The King of Fighters M2

"Definitely the worst way to play any King of Fighters game. (Yes, it's worse than the PSX versions)."

No matter how many consoles or portable handheld game systems one may own, a hardcore gaming addict always craves more. Fortunately, the modern cellular phone has utilities as a telephone AND a quick hit of simplified video gaming. Unfortunately, marquee console franchises and classic arcade titles from a variety of developers have hit the mobile scene. None of them replicate the original game 100%, but they aim to capture the "essence" of gameplay. Some mobile games capture the charisma of the original games very well (Arkanoid, AfterBurner, Elevator Action, Space Harrier, Magical Drop II, etc). King of Fighters M2 is definitely not one of them.

King of Fighters M2 (KOFM2) just takes the most basic structure of SNK's KOF franchise and takes a steaming dump onto your mobile phone. You still have teams. You have special moves. You have a gauge that stocks your energy for Desperation Moves and Super Desperation Moves. That's it.

What's missing? The basic gameplay. No combos, no fluid control of your character, not even a roster to choose from. Teams are predetermined from the start. And I think there are only four playable characters so you can already imagine how dull the matchups will be.

I understand that this is a game for a cellular phone and not for the Neo*Geo MVS Arcade hardware (or even for a Sony PlayStation or even a Sega Genesis), so whining about lack of traditional KOF control would be stupid.

KOFM2 tries to use a simplified control setup but it just comes off as being annoying and hard to use. Simple acts like jumping forward that we take for granted on consoles are frustratingly difficult in this game. A telephone numberpad is not the most ideal way to control a videogame character, especially in the genre of versus fighting games. This definitely applies here, where the buttons are located too close together and will often lead to you making fatal mistakes. You are expected to guard, jump, crouch, and attack with relative ease but these simple actions are near impossible.

Also, without combos and fluid gameplay, the actual depth just is an electronic slapfight. Smash your opponent by button mashing without hesitation. If you should dare use your brain to formulate an actual strategy you will be severely punished. The A.I. on CPU opponents varies between just standing there doing nothing, or beating the crap out of you mercilessly. Talk about extremes.

You can do DMs in this game when your life gauge is in the flashing red zone, however the procedure is annoying. For characters like Kim, you must enter a really long sequence of numbers in a very short time period.

Then again, you are also faced with the fact that the CPU does damage scaling on the fly, so even if the CPU has no health left and you do manage to connect with a DM, it hardly inflict any damage, if at all. The CPU, on the other hand, can do serious damage with regular attacks and DMs. As far as getting technical about being within range of hit boxes and collision detection, just forget it. It seems everything occurs at random. You might connect with Terry Bogard's Power Geyser from the opposite end of the screen without it physically touching your foe one day, and the next round you do a Power Geyser at close range and it goes right through your opponent.

The graphics are as good as you can expect from a mobile game. The characters are extremely small but are easily recognizable by KOF fans. Terry, Kim, Mai, Leona, etc are colorful, stiffly animated, and mute. Seeing how your average cell phone will never have the specs of Neo*Geo MVS hardware, there is little to hold out for. As for music there is none and whatever sound effects you hear are terrible. I wasn't expecting bass thumping digitized BGMs in stereo along with crystal clear voices, but since so much was sacrificed to make this game possible, they should have given the sound effects the axe (although you have the option to turn it off).

Overall if you insist on playing games on your mobile phone, stick to "old school" from the eighties that offered exceptional gameplay with a simplified control setup that can be adapted to the average cell phone.

As I mentioned before, excellent classics like Arkanoid, AfterBurner, Elevator Action, Space Harrier, and Magical Drop II will give you hours of enjoyment and challenge. KOFM2 takes your money and cell phone energy and leaves you with nothing but frustration in return. This game was definitely not worth the $6.99 + tax that I paid for it. For authentic KOF action stick to the arcades.

Reviewer's Score: 1/10, Originally Posted: 04/25/07