#THE KING OF FIGHTERS XV 2021 FULL#
#THE KING OF FIGHTERS XV 2021 PS4#

Vs fighters live or die these days not in the arcades but by the quality of the netcode and online stability. There is even a mode which allows you to spin a selection of classic tunes from the history of the series, some of which are locked to begin with, but well worth fighting for. It goes without saying that the soundtrack is the absolute corker you always knew it would be.

#THE KING OF FIGHTERS XV 2021 FULL#

It doesnвЂ™t look as jaw droppingly beautiful as something like Guilty Gear Strive or Granblue Fantasy Versus, or indeed the hand-crafted splendour of KOF XIII, but the characters have that timeless SNK charm and some of the colourways and outfits are full of detail and really pop, and are animated smoothly. The current gen iteration has slightly sharper textures and the loading times are a tad quicker, but overall the 2.5D sprites look fine, the stage backdrops are varied, interesting and in the case of the Metal Slug-themed Sahara setting, extremely amusing.

#THE KING OF FIGHTERS XV 2021 PS4#

I tested it out on both PS4 and PS5, and it is fair to say that there is not a great deal of difference between the two versions. The story I wonвЂ™t give away too much of here, but needless to say it culminates in a familiarly cheap as balls boss encounter, something no self-respecting King of Fighters should do without. I particularly liked the beefy Shotokan look of Ryo, and his dapper Art of Fighting pal Robert Garcia, who looks like a wonderful combination of Steven Seagal in Out For Justice and a well turned out Romany Gypsy. Returning heroes have never looked better. Keen-eyed fans of KOF 2001/2002 may feel he is strangely familiar.Д¬haracters look fantastic across the board, with some wild and crazy costumes on show that make it seem as much a riotous cutting-edge fashion show as a kick ass fighting tournament. Rounding out the newcomers is the excellently named Krohnen McDougall, who may sound like some kind of Hebridean lager, but is in fact a shady NESTS-linked enigma with a crazy shape-shifting arm. Dolores is a mysterious psychic priestess who is key to the nonsensical magical shenanigans that form the story of XV. She enters the fray as the principle rival to flames-wielding hero ShunвЂ™ei. Isla is a streetwise, Harajuku youngster with an Iori-esque set of disembodied flaming purple hands. The gameplay features teams of three, with a vast selection of KOF legends included, alongside a trio of new entrants. Four LP on the spin will automatically end the combo in either a spectacular Climax Super, or the most powerful attack currently available if you donвЂ™t have enough meter juice, with LK, HP and HK resulting in special move, super special move (think EX attack), and Max Super Special Move respectively. How the combo end is decided what the fourth input is, and how many bars of your power meter remain. This can only be activated from a neutral position, and involved four consecutive button presses, which must begin with three light punch inputs. New to the mix is the Shatter Strike вЂ“ a powerful tool that is best compared to the Focus attack from the modern Street Fighter universe, debilitating your opponent and opening a window of opportunity to cause a huge amount of additional damage as they crumple in front of you.ДЄs is de rigeur in a lot of modern fighters there is also a single button combo system, called Rush. There are a few different varieties of MAX mode to tinker with, one which can be triggered in any situation and improves damage and the strength of Guard Crush, and a second Quick version which sees your avatar bathed in a pink hue and is activated either when you guard or carry out an attack вЂ“ allowing you to combo straight into your next desired action without leaving yourself wide open.

A lot of time-honoured features are retained вЂ“ the evasive roll, hops, five-bar super meter, Climax and Hyper Climax special moves вЂ“ and there is also the ability to trigger a MAX mode which boosts your attack power for a brief period. The gameplay is deep, but easy to learn thanks to a simple control scheme employing the Neo Geo standard four buttons, and a decent tutorial and combo-led mission mode that allows newcomers to pick things up and brings long term KOF nerds up to speed with the current mechanics in play. With its super accessible fighting system, no-nonsense presentation and fun, addictive gameplay, there is hope that this could be the one. Despite being readily available across a number of formats over the years, SNKвЂ™s flagship one on one fighting franchise has never really had a standout mainstream crossover success that it probably deserves, but hopefully thatвЂ™s about to change with The King of Fighters XV.

The king of fighters xv 2021