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PRE-GAME

In the underworld of Southtown, rival gangs battle each other for control and power. Headed by Duke, the gang Mephistopheles has cemented itself as the most powerful and ruthless gang in Southtown. Six months ago, an assassination attempt on Duke's life sent Southtown into chaos.  Now it's up to a band of insurgent gang members, led by the brothers Alba and Soiree, to retake Southtown from the Duke! Who will emerge as the true King of Fighters?

EYE-SPY

THE HOOK:  King of Fighters has finally gone 3D! No more sprite based fighting here folks, just down and dirty polygon butt kicking with all your favorite KOF characters.

HOW IT LOOKS AND FEELS:  In the graphics department KOF: Maximum Impact is above average, but just barely. The arenas are modeled nicely with detailed, animated backdrops such as falling waterfalls or cheering crowds. However, they are all fairly uninspired and very reminiscent of most 3D fighters out there. Worse yet, stages are not interactive. Forget about multi tiered fighting or interactive environments. These levels are straight on square arenas. I was under the impression we'd left those behind years ago.

Character models and designs fair quite a bit better. The transition from 2D sprites to 3D models is seamless. Terry Bogard looks like the Terry we all know and love. Sadly, the fluidity of animation present in SNK's arcade games seems to have been left behind. Characters suffer from stiff attacks and motion that, while not terrible, may leave some series fans a bit disappointed.

Control wise, KOF plays like most fighters. Two punch buttons, two kick buttons and the d-pad. I appreciate the fact that many of the combos and special moves in the games are fairly simple to execute. It's nice not to have to memorize thirty-button combinations just to pull off a grab. Yet the combo and fighting systems seem to encourage wailing on your helpless opponent while they lay on the ground. It's fairly easy to knock someone on their back and then open up a nice 10-hit combo when they have no chance of countering. Maybe it's the style of fighting they intended but it feels cheap at times.

HOW IT SOUNDS:  Remember MIDI music? The beeps and boops that conjure up images of 16-bit games? Well I hope you like that sort of nostalgia because King of Fighters is about as close to 'modern MIDI' as you can get. Prepare for the horror that is generic rock fighting music. How could I best describe it? Say you went down to your local used CD store and just randomly chose an album from some obscure mid-80's hair metal band. Now go home and convert that music into synthesized instruments, then throw in a few fake violins and drums. In addition to wasting precious money on what could possibly be the only Bulletboys album ever purchased, you my friend just re-created the King of Fighters soundtrack. Any tracks that exhibit a breath of originality are quickly overpowered by guitars that don't really sound like guitars.

EXTRAS:  Not a whole lot. All the characters except for Duke are unlocked from the beginning. You do earn a biographical profile for each character you complete the game with. The profiles give you a little extra back story and they allow you to view the character models and costumes. You also unlock the characters "rigging costume" which is essentially a set of odd and sometimes humourous accessories that are worn by the character. Alba for example wears a ninja mask and two swords on his back while K' has spiked biker gear on. Nice to look at, but pretty pointless seeing as you can't fight with the rigging costumes on.

CINEMATIC EXPERIENCE:  The opening and ending CG's are beautifully rendered, however they are the only ones present and they're fairly short. Sorry kids, no pretty endings like in Dead or Alive.

BEST PLAYER:  Balance is very well done in KOF, however I'm quite partial towards Alba. He has a decent balance of speed and power. His special moves are also extremely easy to pull off and they can counter a large amount of attacks from the other characters.

CHEAT CODE YOU NEED:  There aren't any cheat codes that I've seen yet, however passing the game with Alba & Soiree unlocks Duke. And frankly, as cheap a character as Duke is, he might as well be a cheat code. If you can't pass the game with Duke then you might want to consider pottery making as a new hobby.

CHEAT CODE YOU WANT: Unlock Back story cheat. I'm not a King of Fighters veteran and while it's fairly standard for fighting games to have obscure disconnected plots, I have no idea what's going on. Who the hell are all these people?

OH MAN! MOMENT: Being air juggled three times by Duke as he revels in the fact that his Special Meter never depletes. Oh, did I mention that it appears at times that Duke's special move can't be countered and that it takes away close to half your life bar? Yeah, try not to throw your controller to hard.

GLITCH ITCH:  Nothing earth shattering. You'd see the occasional phantom punch that doesn't seem to connect but not much beyond that.

FAN SERVICE:  I think it would be safe to refer to the female characters in this game as jiggly. I can't find a more apt word then that. The sheer fact that fans of the series are finally able to see their favorite characters in full 3D is fan service enough for most.

END GAME:

I tried to like King of Fighters: Maximum Impact but it just didn't happen. There is nothing overtly original about this game that sets it apart from every other 3D fighter on the market. It seems dated and it lacks the innovations shown in modern 3D fighters. Unlockables are scarce; the combo system is easy to use but unsatisfying at best; the storyline is utterly confusing; the graphics are reminiscent of second year PS2 quality. And the music! Oh god, please don't even talk about the music.

Sound effects are your standard grunts, wheezes and screams. The phoned-in character voices are hardly compelling but they do give each character a slight touch of personality. Good, but nothing worth writing home about. One of these days I'm going to visit a recording studio while the voice actors are doing these sound effects. Not so that I can interject my opinion into the process mind you; I simply want to see how they do it with a straight face.

Most disappointing of all though is that under the hood, King of Fighters: Maximum Impact is a 2D fighting game masquerading as a 3D fighter. Throughout my hours spent with the game I never once felt any sense of depth. The developers include controls for side-stepping but they seem almost like after thoughts and side-stepping is pointless. The side-step moves aren't even binded to controller buttons by default! Forget about smashing your opponent through the floor into a new stage, or using the environment to your advantage. This is down and dirty box arena button mashing.

On the plus side there is a large amount of characters to choose from and they all feel distinctively original. Each has their own pros and cons and people should be able to find a character that suits their own fighting style.

The included "Mission Mode" is a nice touch as well but not quite as fleshed out as it could be. Each "mission" is really just a match with preset conditions that must be met so that you can move on to the next level. They don't stray to far away from the likes of "Half your life bar is missing!" or "Perform a 15 hit combo on the enemy before time runs out." It's an added bonus but hardly worth getting excited over.

King of Fighters is not a bad game. It's average in most respects. If you're a long time fan of the King of Fighters series then it's definitely worth a try. You'll get a kick out seeing your old favorites in full 3D. For the rest of us however there are better fighters on the market and your money is best spent elsewhere.

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