Title SVC Chaos: SNK VS CAPCOM Manufacturer Playmore (SNK) System/Year MVS/2003 Genre 2D Fighting Players 1 or 2 Ports AES, PS2, XBox SNK vs Capcom Chaos....but there's no Chaos Overview Five years and 3 games later, fighting game fans all over the world have been waiting with baited breath to see the new SNK's take on the eternal rivalry between the two titans of 2D fighting games, SNK and Capcom. Week after week, as new characters were revealed and gameplay details came to light, the excitement reached a fever pitch. Now, after a long wait, the game is finally in our hands to play and judge. How does this game stack up to Capcom's takes on the genre, and indeed, even to SNK's own handheld iteration? It's time to find out. Graphics 8/10 SvC looks fantastic for a NeoGeo MVS game. While not quite up to the standards set by other games like Art of Fighting 3 or Garou: Mark of the Wolves, SvC exhibits a level of visual flair that has yet to be exhibited by any of the KOF games (except perhaps KOF2000). The character sprites are reasonably well-animated, and some old sprites like those belonging to Kyo, Iori and Mai have received additional frames of animation. Some have even had entirely new animations put in, such as Terry, and a few characters have been drawn from scratch. The Capcom characters all look very well-drawn, and animate satisfyingly for the most part. Hugo, in particular, sports crazy levels of animation on par with his Street Fighter III incarnation. However, some sprites have been lifted wholesale from older games with no touching-up whatsoever, such as Kasumi's, Geese' and Goenitz'. While this doesn't really detract from the overall feel of the game, it might have been nice to see some older sprites get a facelift. As far as backgrounds go, SvC does fairly well. The backgrounds in the game aren't as well-animated as ones you would see in KOF or Garou, but what they lack in animation they more than make up for in detail. Barring a few, SvC's backgrounds are some of the most detailed and deep ones seen in an MVS fighter to date. Of particular interest are the church stage and the forest stage, where ambient elements such as birds and waterfalls serve to add a sense of atmosphere to the game, something that was sorely lacking in other games like Capcom vs. SNK 2. Some backgrounds even sport visual effects, like the temple background, where a fire burning in the background results in a highlight on the characters' sprites, which are darker in comparision. The artwork in the game is fantastic, and very consistent. It really serves to bring out the personality of a lot of the characters. This is also effected through the use of pre-fight dialogue which will be discussed later. All in all, SvC is a NeoGeo masterpiece graphics-wise. Gameplay/Controls 6/10 Graphics and sound aren't worth anything if the underlying game doesn't handle well. So, how does SvC play? The unfortunate answer is, "Not too well." SvC looks like KOF on the surface, but there are some very significant gameplay changes that prevent this from being lumped in the "KOF with SF characters" bin. First off, SvC doesn't have hops or rolls. Instead, it introduces a new system called the "Front Step," which is basically just a fixed-distance forward dash. It can be cancelled at any time into a special move, and also replaces running as the primary method for forward mobility. Needless to say, the lack of hops allows characters with uppercut-type moves to dominate fairly easily, rekindling the old fireball-uppercut trap that was present in fighting games of old. While there ARE strategies to counter such a trap, it seems odd that a new fighting game should present fewer gameplay options than its predecessors. Next, SvC's power gauge, called the "Groove Gauge", is significantly different from KOF's system. It's still a 3-level bar, but upon reaching level 3 it turns into a MAX Mode timer, not unlike KOF2002's PowerMAX mode. In this mode you can perform dokodemo/anywhere cancels as well as super cancels, and can use a super move for the cost of about half of the time on the MAX bar. After depletion, the power bar returns to two levels. As a result, the game is fairly aggressive, since one can gain power stocks fairly easily. Throws, previously done by pressing f/b + C or f/b + D, are now done by pressing either A+B or C+D. This might not be so bad, were it not for the fact that the throw range has been reduced drastically, and the fact that you actually lose some meter energy if you miss a throw. This problem contributes in some ways to the problems with the game (see below). SvC's final distinguishing feature is the Exceed Attack. This is an ultra-pumped-up Super move that you can use only once during any particular battle, and that too, only when your lifebar is below 50%. It's a nice gimmick, but unlike KOF2002's HSDMs, SvC's Exceeds are actually practical for the most part, and actually constitute a fairly important part of gameplay. Control is fair for the most part, but there appears to be a quirk with regard to charge moves. The ability to charge down-back and quickly shift forward to do backward charge moves has been removed. This actually has some gameplay implications, as charge characters like M.Bison used to rely heavily on this tactic. Otherwise, the control has the KOF "feel" to it. SvC seems to have the trappings of a winner. So why does it fall flat gameplay-wise? The first main problem is with the characters. For the most part, the characters are well-balanced - It's pretty easy to have fair matchups between any two characters. However, once you throw the secret characters into the mix, things start to get hairy fast. The secret characters consist mainly of bosses from previous KOF games, as well as some rather unorthodox choices like Mars People from Metal Slug. Only one of these characters can possibly be considered balanced (Dan Hibiki). The rest are definitely of a higher tier than the standard cast. To make matters worse, characters like Geese and Zero have infinites that are painfully easy to pull off (relative those performable in other games). However, this is only one aspect of the problem. The other is the Guard Cancel Front Step, performable by pressing f,f or BC while blocking. This is essentially a totally invincible front dash which can be cancelled into a move at any time. It sounds alright in theory, but when you put together the fact that doing a GCFS only takes a little bit of meter and the fact that you gain meter so quickly in this game, you realise that the GCFS is really abusable. It's entirely possible to do nothing but GCFS and throw when fighting other human opponents. And since the throw range is so poor, it's almost impossible to throw anyone out of their GCFS. Characters like Tessa and Mars People who have command throws can abuse the GCFS to their advantage. The purpose of throws, to prevent turtling, is now nullified thanks in part to the abusability of the GCFS and the pathetic throws in the game. Since throws have such poor range and high risk, they have become ineffective as a counter to turtlers. All in all, SvC's gameplay leaves much to be desired. Sound/Music 7/10 SvC sports brand new voice samples for all the characters, including the SNK ones. The voicework is, as always, top notch, although some voice actors for some of the Capcom characters could have been done better. In addition to the standard voicework, you have characters like Mars People whose voice samples consist mostly of screeches and explosions, and characters like Red Arremer who snort and grunt while fighting. It's a pretty good variety, and immersive as a result. Plus, the voice samples are actually recorded in better quality than usual, allowing one to fully immerse themselves in the battle, at least aurally. The music...ah, the music. This is the same team that brought us the KOF2002 OST, so the gut reaction is to dismiss it. However, the soundtrack is really quite listenable, and is a significant improvement over the KOF2002 OST. One can tell that the team is getting used to working with the limitations of the MVS sound chip, as the samples, composition and overall feel of this soundtrack is more complete. It's not as good as other OSTs like KOF'94 or KOF'99, but it's definitely not going to break your eardrums. Another, final aspect of the sound that needs to be discussed is the hit sounds. Yes, SNKP has re-recorded the hit sounds like they did between KOF'98 and KOF'99. The new sounds sound more suited for a Bruce Lee action movie, to be honest. While not as "soft" as the CvS2 hit sounds, the SvC hit sounds seem to lack substance. However, other sounds such as the "burning" sound have been re-recorded and really sound fantastic now. Summing up, the sound in SvC is good on average, but could use improvements in some places. Replay Value 6/10 Regardless of whether you're a Capcom or an SNK fan, you'll probably spend a while trying out all the characters, especially the ones who have never been seen in a KOF game before. The endings for all the characters are laden with little injokes and tributes to SNK and Capcom characters, and prove to be rather interesting...for a while. Eventually, the process of having to get through the whole game without losing once to just GET to the final bosses will become a chore, especially when the CPU AI has rather ridiculous flaws that can be exploited easily. Outside of the single-player game, replay value is even more limited - while somewhat viable in casual VS play, SvC Chaos simply cannot stand up as a viable competitive fighter, due to the reasons mentioned previously in the gameplay section. There are too many problems with the new system, and the tiers are too pronounced. To sum up, this game is fun to play at first, but you will eventually tire of it. The only variable is how long it takes for that to happen. Overall 6/10 It's pretty apparent that SvC Chaos isn't the revolutionary fighting game we all expected it to be. The aesthetics are spot-on, but the gameplay is pretty half-baked, especially in the area of multiplayer. I think it's pretty obvious the game could have used a lot more time in play-testing. SvC Chaos is by no means an unmitigated disaster, but it could have been a lot, lot better. - by ShadowSonic