Game:

The King of Fighters XI (2005)

Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 9:43

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It's somewhat surprising how underground this KoF title is compared to some of the other modern games by SNK Playmore, as it is arguably the greatest KoF title currently available, but it may also prove to be one of the worst to purists of the series.

I recently found this game for $10 and it's worth every penny IMO. The game has beautiful improved visuals above the rest before it, a neat soundtrack in its own right, plenty of extras and challenges to keep you busy, a huge roster of characters with quite a few hidden characters (almost 50 in all), and it's even deeper than ever before. The only thing I don't like is the intro (it's kinda lame). I'd say it's a must-have for fans of the series... but what's wrong with it if it's so great?

Well, the game has a tag system where you can swap characters freely (think MvC2, but with some adjustments that make it more flexible), quick shifts and saving shifts (where you can stop a character from being bashed), super cancels and dream cancels as well as Leader Specials (Mainly think of the specials characters do in the series at low health, except they can be done whenever but only by the team leader) and one feature that almost nobody seems to talk about and is very overlooked, but I'll focus on it a little later.

The game allows characters to join together to chain combos in a way KoF has never done before and adds a whole new level of complexity to the game with what feels like an almost limitless amount of character combinations and combo variations. The competitive nature of this game is toned down a bit due to the emphasis of team play and orchestrated combos and escape techniques versus the one-on-one, more focused fighting of prior titles. However, the game is also more accessible as a result to those not too familiar with the series. One might not think so, but there's one feature in this game that will have even a novice pulling off noteworthy combos: The "Record" Feature. It's that one feature I alluded to earlier :P

What's the Record feature? It's one of the most brilliant and cheap features added to the series. What this does is allow a character to record a combo or chain of commands up to ten seconds in length and then assign the whole instance to a single button. While you can't record tag combos in this manner, you CAN record a good combo with each individual character in your team and then you won't have to worry about goofing up during a fight. Its primary function however is to make team combinations as painless as possible to execute, so if you see elaborate combo videos for this game, don't fret; it's really easier than it looks-- but that's another problem. If you want a truly competitive KoF title, you might want to shy away from all these shiny new features like super cancels and dream cancels and trinity combos and what have you. The Record feature was also in titles like NGBC.

However, since I'm not a super hardcore KoF player, this game is right up my alley, spicing the series up with some modern innovations and cool gimmicks. I'm a man who loves executing 30+ hit combos, so when I hear long combos in prior games are like 15 hits, you can see why I'm overjoyed here. I'm sure there's more that can be said here, but I'd recommend getting this game even if you've never played a KoF game before.

This video shows a couple of fights and some illustrations. Enjoy.