The King of Fighters XIV Review

“Fighters from all over the world come to compete in the biggest tournament”

The King of Fighters return and makes its debut on the PS4 after five year since XIII came out. But does it deliver? Well we're about to find out in this review.

Not only does The King of Fighters make its debut on the PS4 but it also debuts with the 3D graphics on a 2D fighting plane pretty similar to Maximum Impact graphics. Now the 3D graphics might not be the best but the gameplay makes up for it.

Gameplay for The King of Fighters XIV is about the same but with a few changes. King of Fighters XIV features the classic three on three fights. The speed of the is a bit slower from the previous game. Fireballs seem to have a slow recovery time with some characters. Characters jumps are really floaty. It’s best for players to perform small jumps so that they won’t get anti-aired a lot.

A couple of new and returning features are in The King of Fighters XIV. There’s the new rush action where players can perform a combo into a super special move with pressing light punch repeatedly. Now it might not sit well for pro players but the damage is pretty small and it gives a warm welcome to players new to the franchise.

The Hyper Drive is removed and replaced with the returning feature Max mode but with a few tweaks. In Max Mode (which takes a bar of meter) players can perform EX special moves for a limited time. Certain characters have longer Max Modes. Also in Max Mode players can perform their Max Super Special Moves which is an upgraded Super Special Move. Players can perform Max Mode in a middle of a combo to extend it but players will have to be fast and careful execution.

Another new feature is the Climax Super Special Move which is basically the level 3 special. Players can perform advanced cancels where they activate their Super Special Move and cancel it into their Max Super Special Move. Players can also perform Climax cancels where they perform their Max special Move and cancel into their Climax Super Special Move. You can definitely turn the tables on your opponent with these specials and give major damage especially when you're down a character and want to even the score. But players will have to choose their character order wisely because certain characters are extremely deadly with a full bar of meter.

Now the story for The King of Fighters XIV isn’t anything special. It’s not focusing on the Orochi saga or Ash Saga. It’s just a regular King of Fighters tournament hosted  by the new character Antonov. And of course every King of Fighters tournament has an evil boss character at the end. Story mode is pretty much an arcade mode with some special intros against certain teams. Playing story mode will also unlock endings and many images for the gallery section.

The King of Fighters XIV roster is one of the biggest roster in this game's history. The roster features 50 unique fighters with fan favorites such as Terry, Kyo, Ryo and many others. This game also features a good amount of new characters who are a lot of fun to play with such as funny girl Sylvie Paula Paula and mysterious Kukri and of course The King of Fighters introduce guest characters like Nakoruru from the Samurai Showdown series. It will definitely take some time for players to pick their main three but that’s what makes the game fun.

The Online feature in this game has its ups and down. You have your classic Ranked Match where players will to register a team just like Street Fighter V there is no character select. The team that you register is the team you'll play as. Finding opponents online is pretty tough but players just have to keep on searching. Free match is very interesting. Free Match can have players choose Team vs the classic three on three, Single vs where players just do one on one and the lastly there’s Party vs where players do three on three with five other players each controlling their own character. Free match rooms can hold up to 12 players but a very unique thing about these rooms is that there are six slots. Each slot can hold up to 12 players but players don’t have to wait for other players to be done to play. They can enter the other empty slots rather than waiting for the other players to finish fighting.

Players can also do online training with a friend to test out their fighting skills. There are also replay videos that players can tune into and watch their favorite character duke it out. While watching some of these videos players can learn some new combos with their character and new strategies.

Now the connection isn’t the best. At times when fighting opponents it’s really laggy and at times  the connection can be great. The connection is just random you don’t know what to expect. I’m pretty sure this problem will be fixed in the near future.

In the end The King of Fighters XIV is a great fighting game. It’s not the best visual but gameplay is great and you have a huge roster to choose from making the fun endless. There are plenty of offline modes as well If you're not an online player. Tutorial does a good job of explaining how to play the game. There’s also an Time Attack, Survival and Trails where players perform five combo test for each character. Online isn’t the best but it will get better. If you're a fighting game fan give this game a shot. Players new to the series will have a great time with this game as well. The Rush system is a nice tool to get them set and you always want fighting games to bring in everyone and that's what The King of Fighters XIV brings. Now go out there and prove to world that you ARE THE KING OF FIGHTERS CHAMPION!!!!!