King of Fighters XII Hands-on Preview

Thought 2D was dead? SNK Playmore has other ideas. Kikizo trades punches with the new King of Fighters.

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King of Fighters XII is team-based, but where its predecessors experimented with larger teams and auxillary "Striker" roles, this time SNK Playmore has settled for the old three-on-three elimination template. You've got four attack buttons - two heavy, two light - which can be mashed together or coupled with the usual semi-tortuous twists of the D-pad to unleash special moves. Throws, surgical "thrust" strikes and evasive rolling are executed with two attack buttons plus the D-pad. Thrust attacks have been made more flexible: hold the buttons down to charge up a block-breaking hit, or press back on the D-pad for a sneaky counter blow.

The characters have lost many of their more recent, relatively outlandish moves (Iori Yagami no longer tosses fireballs), and the pace has reverted (we're thankful to say) to something a little more Street-Fighter-ish, with carefully timed 2-3 hit assaults taking precedence over long combo chains. Bouts are broken up considerably by the new clash system, which causes both fighters to spring back into neutral stance when two ferocious attacks (whether normal or special) connect. This tends to happen several times a match, and makes the game a little easier to play defensively if you can't time a counter to save your life.

Countering with a strong attack when your counter gauge is maxed out launches you into a "critical counter", allowing you to flail at your opponent without interruption for a few seconds (finishing off with an extra-special special move if you're good), the camera zooming in on the carnage like a gloating wrestling commentator. While this adds another layer of complexity, the special gauge has been trimmed down to one bar, filled by giving or receiving the pain, and the "tactical shift" system (which let players swap team members mid-match) from King of Fighters 2003 is no more.

Thus far at least, modes are few in number - besides Arcade you've only got local Versus play and Practice (minor irritation: there's no option to train against an AI opponent with all his or her abilities enabled) - but King of Fighters XII's online offerings should prolong the playtime. Both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game let you play single or team battles, record the action and share vids with other users, but only PS3 owners will be able to form clans, complete with customisable emblems. Downloadable content is also planned, though what that content might be remains to be seen.

These mild concessions to broadband-enabled couch potato gaming aside, SNK Playmore is preaching so heavily to arcade enthusiasts with The King of Fighters XII it risks falling out of the podium. To this we might attribute such old school quirks as being bumped right back to the character select screen when you lose a match, rather than being given the option to replay it: a heart-warmingly authentic touch to the coin-op diehard, but a pointless inconvenience to everybody else. Design relics like the foregoing will do nothing to reassure those already struggling to appreciate the game's sumptuous but straight-laced (and fairly challenging) brand of kickass, but if you're a Street Fighter IV player looking for a new fix, start saving those pennies. The King has returned, and he's fighting fit.

The King of Fighters XII launches in the UK and Europe on 28th August

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