New in depth review of KOF 2002 up at my site

Originally posted by Fran:
<strong>alright review


"The game does kick off with a very nice intro sequence though, which really shows off the improved artwork... very nice indeed"


sorry,but the intro is just plain horrible</strong><hr></blockquote>

Dunno, I kinda liked it... not the best one I've seen on the Neo Geo though.

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Originally posted by EMAGDNIM:
<strong>Another good review ...keep it up... <img src="graemlins/mrt2.gif" border="0" alt="[Mr T]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>

Cheers

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Originally posted by evasyar:
<strong>hello kazuya!

you weren't kidding when you said "in-depth". you almost turned the game inside out in words, brother. still because of your review, my curiousity of the game actually hightened even more... is what you had paid for worth it in th e long run knowing the PS2 and DC ports are in the horizon (march they say?).

when you said the quality of the background had somehow deteriorated, do you think that inversely eolith did enough to compensate by offering frames of animations or improving the game engine itself? or not? you know sometimes developers have to sacrifice an area of the software to improve another... :o </strong><hr></blockquote>

To be honest, I don't own the cart at the moment, I just loaned it from someone for the time being. If I could afford to buy the MVS cart right now I would however as I know I'll get a lot of play from it whenever I add it to my collection. If you are a KOF fan then it is definitely worth buying, but mainly if you are going to be playing in 2 player. Single player is fun, but all fighting games are way more entertaining in multi player.

I just wish I had the cart a bit longer (or could afford my own) as I am gonna be having a bit of a get together with a few friends soon who all want to be initiated into the Neo... well, we still have Samurai Shodown 2, Last Blade 1+2 and MotW among others to keep us going! I just have to see if I can rope them into playing Magical Drop 3 or any of the other non fighting games

When I say that some of the backgrounds have lost a little of their flair, it's not necessarily that they are lacking in animation etc... they just don't seem as interesting to me as some of the ones in the older games... hell, even some of KOF 94's backgrounds are a bit better than some of the least appealling KOF 2002 ones. I don't want to say too many bad things about it though as the backgrounds are still quite nice and also way superior to KOF 2001. I'm impressed that we are still seeing new Neo games after all this time where we can still say "that looks cool".

As for the character animation etc it isn't improved by a great amount - some characters like Kim stand out as having a lot more animation, but others don't really look like they were improved at all.

btw - nice avatar

[ January 13, 2003: Message edited by: Kazuya_UK ]</p>

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Originally posted by Spike Spiegel:
<strong>Nice review, but I hate how you shit on Ramon. Ramon is top tier this year, and has a great look. Thank you very much.

Spike

EDIT: BTW, I love how you compared the craptastic art from 2001 to the very very good art in 2002. Nice touch.

[ January 13, 2003: Message edited by: Spike Spiegel ]</strong><hr></blockquote>

Hehe, I know some people like Ramon, I just never liked him much. I will admit I played through the game with him in my team and he doesn't play too bad... I just don't like his character at all for some reason though, same as many people hate Athena etc etc.

Thanks for the compliments

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Originally posted by Kazuya_UK:
<strong>I just finished writing my review of The King of Fighters 2002 and have uploaded it to my site. You can read it <a href="http://www.neogeoforlife.com/reviews/the_king_of_fighters_2k2_page1.shtml" target="_blank">here</a>.

This review is similar to the one I did of Rage of the Dragons, as it is fairly in depth and also quite long (3 pages long to be exact... phew). I also added some small mp3 download links too - these are little samples of some of the in game music... let me know what you think of this idea.

Hopefully you will all enjoy reading the review - as always please tell me if you have any comments/suggestions </strong><hr></blockquote>You have the best reviews out there! <img src="graemlins/mrt2.gif" border="0" alt="[Mr T]" />

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Originally posted by insaneben:
<strong>I never knew that the same guy who did the in-game character artwork for KOF 2001 also did it for 2002! Now that I think about it, though (and look back at all the screenshots from 2K1), it does make sense. What a difference a year makes (wish I could say the same thing about Nona's art, though, which, aside from a couple notable exceptions, still sucks; what was Eolith/Playmore thinking?).

RANT MODE: ON
Another thing that bothered me were the exclusion of certain characters (namely Jhun, King, and Shingo). For what it's worth, three of the teams SHOULD'VE looked like this:

Korean Team: Kim, Jhun, May Lee
Female Fighters Team: Mai, Yuri, King
Psycho Soldier Team: Athena, Kensou, Shingo

I know Shingo doesn't have any mystical "Psycho" powers, but hell, I could see very few people complaining about Chin, Chang, and Choi being left out. The way I see it, Chang and Choi were left in since they're from Korea, Eolith's home country, and since they had complete creative control over the game, they got to play "hometown favorites" with the roster (which also explains why May Lee made the cut instead of King, and why Kim was given better animation than most fighters).

But still, I digress. I had a lot of fun playing KOF 2002. The gameplay, music, character art, and backgrounds were clearly a lot better than the "rush job" that was KOF 2001. Let's hope Playmore improves on the gameplay and character roster further once they're given complete creative control of KOF (starting with 2003). If there's any bright side to what lies ahead, at least Eolith won't be around to screw up the property big time (don't get me wrong; they nearly got it right with KOF 2002, but having Nona still around and there not being any one-shot endings, coupled with the lack of more BGs and the not-so-diverse character lineup pretty much ruined the magic that was supposed to have been a "dream match". In short, if anyone from Playmore's reading this (yeah right), I want a "Dream Re-Match"!
RANT MODE: OFF

Nonetheless, KazuyaUK, you gave an excellent review. Hats off to you for such a deep report. And yes, I do think that Lin would've been a better choice than Ramon for the 2000 Team (although I do agree with you, Spike, that he is rock solid in '02, I still say that fans and gamers alike would've been happier with Lin).

...and that's the end of that chapter.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Thanks for the long reply. As far as I know it is the same artist for KOF 2002 as KOF 2001, but I can't remember his name now (anyone care to enlighten me?).

I do agree with you on most of the points you make - especially on Chang and Choi. I think some people do like them, but imho (I might be totally wrong) the majority of players would be happier if they axed them totally in favour of people like Jhun and Eiji. I know Chang and Choi are classic characters that have been there from the start, but so was King and even she was cut out this year... and I think more people like her than Chang or Choi

Once again, thanks everyone for all the nice comments and also feedback, it's always more than welcome.

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Originally posted by evasyar:
<strong>the art was done by - NONA</strong><hr></blockquote>

Ah right, thanks man

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Originally posted by Kazuya_UK:
<strong>

Thanks for the long reply. As far as I know it is the same artist for KOF 2002 as KOF 2001, but I can't remember his name now (anyone care to enlighten me?).

I do agree with you on most of the points you make - especially on Chang and Choi. I think some people do like them, but imho (I might be totally wrong) the majority of players would be happier if they axed them totally in favour of people like Jhun and Eiji. I know Chang and Choi are classic characters that have been there from the start, but so was King and even she was cut out this year... and I think more people like her than Chang or Choi

Once again, thanks everyone for all the nice comments and also feedback, it's always more than welcome.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Again, you did a tremendous job on that review. I think it's time Eolith and/or Playmore REALLY listened to the fans, instead of themselves. Example:

Eolith HQ, May 2002

Programmer 1: We're running out of ideas as to how to form the teams for KOF 2002. What shall we do?

Programmer 2: I know! We'll give all the Korean characters priority over anyone else! Hey, we're in charge, so we can do whatever the hell we want! For starters, let's keep Chang and Choi on the Korean team, and give Kim a new animated stance. And as for May Lee, we'll place her on the Female Fighters team.

Programmer 1: But what about King and Jhun? Wouldn't it be better if we put them in the game instead?

Programmer 2: Are you kidding?! Nobody plays as them anymore! Besides, we shall prove to the world that Korean characters are the best, no matter how ever many regulars we have to knock off! In a few years, they'll be nothing but Korean fighters in the series, and people will still be drawn to the game. Our dream will soon come to pass! MUAHAHAHAHA!!

Programmer 2: But what about all the hate mail that'll stem from our actions?

Programmer 1: Piff! What can those people do about it? They're not here, therefore, we don't have to listen to them. As long as we hold complete creative control over the KOF series, the money and suckers will keep on pouring in! Hey NONA! You got the new characters illustrations ready?

Nona: Almost! Just let me sharpen my Crayola crayons and they'll be done in a few more minutes. *throws together a quick sketch of Yamazaki* Well, what do you think?

Programmer 2: Excellent! That'll be our official illustration!

Programmer 1: Uhh... don't you think it looks a little "off-center"?

Programmer 2: It doesn't matter how "off-center" the drawing is; people will be more concerned with the game itself. Sure, we could've hired a better artist, but we've got Nona here working for peanuts, which means all the more money for us!

Programmer 1: I don't know... this all seems so wrong... shouldn't we be doing something for the fans?

Programmer 2: Who? I don't care about some educated person with a lot of valid points; all we should care about is getting this project over with so I can get my paycheck. There! That's the last of the game code. What's our next project?

Programmer 1: Something called "SNK Vs. Capcom".

Programmer 2: HEH! HEH! HEH!

-END... or is it?

I'm sorry, but until either Playmore wises up, gives Eolith a swift kick in the nuts for realizing they've screwed with the KOF license far too long, and/or brings back a whole bunch of characters (as well as replaces Nona with Hiroaki as official artist), I won't be letting this issue go. It's time Playmore stopped constantly staring at the green and started listening to their fans.

Playmore/Eolith/Whoever had so many golden opportunities to make KOF 2002 their best game to date; they could've added more introductions, more backgrounds, more characters (and fan-friendly teams), special endings, even more music (a N.E.S.T.S. theme would've been nice). Hell, all this could've been done had they taken in another month or two for developement, but NO! They decided the game was good enough on it's own merits, without any of the magic that made '98 a TRUE dream match. KOF 2002 isn't a Dream Match; more like a "Daydream match starring only the newer characters, leaving the older ones behind". Until I see a "director's cut" of KOF 2002 (with more extras and features than a special edition DVD), I'll never put this issue to rest. Someone out there in the offices of Playmore is probably reading this right now (I'm an idealist; I'm allowed to make far-off statements); let's hope they get the message... END OF RANT 2!


All things aside, one thing I did notice is that certain KOF characters are missing from the BGs, namely Shingo, Hinako, Chizuru, and Saishu. Could Playmore/Eolith have something in store for them, or were they just simply left out (due to ignorance). I'm willing to guess the latter...

Edit: evasyar, I know that Nona did the character illustrations for 2K1 and 2002, but I think what KazuyaUK was who the IN-GAME artist was (I doubt it's Nona, though). Perhaps it's time I end my ranting and start talking to Trieuminator...

Sorry about the inexcusably long rant. I've had a hard day and need a drink. Anyone wanna sell me a Mike's Hard Lemonade? I'll buy one for $5.00 shipped!

[ January 16, 2003: Message edited by: insaneben ]

[ January 16, 2003: Message edited by: insaneben ]</p>

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