The King of Fighters 2001

"Is the fighting spirit fading away?"

I am a big fan of the King of Fighter series. I played since '94 came out and continued hunting for arcade locations where later releases would be included. Each series kept getting a bit better or a bit awkward, but it welcomed me to enjoy every single battle that I played.

Sadly, there is a black sheep among the sequels. 2001 being the 7th chapter (as it refer itself in the intro of the game) of the series, sunk KOF by a notch. I was surprised at the roster of new characters and the recreation of some teams reuniting old faces back together, but it did not helped much in originality overall.
I read previous reviews about how bad this game was; therefore I tried it out once I found an arcade version at the local grocery store.
I found out why some declared this to be the least favorite of the entire series once my quarter popped inside...

Gameplay: 4

Gameplay is a bit awkward and unbalanced at times, but the control does a fine job to pull off most special moves. The fights are not that great once you progress trough the game, and by the time you reach your third opponent, you just want to kick the arcade so it can spit your quarter back.

There is nothing in KOF 2001 that I haven't seen in '99 and 2000 versions of the game, plus it seems that 2001 tried to put a new twist into the whole ''Striker'' thing. You can now play with four members of the team, or try your luck and have only one playable character, while the other three wait in the ''Striker'' box. This is only good if you are really, really good at surviving against groups of three fighters over and over.

Story : 2

I am only adding this because KOF is now trying to add some new evil organization into the whole thing, just like it did in '96, when Goenitz prophesized the coming of Orochi (Boss of '97). Said unknown group is using KOF as a front to test the best fighters, then pits the winning team against their most powerful member.

Why? I have no idea. It seems that in order to take over the world you have to challenge your possible heroes in a tournament and then kick their butts so they won’t be much of a threat when you finally reach your goal. I give this a rating for the most ''BLAH!'' excuse to create a fighting tournament.

Graphics/Sound: 4

Backgrounds are blotchy, and blurry. Character frames seem to skip a bit.
The art on the characters' faces is not half bad, but the expressions hurt them a lot.
The sound and Background music are forgettable at most. Made me feel as if developers of the game seemed bored to make another KOF game, and just threw whatever background music they came up with.

Punches, Kicks, screams, and groans are the same ol' soundbites from previous sequels, and the few new sounds are don't make much of a difference.

Play Time/Replayability : 4

It takes about half an hour to get all the way to the first boss, simple.

It takes a strong will to come back and drop another quarter just because it's a KOF game.

Final Recommendation: 2

Is good for a quarter or two, but I wouldn't spend my time playing it much. The game feels rushed, incomplete, and boring. I hope 2002 can get up to where 2000 left off.

Overall: 3

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 01/14/04