The King of Fighters: EX2 Review
By: Bernie Yee
Contents:
1. Introduction / Story
2. Gameplay
3. Graphics and Sound
4. Replay
5. Conclusion
Introduction / Story
The King of Fighters franchise has been around since 1994 by the NeoGeo team. It’s been on many consoles from the SNES to PS2, and now it arrives on your GBA! It is one of the many successful fighting franchises along with Street Fighter and is often played by many in arcades. You’re probably thinking right now that the game must be good right? And that is true because the original King of Fighters EX1 was horrific and EX2 has fixed almost all the bugs, etc. and is a perfect fighting game for the GBA!
There isn’t much of a story in KOF besides you helping to guide your team to be the best.
Gameplay – 9
It’s a portable fighter just like Street Fighter and it plays just as well. The developers did a great job porting it to a handheld that only had 4 buttons and the controls are very fluid and smooth. The combos from the arcades and console versions can be executed with ease because of that. Strikers are also kept in this second reincarnation and have excellent animations.
There are 21 playable characters and I think that’s absolutely amazing that the developers had that much space left to fill even more roster slots. There are also 3 new characters called Jun, Miu and Reiji, which I found to be a pain in the arse to use.
In KOF:EX2, there are 4 playable modes, arcade, practice, VS team and VS single. In arcade, it’s the main mode where you select 3 characters to battle a bunch of groups of other fighters to become the King of Fighters. Practice is basically practicing your moves against a dummy. Lastly, VS team and VS single are the same except in team, its 3v3 and in single its 1v1.
KOF:EX2 is based a lot on KOF:2000 on the NeoGeo consoles and arcade systems. You can tell by simply looking at a few backgrounds, but that’s fine because graphics are not all that important in a game, it’s the gameplay and KOF:EX2 does its job wonderfully.
Graphics and Sound - 8
KOF:EX2 has really good graphics. The gameplay is smooth and there aren’t really any noticeable slowdowns when there are lots of movement and action on the screen. The backgrounds are animated and gives a nice sense of feel. Your character’s special effects are also very detailed and candy for your eyes!
Some of the sounds and tunes are back from the older games. However, they had to remove some of the sounds to make the game play well on the GBA’s hardware. The sound quality is pretty good and the screams and yells from the fighters are top-notch.
Replay – 8
There are many things to be unlocked in KOF:EX2 that should entertain you for hours. You can unlock difficulty levels, special characters, other playable modes, etc. And those are all sure to add more gameplay hours on your GBA. But honestly, it’s really down to the player himself. I like KOF a lot and I’ve been a big fan since KOF 98’ for the PSX came out so therefore I love this game since it’s so portable.
Conclusion
KOF:EX2 is much better than the original one. This one features animated backgrounds, better sound quality, more modes and a much better AI.
This game is definitely a very good and solid game that might be hard for beginners, but is worth checking out if you are a fan of fighting games and/or likes King of Fighters.
FINAL SCORE = 8.5/10
By: Bernie Yee
Contents:
1. Introduction / Story
2. Gameplay
3. Graphics and Sound
4. Replay
5. Conclusion
Introduction / Story
The King of Fighters franchise has been around since 1994 by the NeoGeo team. It’s been on many consoles from the SNES to PS2, and now it arrives on your GBA! It is one of the many successful fighting franchises along with Street Fighter and is often played by many in arcades. You’re probably thinking right now that the game must be good right? And that is true because the original King of Fighters EX1 was horrific and EX2 has fixed almost all the bugs, etc. and is a perfect fighting game for the GBA!
There isn’t much of a story in KOF besides you helping to guide your team to be the best.
Gameplay – 9
It’s a portable fighter just like Street Fighter and it plays just as well. The developers did a great job porting it to a handheld that only had 4 buttons and the controls are very fluid and smooth. The combos from the arcades and console versions can be executed with ease because of that. Strikers are also kept in this second reincarnation and have excellent animations.
There are 21 playable characters and I think that’s absolutely amazing that the developers had that much space left to fill even more roster slots. There are also 3 new characters called Jun, Miu and Reiji, which I found to be a pain in the arse to use.
In KOF:EX2, there are 4 playable modes, arcade, practice, VS team and VS single. In arcade, it’s the main mode where you select 3 characters to battle a bunch of groups of other fighters to become the King of Fighters. Practice is basically practicing your moves against a dummy. Lastly, VS team and VS single are the same except in team, its 3v3 and in single its 1v1.
KOF:EX2 is based a lot on KOF:2000 on the NeoGeo consoles and arcade systems. You can tell by simply looking at a few backgrounds, but that’s fine because graphics are not all that important in a game, it’s the gameplay and KOF:EX2 does its job wonderfully.
Graphics and Sound - 8
KOF:EX2 has really good graphics. The gameplay is smooth and there aren’t really any noticeable slowdowns when there are lots of movement and action on the screen. The backgrounds are animated and gives a nice sense of feel. Your character’s special effects are also very detailed and candy for your eyes!
Some of the sounds and tunes are back from the older games. However, they had to remove some of the sounds to make the game play well on the GBA’s hardware. The sound quality is pretty good and the screams and yells from the fighters are top-notch.
Replay – 8
There are many things to be unlocked in KOF:EX2 that should entertain you for hours. You can unlock difficulty levels, special characters, other playable modes, etc. And those are all sure to add more gameplay hours on your GBA. But honestly, it’s really down to the player himself. I like KOF a lot and I’ve been a big fan since KOF 98’ for the PSX came out so therefore I love this game since it’s so portable.
Conclusion
KOF:EX2 is much better than the original one. This one features animated backgrounds, better sound quality, more modes and a much better AI.
This game is definitely a very good and solid game that might be hard for beginners, but is worth checking out if you are a fan of fighting games and/or likes King of Fighters.
FINAL SCORE = 8.5/10
