GameHoof.com

by w2n

A new game by SNK Playmore, this is the sequel of King of Fighter : Maximum Impact.

The last installment was heavily criticized by the fanatical fans of the KoF franchise who strongly against the loss of the trademark tag team battle system, the very thing that had gained so much fandom since the first one of the series in 1994.

And now, the franchise is back, introducing a brand new dodging style (although the old Fatal Fury series had already introduce the concept of dodging moving side-by-side).

This KoF Maximum Impact 2 has come to relieve the dissappointment of the fans, reeling for the ever less number of releases of this genre, and for the failure of KoF 2003, much despised for its terrible graphic and gameplay.

The new installment is a side story of the original KoF storyline. It starts a couple of months after the conclusion of the first King of Fighter : Maximum Impact, with Alba Meira came out as a winner eliminating the last boss, Duke. And now the fighters are invited back to the still-illegal King of Fighters to decide who deserved the title of the strongest.

The graphics in King of Fighter: Maximum Impact 2 is superb with new sprites for almost every characters. The game is repleted with special effects which make the whole display so astounding, as with the choice of colors both striking and beautiful.

In this game, you’ll find 30 characters from all other SNK series as default characters and another 10 hidden characters for the satisfaction of loyal fans. The roster includes all fighters from the first KoF:MI plus Luise Meyrink, Nagase (whose fighting styles reminds me of Hattori Hanzo from the Samurai Spirits series), Billy Kane, and Kula Diamond (now armed with a devastating SDM). The hidden charactes obtained after finishing the game with certain characters are Kyo Kusanagi (classic), Ninon Beart (mirror of Minon Beart), B. Janet (Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolf), Kim Kaphwan, Richard Myer (from Fatal Fury I), Armor Ralf (a much stonger Ralf), Hyena (the host of the first dari King of Fighter: MI), Wild Wolf (Terry Bogart from Mark of the Wolves, lacking of his Round Wave), Lilly Kane (Billy Kane’s daughter), Nightmare Gesse, Fio (Metal Slug 4 and 5), Hattori Hanzo (Samurai Spirit), Mr. Karate (Takuma Sakazaki with a mask), and Jivatma (the final boss).

As for the ending, I’m pretty much satisfied with it even though it still can’t match the Tekken series in terms of revealing of its characters. In KoF : MI2 endings you’ll only find the characters chatting in front of the ruin of the last battle site. Only a handful of characters have their own interesting short ending movie, in line with the game official story.

Overall, KoF : MI2 is a very good game with a decent graphic quality and combos almost in par with Tekken 5. Fans for combo-based fighting games like Tekken will definitely have to try this game.

Have a nice game.