This just may be the next “KoF ‘98”. I printed out moves & combos for Iori, Athena, & Angel from <a href="http://www.kofonline.com." target="_blank">www.kofonline.com.</a>
The programmers put quite a bit of emphasis into Angel. This shows from her extensive chain combos, shadow moves, and fluid animation. When Angel jumps backwards, she doesn’t just hop, she does a flashy animated back flip. Will spend more time learning about this new character later.
Iori, I enjoy watching his Max desperation move, other than that, he’s not a favorite of mine at the moment.
Now Athena. She would be my favorite KoF “play” character. They shortened her hair again, I liked it better long. Anyways, fireballs, multi-hit uppercuts (that can be initiated on ground or in the air), projectile reflection, and stacked with very effective desperation moves. After a solid hour of practice, I was able to pull off her Physic 9 twenty-one hit combo, half of the time during VS play. That’s one tricky combo. Requires perfect timing or she falls on her butt, literally.
Desperation move, A, B, C, A, B, C, D, uppercut, uppercut and you just scored > 50% damage. She changes outfits 5 or 6x throughout the combo and ends in a bikini!
Here is a video of this very combo, this expert version involves strikers: <a href="http://minazuki.3nopage.com/atena.mpg" target="_blank">http://minazuki.3nopage.com/atena.mpg</a>
The bosses really shine in KoF 2001. The first or mid boss, Zero, is pretty much the same except for some new animations but I did see two strikers that are visually impressive. One striker is a large black lion that reminds me of a summoned bahaumut from the Final Fantasy series, not very effective though. The other striker appears to be another summon creature (magic the gathering speak). His attack is apparently unblockable, if he attacks directly in front of you. His exit is rather unique as well, as he rots away when no longer in use.
According to the story line, the Big Cheese, the Geese Howard, the final boss, is some sort of demi-god. Igniz, pronounced egg-nice, is a floating powerhouse. Although his name is beyond lame, the challenge and visuals he provides you with are very impressive. I believe Igniz qualifies as the bosses of KoF bosses for sure. He makes Zero look like a “zero” when it comes to fighting.
Igniz posses super fast fireballs, excessively high defense and life, an uppercut that can juggle you indefinitely (if the CPU chooses to do so), and power moves (desperations moves) that fill the screen while removing large chunks of your life bar. In fact, his maximum desperation move is definitely pushed to the limit. The background lightens (the match is over at this point, put the controller down), he shoves you to the end of the stage and slams you into the wall, then proceeds to obliterate you with several desperation moves (counted 4 total), one after another, until he ends with a giant particle blast. Major overkill, but that’s what makes this boss so appealing!
I may spend more time with the above mini review and turn it in to Bobak for the Reviews section. However, some may consider my opinions to be biased for whatever reasons.
This is a hot title, definitely worth playing/buying, especially below $300 on AES. Strongly recommended, etc., good night.
I can't wait for this game. We NEED more movies. Levely 32 credits there. With a boss character like that they have to be necasary.