By Game-Reviewer James Zheng

A great graphic quality, a realistic sense of hitting, a diversity of abilities from game characters, all these are key elements to decide if a fighting game is truly extraordinary. All these qualities apply to one of the most classic and famous fighting games in the whole world, King of the Fighters. This series has continued updating for nine years. The very first work of KOF (King of the Fighters) was born in 1994; from there it gradually became an overwhelmingly popular fighting game. SNK Playmore released more versions each year until 2003.

SNK Playmore had a long and tortuous course in the development of King of the Fighters. While they were trying to release the seventh work of KOF they had to fight off a piracy version and fake simulators of their games. SNK Playmore rose again and then pushed out their thirteenth work–KOF XIII–as an announcement to the world that SNK Playmore is back.

There are three parts which make this particular work so fantastic. First, the animated artistic style mixes with 3D modeling. The characters are incredible even if the whole game is a 2D fighting game. If you play a special movement (a characteristic ability besides punch and kick), the animation may include fire, sparkles, and lightning. Secondly, because there are so many characters from which to choose, the game offers plenty of fighting combos. Some of them also have a characteristic background that creates a story. Thirdly, this game would not fail in the sense of playability, which refers to a factor that decides if this game gets boring. Since this game requires so much skill, it might take you a long time to master a certain character, but do not get me wrong. What I said does not mean every single character is extremely hard. They all have the basic and advanced fighting skills waiting for you to dig them out.

Depending on your preference of using keyboard or controller (I would suggest that controller is better) to play the game, you can play KOF on Xbox or PC system. The game is sold for $20 on Steam.

Editor: Makena Behnke