For gamers who preferred the digitized setting of one-on-one battles there was no better time to be alive than during the mid 1990s. While “Mortal Kombat” and “Street Fighter II” will be talked about revolutionizing the genre, SNK’s offerings with “The Art of Fighting”, “Fatal Fury”, and “Samurai Showdown” franchises can’t be denied as anything short of innovative games that, while not as popular as their counterparts, pushed the figurative envelope and greatly inspired its counterparts. “The King of Fighters” series came from those aforementioned SNK creations in 1994 (a game that wouldn’t see a North American release until 2008). My first taste of this glorious franchise based on team battle (usually three-on-three teams in matches that could go up to five rounds thanks to the single-elimination rules attached to trio battles) wasn’t at an arcade or even on my home consoles at the time, but thanks to a friend who had a copy made for Nintendo’s Game Boy. “The King of Fighters ‘95” became an obsession of mine once I got the game for my birthday a few weeks later; and obsession spread into my console gaming when it became the first game I owned on two different formats.
Where it all began
As the years progressed I played every western release either at any arcade I could find the cabinet or, more conveniently, on my Playstation and Playstation 2 consoles. Eventually fighting games moved from my go-to genre of choice to something I rarely took the time to enjoy outside of my favorite franchises still releasing quality entries. “The King of Fighters XII” did the franchise no favors and left me worried about the series. While “XIII” was definitely a lot better than its most recent predecessor, the difficulty level was somewhat off-putting and the plot (which is actually a major focus in the franchise) confused player who were not familiar with the series’ happenings up to that point. Even with financial and corporate struggles, “The King of Fighters XIV” came into fruition exclusive to the Playstation 4 console as well as the PC. I decided to embrace my old fandom yet again and see if I could enjoy the latest “KOF” like it was 1997 all over again.
Did I Complete “The King of Fighters XIV”?
Developed by SNK and released by Atlus USA in North America, “The King of Fighters XIV” is something of a soft reboot to the franchise that developers hoped would be embraced by the masses in the same way the 1998 and 2002 versions were when the “KOF” was being heralded as the pinnacle of fighting games. In hopes of this iteration not succumbing to the same fate as “XIII”, the minds behind “XIV” looked to keep the fundamentals that have made previous games in the series a success while implementing some new mechanics to give more “casual” gamers an easier route to glory.
There are a variety of options both offline and online including a “Story” mode and “Ranked” play respectively. Of course I tried out everything, completed the tutorial to get reacclimated with some of my favorite characters, played through the story, tried to see how well I could survive with one character in “Survival” mode, test out my skills online, and unlock a bunch of stuff that I’ll never care about (but at least these items come from simply playing instead of giving players some form of currency to unlock “great” things such as concept art). Many hours passed and I found myself just as enthused about playing this iteration for even more time to grind toward those densely layered trophies focusing on doing “X” amount of (fill in the blank) like winning five or even ten ranked fights in a row or completing the story with every team (still grinding).
Did “The King of Fighters XIV” Live Up to the Hype?
The developers of “KOF XIV” had some lofty goals when it came to the game’s success by hoping to make a “King of Fighters” that surpassed the greatness of its two most heralded entries in the franchise – the 1998 and 2002 editions. Thankfully, the game’s core engine is still intact and feels just as natural as it did during the inaugural releases. While gamers greatly associate the stereotypical button inputs to throw a fireball or send a character kicking across the screen with “Street Fighter II”, but it was SNK that set the stage for what is considered gaming excellence in the genre when fighting on a 2D plane. There are the typical joystick/analog stick movements everyone is used to as well as heavy & light strikes – that actually affect the effectiveness of certain moves to either increase a maneuver’s power while making it a little sluggish if the player taps the “Heavy” button instead of “Light”, or vice versa. Players can dodge attacks by hitting a punch and kick button simultaneously, turn successful blocks into reversals or cancels, and even perform a variety of overpowered attacks connected to a meter at the bottom of the screen and, at times, complicated stick movement entries that would make Zangief’s spinning piledriver look like child’s play when comparing inputs (especially when referring to the “Climax Super Special” maneuvers).
As noted earlier, “KOF XIV” doesn’t play it completely safe with the fundamentals by implementing something that would benefit gamers struggling with the often times complex combos that complement that the simplicity is the “Rush Combo” system. By tapping the light punch button while near an opponent, the character will unleash an automated combo that can be topped by a special move if the player has a bar of the aforementioned super meter filled. The “Rush Combo” is a good idea, but in practice does nothing to really help the player improve as the automated combos can not be turned off and can become a crutch. Add that to the fact the actual method in utilizing the “Rush Combo” can leave a player wide open for an attack more often than not – which is made even worse when someone executes the combo by accident in the heat of battle as it can be easily activated if you’re not careful.
There’s also “Max Mode” – replacing “XIII’s” “Hyper Drive” system – that, with the tap of both punch buttons, gives the character a chance to unleash extra powered (EX) versions of regular attacks. Unlike “Rush Combo”, “Max Mode” actually feels like something that truly adds to the gameplay as a well-timed activation and utilization of an unblocked attack can mean the difference between failure and victory during a clincher of a fight. While there are some changes here and there, “The King of Fighters XIV” feels just a wonderful as a majority of its predecessors.
And just like the games before it in the franchise, “XIV” offers a plethora of options and characters when it comes to keeping things fresh for hours on end. There are fifty playable characters including a pair of unlockables attached to “Story” mode. A majority of the returning characters play similar to their earlier counterparts like Iori will feel right at home with people who perfected him in “KOF ‘98”. Personal favorites like Athena, Nakoruru (of “Samurai Showdown” fame), and Terry Bogard also follow suit without suffering any fundamental changes that would make them unplayable to long-time fans. The new characters, while not the most interesting in appearance, do feel right at home in this wacky world including the hard-hitting boxer Nelson who would put Balrog and “Tekken’s” Steve Fox to shame. Pro wrestling fans will mostly likely enjoy trying out the lucha influenced Ramon who plays like a turned up version of El Blaze from “Virtua Fighter”.
There are a variety of modes for players who enjoy things offline including the simple “Versus” mode, to a series of “Trials” or the fight for survival in “Mission” mode, and even a much-needed tutorial. There’s also a “Story” mode, but it’s essentially the game’s version of “Arcade” mode with team-driven endings (illustrated sequences filled with text boxes) for each official team, and even a few secret endings if the player can figure out some of those odd pairings. The player will have to go through ten stages of fights with eight of those being three-on-three team battles followed by two against single, stronger than average characters – with the sub-boss Antonov being the focal point of the cutscenes sporadically seen throughout the mode – though the final boss isn’t up the level inducing controller-breaking anger like previous iterations. With “XIII” ending the third story arc that started during “KOF ‘03”, SNK went down the easiest path in presenting what is essentially a hold-over story that could or could not be the precedent set for future games in the franchise.
From an online perspective there are several options when it comes to fighting: “Ranked”, “Free Match”, and “Party Mode”. While the first two online features are pretty much what one would expect as you have the option of fighting in both team and singles battles, and the appropriately named “Party Mode” where up to twelve players in one room (six players per block featuring “shuffle” and “fixed” categories) can play together at the same time in a team battle where one player controls one of the six characters doing battle. Of the three playable options, “Party Mode” is definitely the most enjoyable as it proves to be unpredictable and can be a learning tool at the same time when paired with more experienced players. Unfortunately, actually getting a game started can be a problem. And once you find an online opponent things can get a little shaky thanks to connection issues and lag. Since the second patch release, the problems with lag and connectivity have diminished greatly, but the community is still in its infancy – causing a waiting game when it comes to finding an opponent especially in “Ranked”.
The only other real flaw “XIV” has it how it looks. Gone are the brightly colored sprites and 2D models. Instead are 3D models on a 2D plane with animated, though mildly hollow backgrounds that attempt to inspire nostalgia (like the American truck stop stage from the “Fatal Fury” series) instead of innovate like the game’s forefathers did years ago. The characters themselves look like (mostly) high quality versions of the “King of Fighters: Maximum Impact” entries. The newer characters definitely benefited from not having a prior version and being built from the ground up compared to their veteran counterparts that can look muddied or even mildly unrecognizable.
In a lot of ways, SNK played it safe with its latest offering in the franchise; remembering the old phrase, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” While being conservative on the modes and character gameplay changes, the latest “KOF” lets its gameplay do the talking in grand fashion.
Should You Play “The King of Fighters XIV”?
For long-time players, stepping into the latest world of the “KOF” will feel like old times in the best way possible. A majority of everyone’s favorite characters play as great as they did during the franchise’s height of popularity. For gamers unfamiliar with the franchise, this is the type of game you can pick up and play without much thought, but is ready for you to delve into and find out who you enjoy or don’t in the heat of battle (or “Training” mode). Though the game doesn’t feature a grandiose amount of modes similar to “Mortal Kombat X”, it still has enough going for it at launch to keep players coming back beyond online competition (unlike “Street Fighter V”). The graphics are hit or miss, but the developers did the smart thing in valuing the actual gameplay over aesthetics. Though it’s not a perfect fighter and probably didn’t achieve the heights of promise the developers intended, it still is an exceptional game to further remind gamers that SNK is still the uncrowned king of fighting games.
