The King Of Fighters: Neowave
Here comes an old challenger: it's not quite the Match Of The Millennium we were hoping for, but Neo-Geo vs Atomiswave isn't a total no-show
Not quite KOF 2004, NeoWave is in the unenviable position of being a transitional game - a test run for the marriage of SNK Playmore production and Atomiswave hardware. Thought the in-game sprites, animation and voice samples appear largley unchanged from the Neo-Geo outings - KOF 2002 in particular - the frontend, interface and 3D backgrounds clearly take advantage of Atomiswave's extra power.
Recycling aside, Neowave has two attractive aspects: a generally excellent interpretation of the cast for their portriats, and a wide selection of systems cherry-picked from previous titles. Three fighting styles are available - Super Cancel, which allows chaining of super attacks; Guard Break, which is chiefly self-expanitory but also includes Garou: Mark of the Wolves' moment-of-impact Just Defense systems; and MAX2 which allows a tide-turning super attack when less than a quarter of the players life bar remains. Entirely new to the series is the introduction of a fifth button to toggle Heat Mode, during which the life bar is cannibalised to power up attacks.
There's enough craft on display to make this more that KOF's redheaded stepchild - but Neowave will chiefly be gauged as a warm-up for the real tournament.
Here comes an old challenger: it's not quite the Match Of The Millennium we were hoping for, but Neo-Geo vs Atomiswave isn't a total no-show
Not quite KOF 2004, NeoWave is in the unenviable position of being a transitional game - a test run for the marriage of SNK Playmore production and Atomiswave hardware. Thought the in-game sprites, animation and voice samples appear largley unchanged from the Neo-Geo outings - KOF 2002 in particular - the frontend, interface and 3D backgrounds clearly take advantage of Atomiswave's extra power.
Recycling aside, Neowave has two attractive aspects: a generally excellent interpretation of the cast for their portriats, and a wide selection of systems cherry-picked from previous titles. Three fighting styles are available - Super Cancel, which allows chaining of super attacks; Guard Break, which is chiefly self-expanitory but also includes Garou: Mark of the Wolves' moment-of-impact Just Defense systems; and MAX2 which allows a tide-turning super attack when less than a quarter of the players life bar remains. Entirely new to the series is the introduction of a fifth button to toggle Heat Mode, during which the life bar is cannibalised to power up attacks.
There's enough craft on display to make this more that KOF's redheaded stepchild - but Neowave will chiefly be gauged as a warm-up for the real tournament.