This was actually my introduction to KOF. I swear, I liked it way more when I had no idea what the rest of the series entailed; if I did not have that perspective, this would probably be a higher rating.
The names were confusing to me, not having followed any of the entries until very late; I interpreted it kind of like a sports game type deal where they're all basically the same thing but with a few fighters added every year. I didn't know there were multiple arcs worth of story and gigantic mechanical changes along with characters literally getting killed off and being unable to participate in the next.
So.... now that I know that, and I've actually played the rest? This game's kinda bunk in comparison. The backgrounds and music are very drab compared to the previous games (although at LEAST a step up from 2001 and 2002) and the tag mechanics are half-baked. Matches feel like they go by WAY too quickly, and the sound design feels a lot less.... punchy than every game predating it. I'm also VERY not okay with how they got rid of C+D attacks- with only four buttons, removing an entire extra dimension of offense just makes the game feel stripped down. Tagging doesn't add anything of meaningful value to change up fights to make up for that omission, so it just makes every character feel like they can do less...
It really is a shame, because I wanna like this more than I do. Every newcomer is fucking awesome! The new arc felt more immediately gripping to me than NESTS did! The roster has a lot of unexpected newcomers and returning characters that SOUND like they should be great! All the voice acting is incredible too!
But it's just..... I dunno..... alright. Not great. Not bad. It's alright.
Anyway there's this dangerously 2000s combo video I had saved and I just think you all should see it.
The names were confusing to me, not having followed any of the entries until very late; I interpreted it kind of like a sports game type deal where they're all basically the same thing but with a few fighters added every year. I didn't know there were multiple arcs worth of story and gigantic mechanical changes along with characters literally getting killed off and being unable to participate in the next.
So.... now that I know that, and I've actually played the rest? This game's kinda bunk in comparison. The backgrounds and music are very drab compared to the previous games (although at LEAST a step up from 2001 and 2002) and the tag mechanics are half-baked. Matches feel like they go by WAY too quickly, and the sound design feels a lot less.... punchy than every game predating it. I'm also VERY not okay with how they got rid of C+D attacks- with only four buttons, removing an entire extra dimension of offense just makes the game feel stripped down. Tagging doesn't add anything of meaningful value to change up fights to make up for that omission, so it just makes every character feel like they can do less...
It really is a shame, because I wanna like this more than I do. Every newcomer is fucking awesome! The new arc felt more immediately gripping to me than NESTS did! The roster has a lot of unexpected newcomers and returning characters that SOUND like they should be great! All the voice acting is incredible too!
But it's just..... I dunno..... alright. Not great. Not bad. It's alright.
Anyway there's this dangerously 2000s combo video I had saved and I just think you all should see it.
Reddish
1 year ago