King of Fighters XIII Review [XBox 360]

rating:4

There are two schools of play when it comes to the beat-€˜em-up: quite simply, the casual and the hardcore. The casual, games like Soul Calibur, reward you for your purchase. They say €œthanks for buying me, have some awesomeness on us€; characters like Maxi are a button basher€™s paradise and make you feel like a beat-€˜em-up legend from the get-go. Then there€™s the hardcore (under which falls King of Fighters XIII, without a doubt); it laughs at the fact that you€™ve just shelled out hard cash and proceeds to wantonly pummel inexperienced players into the ground with zest and zeal. Don€™t bring your button bashing here my friend €“ you€™ll get up to the second or third round in arcade mode before you realise that this approach just isn€™t going to cut the mustard. King of Fighter€™s has been touted throughout the run-up to its release as a fan-guided re-development of their last HD iteration of the game, K.o.F XII, which was poorly received due to its lack of modes and shaky online capability. XIII comes at you with these issues largely addressed. As well as the standard arcade mode, there€™s also a story mode (the culmination of the Ash Crimson arc from K.o.F 2003), although it€™s delivered in a rather disjointed fashion and without any character voicing, so it€™s essentially a graphic anime that€™s a little difficult to follow. It€™s not a huge gripe here though, as with most hardcore beat-em-€˜up€™s, players are invariably more interested in solid combat mechanics, graphical capability and online functionality rather than a clichéd narrative about why there€™s a mass brawl taking place. There€™s also a tutorial mode, which explains the games combat and special move system (more on that later), a practice mode in which you can customise your opponent€™s behaviour and go to town, and a neat little mission mode, that takes you through specific character€™s move sets, helping you to master them more effectively. But for those unschooled in the King of Fighter€™s series, these modes don€™t offer an all-encompassing explanation of the game mechanics, so you€™re going to have to get on Google and do your own research into the depth of the mechanics in order to truly maximise your competitive potential. Similarly to other K.o.F titles, players choose three characters from a pool of thirty eight (some unlockable) to form a 3 vs. 3 team. There€™s no character switching in-combat though; before the bout, you choose your ordering and compete with your first choice until they go down, the you€™re second choice comes into play and so on. To win the match, all three characters on one side must be defeated. In Story Mode these teams are pre-determined, bringing in groups from other SNK titles, but in Arcade Mode, you choose the teams yourself. This gives you the option to experiment with team dynamics; any beat-em-up archetype you€™d care to imagine is present here, all distinctly individual, and with K.o.F€™s huge range of playable fighters, you€™re certain to find the right set of three to suit your play style. Combat in King of Fighters XIII is difficult, but ultimately rewarding. As mentioned, the game (not just XIII but all of €˜em in the series) punishes button bashing; rewards practice, patience and a thorough grasp of individual character moves. This is where large changes will be felt by fans of the series. Gone are Guard Attack, Clash, and Critical Counter from the previous release, replaced with EX Special moves, and NEO-MAX special moves- a system that allows players to spend accumulated energy from their Super and Hyper Drive meters in order to perform devastating special moves on their opponent.

Of course it€™s not all offense. King of Fighters XIII, like many in its genre, places a strong emphasis on defence too. There are four varieties of jump (from hop to leap), which can get you either into or out of trouble in a pinch, a nifty roll which is essential for dodging enemy special moves, and a system of defensive measures that are so handy that they cost energy from your meters (namely the guar d cancel roll and guard cancel blowback, both of which will keep you from spending more time on the deck than necessary). This ensures that bouts aren€™t just about onslaughts of combat, but about effective defence, spacing and strategy too. In order to cause the most trouble, you€™ll have to get your head around the €˜cancel€™ and €˜super cancel€™ system; the interruption of a special move with another more powerful move, causing damage from both and unleashing maximum carnage. Games like this will always have a niche selection of fans, because there€™s just so much to learn it€™s almost an exercise; but master a combat system this complex and you€™ll feel like a gaming God, guaranteed. There€™s a depth to games like King of Fighter€™s XIII that means while you may rinse through the offline modes fairly quickly, you€™ll be attempting to master the intricacies of the combat system over months, even years of online play. Without great online functionality, especially in this day and age, beat-€˜em-up€™s are rendered largely redundant. This was almost certainly one of the great failings of King of Fighters XII, but thankfully it€™s been hugely improved this time around. That said, during my time online, I was victim to some pockets of input lag which hampered my victory but it wasn€™t constant enough to be an excuse €“ I pretty much just got pwned. And in my experience, online functionality usually improves with the size of the community; what€™s most important is that within seconds of entering the online menu I was in a ranked fight without a fuss. King of Fighters XIII looks great; character sprites, while sometimes appearing a little too low-res for my tastes when the camera zooms in, are beautifully rendered and realistically animated making everything from general movement to frenetic combat a treat to behold. Stealing the show though are the arena backgrounds. I must admit I gushed a little over these; they are an absolute visual paradise, each one deliriously animated; generally buzzing with activity but never drawing the eye away from the crucial action when it€™s occurring. Final thoughts€ If you€™re looking to jump in, bash buttons and smash skulls with ease and fluidity on day one, then maybe you€™d better skip King of Fighter€™s XIII. It won€™t be easy in the beginning for noobs and even seasoned K.o.F vets have some new fight mechanics to master. There€™s so much in fact that I can see it causing a more casual gamer some dramatic upset, but chances are if you€™re reading this review then you€™ve played the previous versions and enjoyed the constant frustration. For those of you that have awaited this release, you€™re in for a massive treat, especially after the disappointment of K.o.F XII. What awaits you is a great beat-€˜em-up; deep yet intuitive, and with plenty to be getting on with in terms of content. SNK Playmore have really upped their game with this release, simply by listening to their customers€™ criticisms; producing a HD version of their age-old fighter that fans can finally be proud of. King of Fighters XIII is available to buy now on PS3 and XBox 360.