THE KING OF FIGHTERS XIV GALAXY EDITION

KoF XIV has surprised me in a very good way. And it's DRM-Free (with goodies: Soundtrack and Artbook are included in the DLC's). Gameplay is great, the series landmark. But note that I have only played the Story/Arcade mode so far: 58 characters roster (8 from the DLC's included). Many newcomers and the classic SNK characters (I'm glad that Rock Howard, Geese or Oswald are back). There is quite a vast range of fighting styles, and a LOT of special moves with the usual spectacular outcomes. The animations are great. Intense and quite fast battles, very fun. The difficulty level has been lowered down a bit this time, and an automatic combo can be executed by pressing the low punch button repeatedly when next to your opponent, which will end with a special move. But you can select many different difficulty levels. The dialogues between fights have been removed from XIII (although they could be skipped pressing a button), except in some specific fights were the 2 opponents make a brief talk, but these are exceptional and a nice addition. Graphics and art design are beautiful and crisp. The new 3D visuals in the franchise are a big step forward, in my opinion. XIII had great 2D visuals, but this one looks incredibly polished. They are not the summit in 3D visuals, but they are still excellent in it's own. Music and sound effects are excellent too. There are classic tunes from the previous chapters. And sound effects are the usual in the series. Every team has it's own location and music. Different colors for each character (and DLC 1 includes some alternate costumes, such as: Classic Kyo, Athena and Yori and some others). If you end the game with a particular team, you will see a "comic" sequence for each team, plus the CGI normal ending. The game is very well optimised. The only "con" I can see is that the game is a bit pricy. However, it's still worth it. And if it's on sale and enjoy fighting games or KoF series, I can't recommend it enough. It's great.

I've been a KOF fan since 95' and have kept up with each new entry in the series leading up to this one. Let's start off with the positives first. A 50+ character roster is nothing to scoff at and I really do applaud the developers for making such a diverse cast of characters that are all very unique and interesting to play. I never imagined I would actually enjoy playing with some of the new characters especially. While I could never get around to playing with everyone, one of my favorite things about KOF in general are that the characters are just as much fun to fight against as they are to actual play with and I think XIV really showcases this sentiment better than any game in the series because of such a huge and diverse roster. In terms of gameplay, it really does stick to its roots while introducing new elements to an already solid foundation. I was very much worried that the transition to 3D was going to greatly affect the feel but they really managed to keep it intact and I certainly felt right at home when playing. I felt the change they made to the body toss attack especially added a new life to the game and while I wasn't to keen on having EX specials locked behind the max mode activation, I feel like it still managed to add the much needed challenge hardcore fans were looking for coming from XIII. Honestly, the only thing that really put a damper on this entry is the graphics. Despite it looking much better than I initially thought it would, the animations were not very fluid and it was hard not to notice especially when it came to the returning characters. I personally stopped playing with one of my favorites because it. Even with the return of some of my favorites when it game to DLC characters, I found it difficult to really get excited about them. Overall, XIV was a solid entry and even with its visual faults, I still think it kept the spirit of KOF in its game play while also introducing new ideas that helped heighten the experience.

A game that is truly worth the time it takes to become competitive. Packed with content for people that only want to play single player and a massive selection of fighters.

I hope we can get KOF XV on GOG too.