King of Fighters XI review

The eleventh time's the charm

GamesRadar+ Verdict

Pros

  • +

    Huge cast of characters

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    Fast

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    fun fighting

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    Lots of beatdown for the buck

Cons

  • -

    Uneven graphical presentation

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    Likely lack of local competition

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    Typical KoF final boss from hell

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Dec 4, 2007

King of Fighters XI, like most of its older brothers, was originally a 2D arcade fighting game, and has been faithfully ported to the PS2 - with plenty of extras, to boot. The PS2 exclusive features - new characters and endings developed specifically for the conversion - probably won’t be a selling point unless you’re one of the lucky few who have access to the arcade original, but it’s nice to know they’re in there.

From the moment you turn the game on, you’re greeted with a rockin’ soundtrack, and the sound effects and character voice-overs pack a similar punch. Graphically, though, things are a bit disappointing. While the backgrounds, menus, character artwork, and various little flourishes look nice, the character sprites themselves - despite having been reworked a bit - still look stuck in the Neo-Geo era. The look of the low-resolution sprites atop higher-resolution backgrounds can actually be so jarring as to be distracting, particularly on nicer displays.

More info

GenreFighting
DescriptionFun 2D fighting for a budget price. Even if it's not the series' best, it's still a good value.
Franchise nameKing of Fighters
UK franchise nameKing of Fighters
Platform"PS2"
US censor rating"Teen"
UK censor rating"12+"
Alternative names"KoF XI"
Release date1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK)
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