(As an early note, I'll make a lot of parallels to BlazBlue because that has been the fighter that I've played the most lately, it's the last big fighter that got released, and a lot of people I play with are on the fence about KoF XII.)

So I picked up King of Fighters XII yesterday. This is being written after a few hours of me playing it, and should be posted when I wake up some time in the morning. I'm just trying to give you some semblance of time here because for me to write this with the game not being out that long may seem awkward. Still, I like to think I know fighting games to a point, so after a few hours I can have a general impression. I'm also not going to comment on the online play, because SNK says it's borked and plans to fix it, and I've only played twice: once against some random dude and once against our own Y0j1mb0 (and his connection blows). Anyway...

King of Fighters XII. I'm going to start with the bad, because it stands out the most. Not that I'm saying it has a ton of breaking things, but a lot of stuff bugs me. I'm a bit OCD to be honest, so a lot of other people may pass over this stuff, but I saw it and it doesn't sit well.

First off, the menu system. Every menu in the game feels archaic as fuck. Getting through a games menu should be a smooth experience, and setting options in a fighting games practice mode should be quick and easy. I don't think any of this is true.You need to select every individual option with X, then back out with O, then go to the next one, same thing. If you just started the game and like to set some specific settings, this can be a pain. If you mess with options in practice mode all the time, this can be a pain. It's slow and cumbersome. A lot of options seem to be...buried is the wrong word here...badly placed. In KoFXII's practice mode, basic options like going back to the main menu, repicking a character, and even the commands list are on the second page. Thing is, it looks like it's not even there, and I would have been SOL if I did accidentally hit L2 to scroll the options page because the symbol to say so is so fucking small in the lower left corner. Shit like that should be on the first page of any practice mode anyway for easy access. The menus are badly designed.

Sprites and backgrounds are the second thing that bugs me. Yes, the sprites are all awesome looking from the videos we've seen, and they are in game, but there is a lack of effort shown when you take a close look at them; a lack of small detail and effort. First, some of the characters eyes are jet black. Yeah, just fucking black with one pixel of color for a pupil. What the hell? How do you skimp out on something like that? BlazBlue, in all it's 1080p glory, certainly didn't miss the fucking eye color of their characters. Second, there is a lack of unique animation for each character when a round is won. Again, look at BlazBlue. Each character in that game has several unique actions when a match is finished, even some specific when fighting another character (but I'm not asking SNK to go that far). I can see a lot of people saying "Well that doesn't matter in gameplay!", but it gives the game personality. For KoF to have such a long series and a great, overreaching story, XII sure lacks the personality to say so. As far as backgrounds go, there are only five. There are only five because there are only five stages in Arcade mode. Again, I see this as a lack of personality from the game. Not only that, but they are distracting as piss. Do me a favor, go to the KoF XII DOT Gallery and click on the Egypt stage. Now imagine all those fuckers in the background waving their arms in the air like idiots. It's annoying, and for me, distracting. Do me another favor. Click on the France level, then please explain to me how the fuck the Japanese view the French. What the shit? Criticizing some specific characters, Ryo's face looks like he's got his skin pulled back against his skeleton. You can see that in the DOT Gallery too. You never see Terry's face either. Every round won with Kyo, he blows out his finger, but it's not actually on fire like in KoF '98. Athena doesn't move at all in a neutral position beyond her skirt having some slow, flowing movement.

Two more things that annoy me are the games startup. Unholy fucker of mothers, I don't need to sit through that any logos on a PC game. Eight logos need to be displayed before you get to the main menu, and you have to watch them, and they take 30 seconds. Every time the game starts. After you get through that, if you take the time to watch the games intro movie, you might notice it fucking suck. You don't even get a character profile montage. You get a shadow of that blond, fluffy haired mother fucker, then unopened letters fly around for a bit, and then you get a game logo. BlazBlue had a filly animated opening that shows people fighting. SNK couldn't take some of their own pre-release promo footage and put it in as an opening movie. Again, a complete lack of game personality.


Ok, that is what I've got to say as far as bad things that annoy me go. Time to talk some GOOD! And trust me, there is good.

KoF XIII has a very slow pace. Much slower then BlazBlue, slower then Street Fighter IV, even slower then Street Fighter 3, which has the slowest pace of any fighters I've played until now. KoF XII is very methodical and tactile. When an opponent comes at you, you very easily see it coming and have a moment to think about what he is going to do and what you'll do in return. And the options are unlimited. KoF XII is deep. Say an opponent throws a punch at me. I can jump, I can duck, I can back dash, I can do a move with higher priority, OR I can critical counter and start my own chain, I can roll backwards out of it, I can roll forwards behind my opponent, I can do any amount of things in response. It's amazing to have those kinds of options. It's also almost a bit of a wake up call when hit's finally start connecting because of the pace, said well by Y0j1mb0.

As well as the fighting being deep and slow (like me with your mom last night), it's easy. BlazBlue is easy to pick up, but you'll need some time before you master a combo or two. In KoF XII, me and Y0j1mb0 were stringing together three and four hit combos quickly and easily. And Critical Counter combos? You can knock off 1/4 to 1/2 of your opponents like if you know what your doing.

While I did some bashing on the detail of the sprite works above, I also have to compliment it. There are a lot of little movements to the characters you can spot as you play that make you go "That is cool." It's small stuff like Leona always moving her hands back into her neutral position after a combo, or Kyo blowing out his finger after his special. When I complained about a lack of personality from the game, more things like this will add to it. The fluidity of combos is amazing to see too. I don't feel like I'm being one frame switch immediately to the next move in the combo as much as I'm seeing the character actually lean into the next punch.

YouTube upload of replays is also fucking bangin'. Every fighting game should have this.


So is the game bad? Nooo! No. The game is not bad by any means. Negative first impressions stick out more then positive first ones. Should you buy the game? If you want a different kind of 2D fighter, yes. If you are a big BlazBlue player and are looking for something to slow down with, something more tactile, yes. Fuck it, yes, you should get this game. It's a great parallel to BlazBlue's chaos and lightning speed. I know I'll be playing it more with Y0j1mb0 and nilcam and I hope more people will pick it up and check it for themselves.

And can we please get this blond, poofy haired mother fucker off the cover? Christ, I thought Jin screamed homo after playing him in game but this guy makes me downright uncomforatable keeping the box face up.