I did play The King of Fighters XII and it was okay, to be honest. The sprites and backgrounds were very well done and the fighting was fairly good, but everything else surrounding the package just wasn't developed. The roster was small, characters were missing moves, and the modes felt boring, especially the online mode being unplayable at points. With that said, I was kind of surprised that SNK Playmore announced The King of Fighters XIII. After XII, I thought that the series was done for. What could they possibly do to fix the series? After seeing the footage from the Preview Event and Loektest footage on YouTube, it turns out, a lot can be done.  
 
I'm glad that they brought back the speed of the old games and the ability to do SDM moves as well. The new EX system seems similar to Street Fighter IV, but I'm not complaining. The roster is what got me though. The last game was lacking female fighters, with the Women's Fighting Team from King of Fighters 94 returning, I'm happy. Also because I now have more options for custom teams. I'm still curious as to who the other fighters are (Please K' and Garou Teams from XI). However, this seems a lot like The King of Fighters 2002. Not that it's a bad thing, but it seems to forget or dismiss some of the systems from The King of Fighters XI (I digress, the cancel system is somewhat similar).  
 
This seems as if they're just copying stuff from that game and making it fit into XIII. I'm sure there's something original or new coming for this game, but SNK isn't ready to talk about it yet. I hope there is because if not, why should i really play this if I have 2002? I'm still excited for it, but I'm not sure. We'll have to see when the game comes out.