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Review: King of Fighters 2001 |
KOF2001 is by far the most controversial entry to the series, marking as it did the handover of the franchise from the now quite dead SNK, to Korean newcomers Eolith.
The result was a game that no-one was quite prepared for; gameplay functions from other franchises appeared quite blatantly all over the place, the graphics and sound were hugely below par, characters were changed, dramatically and the initially-promising NESTS storyline came to a confused, uninspired end.
Despite these problems, I warmed to the game, deformed mutant KOF or no, and I certainly haven’t been alone. If you can look past the flaws there’s still a complex and satisfying fighting game in there, one that did actually attempt to address some of the criticisms levelled at SNK in the past couple of years, introduced a couple of now-classic characters and generally managed to be a whole lot of fun.
Now while most of us are currently (illegally) enjoying KOF2002, a game that shows that Eolith really have learned from the mistakes of 2K1 - those fine fellows at Playmore have followed up their excellent Dreamcast port of KOF2000 with an even more excellent port of King of Fighters 2001.
And like 2K, it’s quality all the way, right from the start. Once again Playmore have managed to ignore the lure of polygons and and stupid fairground stages and create an incredibly accurate recreation of the Neo*Geo original. Everything is the right size and shape, everything moves the way it should, there are no missing animations, the controls are pin-sharp and all in all it’s incredibly close to the original.
Load times are barely noticeable and the between-round segue is as natural and unobtrusive as you could wish for. In fact the whole thing feels just a little more solid than 2000 did, which for all it’s excellence, still gave the distinct impression of being somewhat flimsy and strained at times. There’s still a hint of slowdown every once in a while - most noticeable when Igniz is filling the screen with his psychokinetic ejaculate, but in all it’s a sturdier, more accurate recreation of the parent game.
The musical accompaniment to the on-screen action is of course now legendary for being absolute crap. I myself am actually quite fond of three of the tracks, but will happily acknowledge that the rest are all indistinguishable techno faeces of the foulest kind.
For some strange reason the music accompanying all of the cutscenes in the game have had a strange and somewhat overbearing echo effect added to them, for what reason I cannot say. Fortunately the rest of the game music has made the journey from cartridge to CD almost totally unchanged, in fact for emulator users it’s slightly improved now, given the notoriously poor Neo*Geo sound emulation. Sound effects are all present and correct, and as clear as the original.
2K1DC unsurprisingly lacks the fabulous “Arrange” soundtrack option that 2000 had, but then again it’s doubtful that even the most brilliant musical minds in history could have done anything with this particular soundtrack.
The game itself actually seems a little easier than the original version - maybe it’s just me having a better controller or something - and it’s most noticable in the final fight against the boss of NESTS, Igniz. He’s still a complete bastard of course, but he seems a lot less ‘intense’ than he used to be, even on level 8 difficulty. Now he’ll stand still or fail to attack with a far greater regularity, and it’s even possible to initiate a little close combat with him, without fear of repeated pocket nuclear holocausts.
And while the endings even less sense than ever now there’s no English language option, it’s still worth beating the game for at least once in Team mode and once in Single, as doing so unlocks the two game modes that are unavailable when you begin the game.
The first is survival, now I’ve never seen the point of survival modes, and always die at the last fight anyway, but there it is. The second unlock is a lot more interesting - comparisons I’ve seen have compared this new mode to Capcom’s Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo - and they’re pretty much dead on, for beating the game in single play mode unlocks an interesting little block-breaking mini-game. You chose your character and then have the arduous task of matching falling blocks of different colours onto the ones at the bottom (although the two fields for the two players are horizontal, so instead of blocks falling down, they come from the left, or right, depending on which player you are). When four blocks of like colour or pattern touch, they disappear, and doing that makes your super meter increase ever so slightly. The aim, of course is to clear your entire field of blocks before your opponent does, in which instance you win (although it’s best two out of three) - and then proceed to the next fight, of steeply increasing difficulty.
The aforementioned super meter allows you to perfrom DMs and, when you have enough meter, SDMs. These moves, which when activated by the appropriate button press, sees the two opposing characters appear in the middle of thee screen and performing them, have varying block-related effects, which help you or hinder your opponent in varying ways.
Beating said mode unlocks a gallery option, which, admittedly I haven’t seen yet, but I appreciate it all the same.
Personally speaking I wasn’t all that thrilled by this addition. It’s nice to have, don’t get me wrong, but I just didn’t enjoy it, puzzle game incompetent I doubtless am. It goes on for ages, and the awful droning music makes it an experience that borders on the nasueous at times. However if you like puzzles and blocks and things you may get more of a kick out of it than I did.
I should also mention that the boss and sub-boss are unlockable, although like last year you can only use them in training or VS mode.
The rest of the modes and options are standard KOF fare. I’ve never seen the point of Single mode (it’s a team fighting game … without the team!) but it’s there again, as are the usual VS, single VS and training mode. The training mode is as helpful and versatile as it has been in past years, this year also taking into account the ratios and their effects (regarding damage and so forth) on the game.
Like Dreamcast KOF2000, there are backgrounds from previous KOF games selectable in the training mode. Unlike last year, you don’t have to earn them, they’re just there right from the start. I still don’t think they’re particularly interesting, but they’re nice to see all the same. More than anything, they make me crave a Dreamcast, or for that matter PS2 re-release of KOF94-97 (perhaps in one package?) - no 3D backgrounds, no strikers, just the games themselves - finally a chance to play them in their full-size, full-animation, no-loading glory, without the need for a Neo*Geo console, to finally get to hear those classic tunes in CD quality with no loading in-between rounds .. it’s a nice dream, but a dream all the same.
Now I must say, that seeing as 98% of the people who would be interested in this will have the emulated version already, it certainly cannot be considered an essential purchase. The puzzle mode, plus the ability to play it with the DC stick, on a TV, without the traditional sound emulation problems are a nice enough treat - but there just isn’t really enough change to warrant a casual or even semi-serious purchase, especially at the hugely inflated prices that invariably accompany rare Japan-release only fighting games these days, and as such only demented fans with excess disposable income will even consider buying it.
However, if you’re unable or unwilling (!) to obtain the ROM, then I think I can still just about recommend it, although admittedly somewhat hesitantly. As I’m sick of saying now, it’s far from the greatest of the series, and it has an uncanny ability to rub people, even die-hard fans up the wrong way, but if you’re willing to take the chance, and aren’t averse to a little ‘alternative’ character design and aesthetic sensibilities - you’re still in for a damn good game, one that will get you familiar with the characters and game systems just in time for the upcoming Dreamcast release of, yes, King of Fighters 2002. God Playmore are great, who else would oversee a dead company releasing dead games for a dead console? It has an almost necrophiliac symmetry which brings a tear to my eye.
