KOF 2003

Il ritorno

Il torneo dei più grandi,sulla scala più ampia nel mondo,il "King Of Fighters".
Sul suo ring Rugal venne sconfitto,Il grande serpente Orochi sigillato e il potente conglomerato di NESTS fu distrutto.

Una miriade di drammi si consumavano.
Ancora questi erano comperti da un sottile velo che li teneva lontani dagli occhi del pubblico.
E anche con una storia così travagliata,l'apertura del torneo di quest'anno fu confermata.
Lo sponsor della competizione era,ancora una volta,un personaggio misterioso e ,stando alle circostanze, le supposizioni sulla sua identità andavo diffondendosi sulla terra come un fuoco selvaggio.

Ma nonostante tutto,uno dopo l'altro i partecipanti veterani resero nota la loro intenzione di iscriversi.

Una volta verificata la presenza di numerosi lottatori famosi la copertura allora discreta dei media aumentò massivamente.

Con l'annuncio dell'inserimento in questo torneo della nuova regola "multi shift",che permetteva ai partecipanti di scambiarsi liberamente sul campo durante le battaglie,la competizione si tramutò in un fenomeno sociale e monopilizzò l'interezze del mondo.

Giornali e rviste ne scrissero articoli quasi su una base settimanale mentre i critici televisivi discutevano giorno dopo giorno su questa regola che imponeva una rapida esecuzione del match e una solida strategia di squadra.

"Ci sono ancora parecchi temibili partecipanti nel mondo."
Gato,Tizoc,Shen woo,Duo Lon e....Ash Crimson.
Ciò che rese i loro nomi più familiari sulla rete,fu sicuramente questo moneto di interesse generale sul KOF.
Potranno questi nuovi partecipanti divenire le star capci di scuotere il torneo King Of Fighters?
O forse...?

Durante questi folli giorni, i preparativi continuarono senza sosta.
Le arene dei match locali furono determinati,i programmi preparati, e gli spettatori si muovevano da una location dei match preliminari all'altro.

Per creare l'atmosfera di una vera lotta da strada le arene furono stabilite nei centri delle città,gli eventi della competizione furono trasmessi dal vivo su schermi giganti, e vari stadi faticarono a contenere le decine di migliaia di persone che giunserò nelle città durante il periodo del torneo.

Dicembre 2003.
Il tempo è giunto.
Quest'anno, il sipario si alza ancora una volta.

Tradotto dal sito della playmore.


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Introduction:

The final year of KOF on the Neo. It's sad to see it go but it's probably for the better and I felt it ended on a good note.


Story 7/10

Well, it's your typical everybody gets invited to KOF and the tourney starts. However, this is the beginning of the new story arc so it still plays a major role regardless. For this same reason though we don't learn much other then the appearance of some new enemies related to Orochi from the first story arc. Some of the new playable characters are not what they seem as well...


Graphics 7/10

I had a good feeling about how 2k3 would do in this department having been pleased with the previous year's KOF.

I was disappointed to still see so many recycled sprites for the majority of the characters but a few of them are totally refreshed aside from the new characters. Terry now dons his Garou MOTW outfit, Yuri has been redrawn somewhat with a more anime-esque look, Athena wears a red frilly dress, Kyo wears a dark brown jacket with the Kusanagi emblem, and Benimaru is now wearing an animal skin style top. The newcomers Ash, Duo Lon, Shen, Malin, Gato and Tizoc look good and fit in with the other sprites except for Gato who seems to have been simply ripped from Garou MOTW.

He seems rather bland among the other sprites. Characters portraits look great and I'd say right on par with 2k2's style of artwork.

The new flash animations for supers look cool and supers themselves along with all other moves look as good as ever. The stages include a jungle near a temple, a desert, an airship, a village, a roof top, and a cave. They seemed fine to me and looked right with the characters. Visually the game felt like it had a decent amount of effort put into it.


Sound 8/10

This area of the game seems pretty solid. The music remined me somewhat of 2k1's techno styled songs but I enjoyed them a lot more. The music for the select screen and cinema scenes seemed fine although nothing to get excited about. The music played during the end credits is my personal favorite since it had a nice tone to it. Characters voices seem exactly the same as the other KOF's except the hit sound effects sound more like the newer ones used in SVC Chaos.


Gameplay 6/10

The later KOF's have always been unbalanced in some way or another but 2k3 could have been fairly good if you couldn't tag after an attack and allow your teammate to continue the combo. This might sound like a cool feature but it gets ruined by the fact it's so abusive and can slaughter your opponent too easily. Some characters by themselves can do some devastating combos but combos with partners are just as lethal and somewhat easier to do. These flaws aside, the one round tag battle is a nice change of pace from the usual best of 5 matches that KOF is known for. The first character you pick will be your team leader who will take a little less damage then the other two and also gain an extra leader super. The super meter can fill up to 3 stocks. 1 stock is required for regular supers and 2 for a leader super. Not a bad idea for a new system but certainly broken.


Overall 7/10

It's too bad the KOF 2k3 ended up with such a flawed sytem but it still entertained me just as much as the previous games. Hardcore fans owe it to themselves to try this out but obviously it's not for everyone. I only hope the future games on the newer consoles continue to keep me hooked.



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