http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3175250
If you thought that the hardcore game types at Weekly Famitsu would be kind to homegrown fighting-game favorite The King of Fighters XII, it's perhaps time to think again.
Japan's #1 game magazine gave the SNK fighter a mere 22 points in this week's issue, with individual scores of 5, 5, 7 and 5. As expected, the reviewers heaped praise upon the visuals, which "have impact" and "are a huge advance over previous games, making each character's charms really stand out." Very few complaints were made about the fighting action itself -- "Battles become tests of how well you can read your opponent," one wrote. "It's a great feeling when you connect with a critical counter or guard attack."
Instead, the gripes chiefly focused on the lack of volume in the game, especially if you aren't into online play. "There's nothing to do apart from 1-on-1 play," one said. "There are fewer characters, there's no story mode, and the whole thing's taken a cut power-wise. Unless you're online or have friends willing to play with you, I fear you're going to get bored fast." Another noted that "having 20-ish characters in a team-battle fighting game is just too few" and also brought up the lack of story components, such as hidden bosses and endings: "Going through the trouble of introducing all of these visually-striking characters and not discussing the story and plotlines that should serve as their backbone seems like a missed opportunity."
For Famitsu, the real darling of the week was Microsoft's Japanese release of Gears of War 2, which touches down over there July 30. "The fun, just like the violence, is even more dangerous than the previous game," wrote one reviewer. "Every stage in campaign mode has a different objective; the story is fascinating, and you play right through to the end without every feeling the pace slow down. With Horde and other additions to multiplayer, I think I'm going to have yet more sleepless nights ahead of me." Not
news to us, perhaps, but Famitsu's total score of 38 points out of 40 (10/10/9/9) is no doubt another feather in Epic's already-very-feather-laden cap.
