SvC is a game that falls short of greatness in so many frustrating respects. It could have been fantastic - but it’s the sort of thing you can enthuse about and then feel guilty afterwards.

Let us investigate.

This is Playmore’s first genuine fighter release. They’ve been publishing for a couple of year now, but this is the first time that the group, which consists largely of ex-SNK staffers, has done something themselves.

And it has to be said, the future looks bright. Think back to the first time you played King of Fighters 2001. Felt kind of like reading in a moving car, didn’t it? The slow, roiling nausea; the smell of fake leather upholstery; the punches in the ribs from enraged siblings. It was horrid.

Now perhaps my sights have been set a little low thanks to that game and its infinitely forgettable follow-up, but my first reaction upon seeing SvC was a cautious, approving nod, that increased the more I saw until my neck was really, really sore.

It is interesting to note that while Capcom’s crossover games gave the player choices as to how they played the game - with a ‘Capcom’ or ‘SNK’ mode in the first Capcom vs SNK, and six different grooves representing various franchises throughout the years in CvS2, SvC is having none of that. You either play it their way, or not at all.

Their way being a somewhat simplistic ‘back and forth until someone dies’ fighter, where the action, as it is, takes place largely on the ground, at mid range, trading blows and projectiles. There’s no flipping out in the air, no air combos or crazed, multi-uppercut juggling. The game also wisely eschews any semblance of ‘ratios’, team play, strikers or tag team action.

What you basically end up with is something that has been (quite accurately) referred to as ‘KOF-light’. There are no rolls (except possibly in Earthquake’s stomach), no short jumps, no roll-counters. It’s kind of a cross between a nice KOF (let’s say, ‘97) and an early SF2 game - one before there were things like air-blocking and multi-level supers. Personally I like this. It’s refreshing in it’s simplicity, yet at the same time, constructed and implemented well enough to provide variety and a constant, long-lasting challenge.

SvC favours the traditional two-punch, two-kick setup. There are regular and long jumps, but no short hops; CD counters but no rolls or AB counters; back and forth dashing but no running. It runs at a decent pace and controls responsively enough, for the most part.

There are a couple of new gameplay functions - the way the super meter operates is one, it starts at level one, is built up to level 2 and when it reaches level 3 it automatically puts the player into MAX mode. During MAX mode, you can super-cancel (specific moves only), you can ’special-special’ cancel, a la KOF2K2 (indeed, some of the cancel combos from that game work here) and ‘anywhere cancel’ which allows normals to be cancelled into specials outside of the usual distance/move type restrictions.

MAX mode wears off after a short while, and then you’re back on level 2. The fact the system activates it automatically is a little disorienting at first, as years of this sort of thing have taught me that it’s ABC, or Fierce and Roundhouse that put you into MAX mode - but it doesn’t take long to adjust to, and is kind of fun, in a meter-managing, stopwatch-checking, using the flow of the game to your advantage sort of way.

The other big new use for the super bar is the excitingly-named ‘Guard Cancel Front Step’ manoeuvre. GCFS is kind of like an A+B roll and parry combined - after blocking a strike it can be activated by either a double-tap towards, or a press of buttons B+C (the ‘BC’ version takes more meter to perform, presumably a trade-off for it’s easier activation.) Upon activation the character dashes forward, trailing shadows, for about a quarter-screens’ distance. For a split second said character is invulnerable to attacks, and it is fully possible to attack out of the step motion.

It’s very cool to see in practice, and extremely satisfying to pull off successfully. Blocking a punch, then stepping in to punch > combo is one of those real “yes!” moments. It also adds a welcome bit of depth - for the longest time I played it and just couldn’t GCFS anything, at all. Then slowly, surely, things start falling into place. You start recognising animation sequences, or attack patterns and soon enough have got it together to block, step AND counter. I loved that in SF3 and appreciate similarly here, and there’s still so much I need to work out how to counter - it’ll take me ages.

The final feature of note is the EXCEED attack. Unusual in the fact you can only use it once per fight - this super-duper-desperation move can only be used when you’re on your second life bar (Fatal Fury-style yellow/red lifebars are used, with general combos and supers taking 1/2-2/3 a bar, and EXCEEDS doing one whole bar) - the amount of super meter you have is irrelevant. It’s a bit of a weird concept, but I like the way it forces you to ration the thing, to plan ahead. Tactics you see.

For all this goodness, I still feel rather let down. It’s the way the game itself runs - the engine, so to speak. It’s not quite all there. The characters lack the solidity of the ones in the SF series and the mobility and razor-sharp precision of the KOFs.

The collision handling could be a lot better - the game is just full of little moments where something hits not where I was expecting it to. There are aerial moments that are problematic, but it isn’t just that - the bigger characters, cross-ups, even some jump-ins, I don’t know if it’s trying to use a (sort of) KOF engine to play a more SF-like game and it not working out, or just a smidge of incompetence - but I have to make allowances when I play, that X might not hit 100% of the time, or I have to adjust my timing, or aim, or something, and I don’t like that, at all.

As well as not always landing the way they should, a lot of the moves also lack that dramatic ‘punch’ - there are many where it’s like they’re almost embarrassed to be doing them, hurrying to get them over and done with. Sagat’s “Tiger Genocide” is particularly notable as a 2-second jerky disgrace - and without the satisfaction of scoring a big combo, or a last-gasp super - things feel a little flat, and uninspired, especially seeing as there is nothing in the way of ’super combo finish’ flashes or special effects and the like.

And then there are controls. Charge characters are a lot harder to use, lacking as they do the more forgiving directionality of Capcom’s versions, to the extent where I don’t actually want to use some characters, simply because it’s too much trouble doing what I want to do. It is possible to adapt to some extent, but it still feels very stiff and awkward.

Let’s not forget the bizarre case of Ryu’s Shoryuken. The motion is strangely precise, in a way no other game has ever been. You actually have to do F, D, DF+P. F, D, F won’t work. Well, it works for everyone else in the game … but not Ryu. Why this is the case I cannot say, but it is incredibly frustrating, and is yet another adjustment I have to make when playing.

And it’s a shame, because even without these issues it would still be a tough, challenging game. The AI is a pretty fierce customer, even on the default difficulty; it can combo, cancel, GCFS and use EXCEEDs. The final bosses (either Shin Mr. Karate (shocking) or Shin Akuma (absolutely appalling)) are pretty much what I’ve come to expect from SNK bosses - ludicrous over-powering, cheating, psychic abilities, abuse of systems - that sort of thing. They’re not impossible, but it takes a fair while to adapt to what they do, and work around it. I do like how both bosses have attacks and patterns deliberately designed to make the player use the GCFS function.

One thing that annoys me, to get a characters’ game ending, you cannot lose a single round up until the last boss. That is just .. unforgivable, and just adds to the all-too familiar aura of frustration.

Regarding endings, the game adheres to an interesting structure. Fight, fight, fight, sub-boss, fight, fight, fight, sub-boss, endboss, secret boss. This is made even more exciting by the fact that every fight begins with onscreen dialogue. Every single one. These range from insights into plot points and relationships, jokes (ha ha, everyone thinks Dan is Robert), to pointless “die!”, “I’ll kill you” nothingness, each one accompanied by a series of face portraits, pulling various (awesome) expressions.

It’s very SNK-like, perhaps deliberately, cynically so, but nonetheless it works like a charm, adds masses of personality and likeability to the characters, and a bit of weight to the proceedings. It’s one area where the game wins utterly - effortlessly showing up the CvS games as the gaudy, hollow nonsense they are.

Is there actually a story? Not from what I can tell. A bunch of the usual suspects have gotten together to fight. And they fight some weird guys and that’s it. No tournament, no prizes, no fame and glory. It’s kind of disappointing, although the dialogues more than make up for it. The game does have endings though (providing you fulfil the requirements) - endings done in the classic SNK style. Nothing great, but leagues above the CvS2 afterthoughts.

An important question that surfaces early on is, “how do the Capcom characters handle?” - and my answer would be simply “sub-par”. The ‘Shotokan’ characters suffer (as they did in the first CvS) from having both C. Forward and C. Roundhouse mapped to the same button - which is something I will never get used to, as well as their hurricane kicks also being distinctly fishy. Several other characters, who relied heavily on particular normals in their native games - have had those normals either removed or altered, which for me lessens their effectiveness. The four SF ‘boss’ characters suffer particularly heavily in this area.

Biggest mess-up of all is Hugo. He looks the part, has all his moves, plus the ability to parry … but his throw range is absolutely pathetic. You can quite literally whiff a special throw whilst standing directly next to the other character. This, plus his average damage (c’mon, he’s a GRAPPLER!) just sours him to the extent he’s no fun to use at all. Even the non-stop appearances of the lovely Poison and Bao, yes, Bao, can’t redeem this sad waste of space. SNK have always approached grapplers differently to Capcom (remember Zangief comboing his SPD in the NGPC SvC:MoTM?) - and this just cements the fact that they should either stick to their own methods, or just omit them entirely.

To be fair there are some nice additions. The added ‘lever’ combos (C > Fwd + A > Special) for the Capcomers are great fun to do, and things like Chun Li having two different fireballs with two different poses, Guile having some new supers and Balrog’s ‘launcher’ move are nice, and the ‘original’ characters, such as Zero and Tessa are great fun to use.

One of the bestest things about the game is the chance to see these classic Capcom characters redrawn in SNK’s ultra-detailed, authentically nostalgic pixelly style. And they look great. Actually, my first impressions were slight disappointment, but they soon grew on me. Ken and Ryu gritty and determined; voluptuous and graceful Chun Li; tough, wiry Guile; monstrous Sagat (actually in some semblance of a kickboxing stance) - dark, brooding Vega; huge, imposing, aristocratic Demitri, elastic Dhalsim …. they’re great.

Biggest surprise is Hugo, SF3’s titanic Teutonic grappler. While he plays like ass, and has undergone a considerable downgrade in terms of animation and colors used - he still looks remarkably good, with no size compromise whatsoever.

Not all of them are as good (M. Bison for one, is just silly) but I am definitely pleased with this aspect.

And although it’s probably a case of Eolith relief-syndrome, I find myself pretty happy with the backgrounds, too. For one, they’re well drawn, with proper shading and detail, and attention paid to light and shadow and depth. There’s even some parallax scrolling, too! Secondly, some of them are pretty damn atmospheric - I’m thinking of the end boss stage, and both secret boss stages in particular.

It’s true that there’s too much repetition; one brown industrial ‘ruined’ stage too many, and that once again, a company has failed utterly in making use of any of the millions of possible fight locations that would have tied into the Capcom and SNK mythologies to any recognisable degree.

One area that SvC does succeed where CvS failed is a sense of visual harmony. New characters blend far more convincingly with both the older sprites, and the backgrounds - with a single, relevant art style for the whole thing. Of course there is the fact that the game is running on the same hardware that SNK were using when those sprites were first drawn, back in 1995, and that in that time Capcom went through the CPS-2, CPS-3 and NAOMI boards. So I’ll let them off.

The character roster, on both sides, is not at all what you’d expect. Once again, favourites and icons are all too absent (I wonder if perhaps, Japan will sink into the sea if Alex ever Hyper Bombs K’ or Guy punches Andy) - and the cast that is present goes in a single step from too obvious to ridiculously obscure.

You can call most of the cast without ever seeing the game. SNK mainstays and Capcom’s entire SF2:CE cast, sans Honda, Blanka and Zangief. The original characters for both companies are more pleasurable - witness the considerable charms of Shiki, from Samurai Shodown Warriors’ Rage - in 2D at last! - as well as the immense Earthquake and posturing mean guy Genjuro. Capcom’s newbie characters include SF3’s Hugo, and Warzard’s Tessa (whom I am developing quite a crush on, what with her Girl Nerd Socerological studying and stuff.)

It’s when the secret characters get unlocked things get really wacky. Bored with KOF and SF players? How about one of the aliens from Metal Slug 3? (even it’s name, “Mars People” is absolutely brilliant) Or perhaps psycho-powered “Violent Ken”, surely the stupidest character ever? There’s Zero from the “MegaMan” mythos, the legendary Geese Howard, the equally legendary-but-for-the-opposite-reasons Dan Hibiki, Darkstalkers Demetri, Orochi Iori and Goenitz. The super-duper secret end bosses are the crowning glory - if you get to Shin Akuma/Mr. Karate without losing a round, after beating them (ha!) - a nifty animated cutscene sees your character whisked away to either heaven or hell.

Oh yes.

In hell you battle RED ARREMER - who is no less than that flying bastard from Capcom’s Ghouls n’ Ghosts. Fighting him can be tough though, as he subscribes thoroughly to the ‘filling the screen with shit’ school of combat.

If you’ve been good (in other words, not won any round via block damage) - you go to heaven, where Athena awaits. Specifically, little chubby warrior maiden Athena, from the ancient platform game of the same name. She fights by summoning various mythological beasties and having six hours of invincibility frames on all of her moves. She’s so lovely, I tell you.

One of my favourite features of the game is the way it actually FEELS like an SNK game. An SNK game from their ‘classic’ period - the mid to late 1990’s - no less. It’s not constant, but it is there, in little bursts - a quote or taunt here, an ending or voice there. My favourite is the little sequence where you character is spirited away to heaven (or hell). And the ‘heaven’ stage opening scene, with this looping, synthesised organ ditty, the caption “-Secret Stage ATHENA’s holy world-”, the background of clouds and cherubs … it’s absolutely classic. It’s wacky, silly and slightly surreal - the way all good SNK things once were. I love it.

Also in typical style, SvC has an absolutely hysterical announcer, one of the best (worst) I’ve heard. If his manic “NO ESCAPE, FIGHT!” at the start of each round doesn’t get you, his “SVCCHAOSSNKVSCAPCOM” at the title screen will.

While the voices are all done extremely well, the music is a little less impressive. While it manages a tune now and then, and succeeds in creating a decent bit of atmosphere (especially on the secret stages) - it’s still somewhat bland, living up to neither of the two great companies’ musical legacies.

Which neatly links me to the summary. SvC is an interesting product - there’s a hell of a lot to see and do in this game - intro dialogues, transformations, secrets, attacks, the whole GCFS thing. It’s the sort of fighter where you can just pick Generic Character #2 and go through the game again and again, and have fun doing it every single time. It’s something I’ve felt has been missing from all the 3D fighters I’ve been playing recently.

The game is full of neat touches, the way a clash of these two great companies should be and it’s great to see that Playmore have enough talent to perhaps make something quite amazing in the near future.

But at the same time, there are just so many things you need to make excuses for, too many things that could have easily been fixed, or omitted in the first place. It’s one of those games where the better you get, the worse it gets, and I found it only took a couple of weeks before I began to be frustrated by the game, the controls, the engine, the whole deal.

Like I said at the start, a few fixes, some more testing, push the machine a little bit further .. it would have been spectacular. As it stands it is a decent, old-fashioned 2D fighter (something the world needs more of) but nothing ground-breaking, or world-changing. Really quite flawed, but still a lot of fun.

• Developer: Eolith
• Publisher: Playmore
• Score: 81%