NOTE: I have only played King of Fighters '99 and I have few knowledge of KOF, so please bear with me. Also, I'm a shitty writer so I just wanted to do this for fun.

First of all, I just wanna get this out of my chest. THIS GAME IS VIEWTIFUL! THIS GAME HAS ONE OF THE BEST SPRITES I'VE EVER SEEN! As I entered the main menu, I was greeted by a tutorial mode. The tutorial mode was divided into 2. The 1st one taught the moves in King of Fighters, such as simple ones such as jumping, walking, etc... and KOF staples such as rolling, hyperhop, etc... and another teaches about the different meters of the game such as the life meter, guard meter, super meter, and the new drive meter. This made the game easy to learn, as it gives a good way of teaching the basics and the advanced moves. One thing that was missing though is teaching the REALLY Advanced Fighting game info such as hitboxes, frames, etc... but this might've been a good thing to not complicate the game for newbies. After all, those who really want to learn can just use the internet right?

I also tried the arcade mode, which has a great in fact. It was mostly enjoyable due to the conversations each fighter can make to his/her opponent. These little conversations do an excellent job on telling us about the fighter and how they act. Oh, and I forgot to mention that you can customize the colors of the fighters? There are some presets, but you can make some of your own. now I can't go deep into that because I haven't tried it. The Arcade mode even has some cutscenes.

Overall, I felt joyed by King of Fighters. The game looks great, it is accessible to some sort, and it has a great fighting system. While I encountered some sound glitches, it did not stop me from enjoying the game. One of my complaints though is the game's lack of originality. I feel that the new additions are copied from Street Fighter, especially the new changes, such as EX attacks and NEO MAX. EX attacks are, unsurprisingly, just like the ones in Street Fighter. They give boosts to the attacks,such as speed, more hits, etc... and require the same commands to required directional buttons + 2 Punch/Kick buttons. Even NEO MAX seems like the ultra introduced in Street Fighter IV. To pull one off, you must do the required directions + all punch/kick buttons. Basically, what it does is it goes into a black screen and the player pulls of a massive damage attack that usually consumes half of the opponent's life.

EDIT: I wrote this using IE and it somehow ruined the spacing, plus i wasn't compatible w/ Parchment v2. Also, I placed some new info, and will probably have a review up later.

Did you mean to say it was Viewtiful? Cause that is some high praise. Have you tried the online yet?

I'm getting the game in the mail tomorrow. I heard it's much better than the last one, and I hope I won't be disappointed.

After reading that I'm now really looking forward to the quick look tomorrow.

@ImmortalSaiyan: By Viewtiful, I mean it really looks great visually. Perhaps like KOF XII, although I didn't get it. Also, I just tried the online today. It had some issues for me but It's probably because of my suckass internet connection.I would really like someone else to try this game out and prove my problems wrong.

@Apathylad: Honestly, I've never played XII, but this game has way 30+ character

@pantzing_nome: Thanks for actually kinda liking the blog post! I hope I can improve to be less shitty.

the tutorial sounds like something much needed in kof, as someone who has only been playing since kof2000

xii was a fun game, but with terrible online and so few characters, and little to no content outside an arcade mode, this sounds better in every way if they've nailed the netcode.

@jkuc316 said:

NOTE: I have only played King of Fighters '99 and I have few knowledge of KOF, so please bear with me. Also, I'm a shitty writer so I just wanted to do this for fun.

with a note like that at the top how could I not keep reading!

How does practice mode work. Do you select a character and then the game cycles through their moves, displaying the button pattern on screen while you attempt the move OR do you have to keep going to the menus to look up the button combinations?

@Lnin0:Which practice mode? If you mean the one that is the normal one, you have to go to the menu. If you mean the trials one, then the combos just display themselves on screen while you try to do it.

All I want to say is that I wish I could go somewhere and play KOF '98 all day.

@Winternet: If you want Slugfest, it's on PS3N. But if you want Ultimate Matchup, it's on XBLM

I have come to the conclusion that KOF13 is a pure fighter's game. It is raw, unforgiving, sometimes awkward but never apologetic. KOF13 offers no noob initiation and even its easiest challenges assume you are more than an onlooker. It is a relentless adversary that doesn't care about your ego and isn't above taking the occasional cheap shot. KOF13 is not here to welcome you to the genre, it is here to define who is tops of its genre. This is not your "everyman's" Mortal Kombat. This is King of Fighters.

I have also come to the conclusion I maybe more of a lover than a fighter.