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X
So there was KoF XI, which was cool, and then KoF XII, which was kinda miserable. I didn’t
know what to expect from XIII. It’s kinda faded into the background of the genre, leaving
the limelight to BlazBlue and Street Fighter and MvC3, in their various incarnations. Don’t
get me wrong, it’s a genuinely good series. Just a little... well, the barrier to entry
is kinda high. Unlike some fighters, the huge SNK mythos has just been growing and growing
and growing since the 1990’s, turning the backstory of this offering into one huge mass
of confusion. But hey, at least the combat’s back to being decent!
Amongst the multitude of survival, score attack, time attack, mission, and tutorial options
are your bread-and-butter of fighters: the Arcade and Story modes. Arcade takes your
hand-picked team of three fighters - like my Favorite Four-Letter Words here - around
the world beating up whomever, whenever, with plenty of smack-talk and banter before each
conflict. Here, you’re engaging in good old-fashioned street-fights, with your usual
lineup of special attacks, desperation attacks, EX Neowave attacks, oversoul charges, whatever
that blue thing is... I might be completely off the mark now, but to describe every gauge
and meter and attack classification would be kinda absurd. Suffice it to say, XIII’s
main innovation is the inclusion of mid-fight micro-achievements, such as “Jump three
times” or “Use a special attack,” which fill your special gauge faster and allow you
to dish out more damage for the things you would likely do anyway. I don’t roll too
terribly much in games like this, as it’s a technique that doesn’t scan all that well
across fighting games, but I find myself trying to work them in if only to milk these rewards.
A passive way of improving play? Or a way to make players telegraph their actions? You
make the call!
Conspicuously returning from the void we call XII is the Story Mode, no longer just a daytime-TV
recap of the day’s fights. Instead, we see the continuing adventures of Ash Crimson,
vis That Dude What Stole Iori’s Fire Schtick, and his even more bell-bottom-prone counterpart
as they try to awaken the Orochi and claim its power for world destruction or domination
or something along those lines. It’s your job to prevent this, by controlling one of
a number of pre-set teams from tournaments past, each with their own pre-fight banter.
My only problem with the story mode is that it’s... long. I mean, you don’t actually
get to fighting until about 20ish minutes in, if you actually want to read it all. That’s
fine for Persona, but I just want to punch someone. NOW. XII was a misstep. We can all
agree on that. But playing King of Fighters XIII, I felt much more comfortable. The graphics
didn’t seem as wonky, and while the sprites could stand to be a little cleaner, the game
just... feels better. Even for those of us who didn’t know that King and Ryo were totally
an item.