2009 could certainly be called the "year of the fighters," and fans have been eagerly awaiting King of Fighters XII, a title that's supposed to revitalize the franchise. So, with the game being out for a few days now, how does it fare? IGN are certainly unimpressed (considering how much they hyped the hell out of the game), citing issues such as online multiplayer, the visual style, gameplay issues, and, simply, not doing what BlazBlue did as reasons. Die-hard fans might want to give the game a rental first, but others might want to wait till it hits the bargain bin.

It's also probably a better idea to read through the comments section of the review and get both sides of the argument from fans and people who've played it.

SNK's King of Fighters series has been around for many years and the franchise originally stood as one of the key contenders against Capcom's now legendary Street Fighter series. In recent years, however, King of Fighters seems to have lost some of its momentum. The most recent addition to the franchise, The King of Fighters XII, was positioned to bring the series back into the spotlight and give it a "rebirth" of sorts. This theme emerged primarily from the game's brand new character sprites, which represent the first major visual overhaul King of Fighters has seen in ages.

Unfortunately, King of Fighters XII is a tremendous disappointment. This three-on-three, 2D fighting game boasts a fairly solid fighting engine but everything surrounding that engine is either lackluster or broken. Or both. It's a shame that the one game aimed at revitalizing the King of Fighters community seems to seriously lack developer effort.

As was the case with the previous iterations of the series, King of Fighters XII offers players a roster filled with classic SNK characters like Terry Bogard, Robert Garcia, Kim Kaphwan and Psycho Soldier's own Athena Asamiya (fan-favorite Mai Shiranui is strangely absent). Although King of Fighters XII can be played as a one-on-one fighting game, its main focus is three-on-three matches. Characters cannot be swapped out during an actual match, though -- battles play out in an elimination format and the last fighter (or team) standing is victorious.

McClubbin via xbox360.ign.com »