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Long
Live The King |
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WRITER || |
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PurpGuy |
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DATED || |
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11.13.2009 |
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SNK-Playmore's
King of Fighters XII could certainly have been better, there's
no doubt about that. The delivery of the highly-anticipated
rebirth of the series was premature, and left many fans feeling
as though they'd paid for an unfinished game.
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There is
no storyline. There are not enough game modes. There are no
taunts. Characters are missing moves. The graphics aren't
as good as BlazBlue. Some character or other is missing. Yadda,
yadda. What few KOFXII forums that haven't totally died off,
are full of complaint after complaint. It seems a vast majority
of fans were disappointed, and there are valid points to be
made.
That is
not what this article is about. What it IS about is how "professional"
reviewers such as Gamespot, 1UP, and Gamespy could sing nothing
but praise at the 2009 E3, calling it "Fighting Game
of the Year" and slapping it with several awards, yet
once the game was released to a lukewarm audience, those same
reviewers turned around and trashed KOFXII for the very same
things they loved about it a few months before. The "vibrant"
hand-drawn sprites? Too pixely. The retro fighting engine?
Boring. 22 characters? Not enough.
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What does
this say about "professional" reviews? A couple
things, actually. For one, all of the hype generated for any
given game is just that - hype. There is no way to tell what
condition the final product will be in until it has been shipped
out. For another, all of those supposed awards given to games
must not really mean anything at all. And lastly, that their
opinions reflect not how good or bad a game may or may not
be, but reflect whatever opinion they feel will win them the
most followers. It's not unlike a lying politician who will
say whatever it takes to get re-elected. Gamers could say
that they've been fooled, and these "professionals"
will put on the panda face and say that they were ALL fooled.
That's bullshit. They have hands-on experience with games
long before the rest of us. It is not their job to review
a game on its merits, but instead to review a game based on
their own predictions of how the game will be received. In
regards to KOFXII, they all failed horribly.
One of the
complaints leveled against SNKP is the terrible netcode, which
induces an entire second of input lag before your character
responds. This is a major issue that needs to be addressed.
Hardly anyone can play KOFXII online, and many people are giving
up and selling their copies as trade-ins for BlazBlue and
Tekken 6. As of late, the KOFXII Facebook page announced that
a patch has finally been approved by Microsoft, with no set
release date as of yet. What few fans have been holding out
hope for a fix to the netcode hope that it's not too late.
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KOFXII is
far from perfect, but it is a step towards what fans have
wanted: A high-definition continuation of a landmark fighting
game franchise. Future installments will, of course, build
upon what KOFXII has begun. Someday, perhaps the thirteenth
or fourteenth KOF will be everything it is expected to be.
In the meantime, KOFXII offers a solid, old-school fighting
game engine, with enough tweaks to keep things fresh. Just
because it wasn't everything you wanted is no reason to throw
it entirely away.
SNKP: You
can do better.
Whining gamers: Shut up and play.
"Professional" reviewers: Fuck you.
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