Now I'm usually the guy who enjoys dicking around with fighting games, but I rarely spend the time to master them. I just play them for simple minded fun. I pick a character who I feel comfortable with and has projectile moves that are easy to pull off. King of Fighters ws a series that i enjoyed doing this with, and I found my niche in this series in Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui.

They are quick, awesome, and have accessible moves sets that work for a guy who doesn't want to spend 100+ hours on mastering moves. There are some other characters I enjoy using, like Iori Yagami and Ralf Jones, but Mai and Terry have always been my go-to guys(as Ryu and Ken are in Street Fighter games).

But in King of Fighters XII, I only get half my awesome sandwich. First off, Mai is missing. Where has she gone? Where can I find her? Not in this game. Gamers have speculated that SNK will release her via DLC for the game, but that's bullshit. I don't want to have to WAIT, and then PAY 800 Microsoft Moon Dollars for her. And Terry, well, Terry is just fine. Actually, he's great. He's literally untouched (except now his sprite looks more badass than ever).

Sexy

Iori became a heavy character overnight (and he sucks now), and many of the new characters are both fugly and suck to boot. And this isn't the only thing wrong with this game. God-awful presentation weaken the whole package. The menus are ugly and the options limited. For this series' comeback they really didn't try very hard. I think most of the work went into the new HD sprites, and SNK just threw the rest of the game together. As I mentioned earlier, the character selections sucks compared to other entries in this series. There is a huge lack of modes (even more so than in Street Fighter IV), and don't even get me started on the online multiplayer. OHHHH GOOODDD!!!!! It's quite bad.

How bad? Let's just say that Super Smash Bros. Brawl runs at a god-like super speed compared to this. Its like watching your characters attempt combat while swimming through maple syrup. Do what I did and just stick to local multiplayer as with most fighting games its much better. If you feel like taking the online for a spin, just smash buttons in rapid succession as soon as you see the word GO! Who knows, maybe you'll actually win.

So KoF XII isn't terrible, but its sad that this is what we get on its 15th birthday. Its worth a look if you absolutely adore the series, or if you have an interest in boys that look like chicks. Either way, its still better than BlazBlue.



Score: 6/10