King of Fighters XII, The

Play UK

Short on content but solid technically. [Issue#182, p.76]

GameFocus

While the game is a bit thin on play modes and the online battles are a complete write-off at the moment, the fundamental gameplay is still fun and true to the series.

Cheat Code Central

If you like online play, King of Fighters does it extremely well. However, with only one single-player offline mode, this title feels a little empty overall.

PSX Extreme

If you're looking for only one full fledged fighter loaded to the brim with goodies, BlazBlue is what you get. Unless you're a hardcore fan, wait a bit before splurging on this $60 game. Give it time to hit $40 or less.

InsideGamer.nl

King of Fighters XII looks good, has great sounds and plays really good, but isn’t a top game. The arcade mode is entertaining, but a little to short. The rest of the modes are boring or missing. In the end we can say that King of Fighters XII is only interesting for the few hardcore players who aren’t satisfied with Street Fighter IV.

Vandal Online

King of Fighters XII proposes to be a new start for the series, and it manages to do it half and half. The graphical change is positive, but it stalls midway, and the price to pay has been losing characters, scenarios and music.

Game Over Online

Right now, there’s way too little here to recommend a full-price purchase to anyone. Die-hards should only buy it when it hits the $20-30 range, and everyone else will likely be satiated by a rental. What’s here is done quite well, but there just isn’t enough of it.

GamePro

Most gamers may not want to pay full retail price for only a handful of light features, despite how pretty the game is, but if you love your fighters old-school and 2D, The King of Fighters XII is probably worth checking out.

Game Informer

In the end, the sparse content maims Kof XII. Next time around there better be more stages, characters, modes – more everything. You can’t just rip the five-minute-per-play arcade code straight to consoles and expect people to invest the full $60 over a few coins.

GameZone

Worth a rental for certain, but only the most diehard King of Fighters fans will want to add this one to their collection.

ZTGameDomain

King of Fighters XII is not a bad game; it just came out at a bad time. The re-birth of the franchise really feels like ten steps backwards, and it wouldn't be so bad if the competition wasn't so stiff right now.

Console Monster

With a little extra love in the practice mode, some online love and character development, KoFXII could have been a charming fighter for old and new fans alike.

Strategy Informer

So when it’s all said and done, The King of Fighters XII isn’t going to be placed on a mantle above all other fighting games. It lacks proper net code and not everyone is going to enjoy the pixilated graphics.

Kombo

The fighting genre is getting crowded and that doesn't help KoF, unfortunately. Playing KoF is like having your dog fetch the morning paper only it comes back all chewed.

MEGamers

KOF XII is a bad attempt to bring a fan favourite onto next-gen consoles.

Eurogamer Spain

A very limited game that shows mistakes in planning and execution, making it much worse than other offerings in this genre (yes, Street Fighter IV, I'm referring to you).

GamingXP

The King of Fighters XII is a typical beat‘em up with a really lame gameplay and short content. The only advantages of the title are the retro music and the nice anime graphic.

PS3bloggen.se

The core gameplay of King of Fighters XII is quite good, a thing which is quite hard to mess up nowadays. But the total content of the game is seriously dissapointing, having only an arcade mode and a poorly implemented online mode. There's not much extra material to unlock and the environments are few and dull. King of Fighters XII has not taken over the throne of beat 'em up games this time around, making it only appealing to hardcore KOF fans.

DarkZero

Although a competent beat ‘em up, it lacks not only the accessibility but the depth of Street Fighter IV, the classic gameplay of Mark of the Wolves or Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and the hardcore technical side of Blazblue.

Thunderbolt

The menus are needlessly tedious to use.

Playstation Official Magazine UK

The brawling itself is still solid. [Sept 2009, p.112]

Teletext GameCentral

A disappointing series reboot, with the new graphics proving more trouble than they're worth.

VideoGamer

KOFXII's biggest problem is that the fighting game bar has been raised considerably in the last 12 months, with the release of Street Fighter IV in particular showing how reboots should be done.

Gameplayer Sweden

The King of Fighters XII is a somewhat disappointing experience compared to the earlier installments. But even though SNK Playmore have toned down almost every aspect of the game, the game mechanics feels solid enough to attract those who enjoy some fighting and hand-drawn sprites.

games(TM)

We'd expect a new KOF to offer more depth. [Oct 2009, p.118]

Meristation

The King of Fighters XII offers a superb visual section. Unfortunately, the rest of the game gives the sensation to be unfinished: poor artificial intelligence, scarce game modes, online filled with errors.

IGN

King of Fighters XII is fun to play when you're fighting a buddy locally, but everything else about the game is seriously lacking.

Playstation: The Official Magazine (US)

Maybe hardcore fans will appreciate the subtle mechanics at work in KOF XII, but as fighting game fans who aren't devoted enough to count frames of animation and the like, we can't help but feel indifferent. [Aug 2009, p.78]

WonderwallWeb

If online can be improved King of Fighters XII will be a much better game, in the meantime though stick to the Xbox LIVE version or one of the recent anthology games for your SNK fighting fix.

Giant Bomb

The fighting at the center of King of Fighters XII is totally fine, but with everything surrounding that action coming off so half-cocked, there are a lot of annoying little barriers to enjoying that fighting.

GameDaily

As it stands, it's just another fighter that tries – and fails – to knock Street Fighter IV off its mighty throne.

Gaming Age

It's neither as interesting as Street Fighter IV or BlazBlue, or as infinitely playable as Marvel Vs. Capcom 2.

Worth Playing

It really is sad to see a game like King of Fighters XII turn out this way. It has a solid fighting mechanic and great graphics, but the surrounding features are so meager that they kill everything good about the game.

Hardcore Gamer Magazine

In the end, calling this a "rebirth" or even a "reboot" just doesn’t cut it. If one looks hard enough, they can see the ambitions SNK had with this game, sadly outstripped by time and budget.

PSM3 Magazine UK

There's no story, no extra modes and merely functional presentation. [Sept 2009, p.77]

GameSpot

The King of Fighters XII is the latest chapter in 15 years of fighting game history. It's also a disappointment.

1UP

KOF12 fails to seize the windfall in online matchmaking. It uses an archaic, even backwards, system that serves only to frustrate the player.

TotalPlayStation

It's hard to decide what's more offensive, the massive changes made to the core gameplay that kept this series different or the complete lack of options outside of the useless online play. Either way, fans of and newcomers to the series both lose.

PSFocus

This new part in the franchise isn’t what it’s meant to be. The sound is annoying, the graphics are really bad and the gameplay isn’t very extensive.

XGN

The King of Fighters XII doesn't offer you enough for the price of 60 euros. It feels like an old arcade game, that could have been downloaded from the PlayStation Store for a cheaper price. The game should have taken an example to Street Fighter IV, but unfortunately it doesn't.

GameShark

This is a sad day for The King of Fighters. The combat is as taught as ever, but everything else is a comedic misinterpretation of “less is more.”

Game Revolution

Don't get me wrong, the game does handle fairly well, and with friends this could be a fun one to share, but single-player is worse than most. Combine a three-player team with the smallest roster KoF has ever had, and you'll have your faves chosen like a routine in no time.

Gaming Nexus

If you were jazzed on the hype that King of Fighters XII initially had, calm down. This game has a pretty face, and that's about it. A competent fighting system with nothing else to offer makes for a pretty short and shallow experience.

D+PAD Magazine

There’s little here to recommend, even for the most loyal of fans. Instead, don your best shell-suit, hook up your mum’s old telly to the SNES in the loft and play out your childhood battles with the original. It’s far better.

GameSpy

KoF12's online play is (to put it mildly) atrocious.

Playstation Official Magazine Australia

Grey, old, and well beyond retirement, KOF XII is irredeemable. [Oct 2009, p.74]

Boomtown

It offers no challenge for the solo player and is unplayable online, even after the hefty patch. If it wasn’t already hard enough for KoF to compete with Street Fighter, this release has made it even more difficult for it to do so in the future.

The Onion (A.V. Club)

With 22 fighters, this stands as the worst-attended KOF game to date, and as the series still largely relies on team battles, the limited mix-and-match options are particularly annoying.