changes have led to some rather quirky gameplay tactics. For one, characters have a slightly longer delay time as they get up before they respond to player input, and this can be abused to good effect by characters with grapple moves. It is possible to escape this trap by quickly jumping on wakeup, but not having it in the game in the first place would have been a major improvement in itself. Another problem is the fact that it is VERY easy to throw in KOF2003, almost to the point of annoyance. Throw escapes arguably render this problem moot, but it is still incredibly frustrating when attempting a complex combo after a successful tag-in attack leads to nothing but your character tossing the opponent far away. However, the biggest problem with the game is balance. KOF2003 is NOWHERE near as balanced as KOF2002 was. There are characters who have been nerfed almost to the point of uselessness, and there are, or rather, is one character who has to be put in a tier of his own simply because he owns the rest of the cast for free (Duolon). This might seem inconsequential at first - after all, arguably no fighter since Super Street Fighter II Turbo has featured perfect balance - but it doesn't take long to see what it does to the competitive appeal of the game. Most competition teams for KOF2003 have a Duolon on them, and characters like Maxima and Whip are rendered all but redundant due to the often senseless nerfs forced on them by SNK Playmore. In fact, the general policy for balancing appears to be "If it ain't broke, nerf the hell out of it." KOF2002 followed the same route with regards to balance but the results were less apparent because everyone was more or less nerfed "equally." KOF2003 does not benefit from this - some characters have clearly been hit harder than others. KOF2003 is definitely not the mess that SvC Chaos was gameplay-wise, but there are a lot of things that should have been tweaked before release. Sound/Music 7.5/10 KOF2003 fares reasonably well on the sound scale. Most of the characters have had new voice samples added, and many have had their samples totally rerecorded. Unfortunately, the results are mostly mixed. While characters liks Mai, Ryo and Kyo use their voice samples from SvC Chaos (which were very well done), others like King and Mary appear to have gotten the short end of the stick. Their in-game yells sound rather forced and spastic, to say the least. Therefore the voice work comes across as being rather inconsistent on the whole. The hit sounds have been carried over from SvC Chaos. The consensus still appears to be that no-one likes them, and there is merit in this viewpoint. The force and power that could be felt from the old hit sounds is lacking, although sounds like the electric attack sound and the burning sound sound very much better than before. Again, there appear to be mixed results. The soundtrack fares similarly. KOF2003's background music is a good improvement over KOF2002's and SvC's, but it's still nowhere near the heights achieved by KOF'98 or KOF2000. There are a good number of very listenable tracks, but there is also a significant number of rather bland tracks. The instrument samples are also rather poorly chosen for the most part - a lot of the tracks would sound better with better samples. Hopefully, the use of the Atomiswave hardware will rectify this problem for KOF2004, but it appears we're stuck with KOF2003's decidedly average OST for now. Replay Value 7/10 KOF2003 features a large number of new characters (6 in all), as well as major gameplay changes for other characters (like K', Terry, Jhun and Robert). Plus, learning the nuances of the new free shift system will keep you occupied for a long time. The fact that the control scheme has been tweaked quite a bit contributes to this end. As far as single player replayability goes, KOF2003 fares well. Unlike in SvC Chaos, unlocking endings is rather easy. Beating Kusanagi (the mid-boss) with a DM or LDM unlocks a fight with Chizuru and Maki, followed by a confrontation with the final boss, Mukai. Beating him yields the ending for your team. Fail to meet the conditions and you get sent to fight an alternate final boss, Adelheid, and you receive no ending. The CPU AI is largely improved from KOF2002, and puts up a good fight most of the time. Competitive longevity is another matter entirely. KOF2003 is played competitively, but as mentioned before, Duolon is pretty much a staple on every team because of his annoying ability to beat entire teams effortlessly. Nevertheless, it does have more value as a competitive fighter than SvC could ever hope to have, although there is still a long way to go in achieving the sort of balance that 2002 did. ! Overall 8/10 So, should you give KOF2003 the light of day? It depends. The truth remains that KOF2003 is the first KOF game in ages that doesn't feel like a rehash of the previous entry. SNK Playmore has taken the series in a bold (although not completely unexpected) direction, and have attempted to shake up the preconceived notions of what a KOF game "should be." For that at least, they deserve kudos. However, KOF2003 would definitely have benefited from a few more months in testing, as the majority of the problems with the game are clearly gameplay-related. KOF2003 is by no means a bad game - but it's not exactly the KOF to end all KOFs either. Better luck in 2004, SNK Playmore. - by ShadowSonic