The King of Fighters 2002

"They should rename this Cut and Paste 2002"

Ok, I know most likely I will be bashed and called certain unfriendly names for this review by the SNK/KOF fan boys but quiet honestly I played this game for about 2 hours and found it how do I say it.... passable at best.

Graphics... 6

The character sprites looked like they were ripped from past KOF games. Though, I heard the millions of arguments the Chris, Shermie, Yashiro, Vice, and Mature have new stand animations. Big deal, what's the point of giving them new stand animation when they animated into their old KOF 96-97 animations? But who can blame Playmore for doing that? Heck Capcom recycled all their characters they used in the versus series for Marvel vs Capcom 2 and no one screamed foul. But getting back on topic, the sprites are older than the freaking Alpha Sprites and its about time SNK/Playmore or whatever they call themselves now to do new sprites.

The backgrounds though are a nice touch with characters that appeared in past King of Fighters games and the Garou: MOTW characters making cameos. Plus after every round the stage changes which either has different characters doing cameos or the ones already there doing something else.

Sounds and Music.... 7

Honestly, I didn't pay too much attention to the music. Though reports of them using classic King of Fighters theme music was used. I haven't recalled any I heard. Though I admit as bad as the KOF 2001 music was, it was stuck in my head for quite bit of time.

Sound effects wise is basically your same sound effects they use in every game. The voices are clear which is a good thing.

The one thing I also noticed is the announcer sounding like the Count from Sesame Street. Which is kinda ironic since I thought the announcer from Super Street Fighter II on SNES sounded like Big Bird.

Gameplay.... 7

After removing the striker system (thank god) and that ratio adjust system from King of Fighters 2001 (double thank god), we are back at what brought King of Fighters to the table. I liked 3 on 3 team fighting better than the tag fest in Marvel vs. series. Though I wished Capcom used this idea for their PS1 ports of the Marvel vs. series instead of doing what they did with using just the fist member of the team as a fighter and the second as a helper. But other than that, its the same old slugfest it always been for the past 8 or so years. Each character has either a move taken away or given or even both. Some moves maybe a little difficult to pull off or in my case some moves I remember doing since 99 are no longer there and then you realize ''man, that blows...'' and getting pummeled by the computer.

Over all..... 6

I gave it a 6 at best since its basically the same game rehashed over and over with same ultra hard cheap boss that we all know and love brought to us by our friends at SNK/Playmore/NeoGeo/whatever they called themselves. But honestly speaking, King of Fighters went downhill after 98, now they are reduced to giving us clones, strikers, ratio strikers, boring overpowered new characters, and rehashed sprites that everyone accepts because its SNK and they use old MVS hardware so its ok. Well I don't.

I didn't expect more from this title and that what I got. Two hours play is more that what this game deserves. I'll head back to playing Capcom vs SNK 2, Last Blade 2, King of Fighters 98, Third Strike, and Alpha 3. Much like Mark of the Wolves, me thinks the game way too over rated.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/28/03