Well, it's slowly growing on me... seems that I have to take back a few things I've said about the game... a few more things to be precise...
So, to bring it to a point, I've written a short (hehe) review/first impression, hope it's going to be a lil' more objective than my initial ramblings.
Okay, here we go:
Gameplay
The core of NW's engine is loosely based on KoF2k2, but many characters underwent serious tweaking, specially in terms of cancellables and certain special moves. In addition to the 2k2 core, NW features a Mode Select where you can chose from three different play modes: SC (Super Cancel) Mode lets you have up to 3 stocks, 2k2-style Free Cancels and Super Cancels, GB (Guard Break) Mode includes Just Defend from Garou - MotW (only high and low attacks, no mid-air JDs), up to 2 stocks and an unblockable guard crush move (qcf+CD while blocking an attack), and finally M2 (MAX2) Mode where your chara does way more damage. You only have one stock at max, but the stock bar refills automatically and you can use HSDMs in this mode.
Wires/Critical Wires from KoF2k1 also make a return. In Guard Break mode, the qcf+CD guard breaker move will let your character flash golden, the following crushing move will always Wire-juggle your opponent, thus giving you a free juggle/combo ticket. Nice.
As mentioned before, there are quite a few new move/cancel options which give some of the old faces a new spin. A few examples:
- Free Cancels into throws and projectiles are now possible
- Both players start with a full power stock bar
- Kyo's df+D is now cancellable at the 1st hit
- Goro can now Free Cancel his dp+P and qcf+K
- Chris can Free Cancel into qcf+P and dp+P
- Most of Terry's normals are faster than in KoF2k2
- Iori lost his dp+P super cancel
- Iori's qcfx4+AC DM-followup does less damage
...and the list goes on.
Unlike my previous assumption that NW wouldn't have a lot of new things to find out, it seems that SNKP put quite some thought into it. Some previous flaws have been ironed out, and overall the game seems balanced enough to be played at high-level, except for a few unlucky Mode combinations. Here, the scrubbing/abuse potential is quite high, specially in MAX2 mode with endless stock bar refills. Some HSDMs have been reworked, former (S)DMs turned into HSDMs, and this is where cheap tactics may come into play when a HSDM like King's Surprise Rose (b,f,df,d+BD, yes, it's a HSDM now) not only is relatively simple to pull off but also hits quite hard.
Thankfully, the Super and Free Cancels in SC mode have become quite refined to counter potential scrubbing with flexible attack and defense. Free Cancelling (also called "BC cancels" in KoF2k2) are way more intuitive now because you don't have to press BC anymore, you just have to have at least one stock and off ye go (a Free Cancel costs one stock each). This also renders the dreaded quick-BC activation combos obsolete, now even those with heavy fingers can use Free Cancels with a bit of practise.
Overall, gameplay seems to be spot on. The Mode selection may be a bit overwhelming at first because you can't really say SC is good and MAX2 sucks because they all have their ups and downs; while SC and GB modes give you a lot of technical options and workarounds for offensive/rush-down games, MAX2, while not as refined as the other two, counters the lack of features with heavy damage, even more so when in Heat Mode.
Speaking of Heat Mode, this is where the fifth button of the original AW button layout comes into play. By pressing E, your chara starts flashing red, all your moves do even more damage now. On the downside, Heat Mode quickly empties your lifebar (!) and therefore must be used with caution. You cannot activate it when your lifebar is flashing red.
Wether Heat Mode is a useful gameplay addition or just a gimmick remains to be seen, at least I wasn't too successful with it so far. You can enter Heat Mode while jumping so this may come in handy to do an exceptionally damaging standard jumping combo; try Takuma's bread-and-butter combo jB-> sB -> f+B -> hcb+D (5 hits) while in Heat Mode, you'll be surprised about the difference in damage compared to normal mode.
Graphics
The original arcade game features high-res 2D backgrounds and the usual standard KoF sprites with one or two new outfits/palettes. However, the character artwork is debatable at best. While some dig the "new" look, some of the male characters' faces give me seizures; Robert looks weird, like a victim of a plastic surgery gone bad, there are too many round noses and indifferent facial expressions - on the light side, the character portraits are slightly more fleshed out than before; I'm a big fan of Shinkiro's artwork and still love him, but a lot of his faces looked the same, unlike the new designer crew. At least they try, even tho I personally can't relate to most of their stuff. The female characters look good.
Sprites are still the same old KoF sprites we've seen before. They look slightly out of place in front of those high-res backs, moreso in the PS2 version with its moving 3D-ish backgrounds. The port also offers various graphics options to fiddle with, like six different character/sprite anti-aliasing levels, monitor zoom, sharp/soft display modes, etc. Of course the original arcade mode is in there, even tho the game starts with the usual 3D bells and whistles who already were in previous KoF ports.
The original backgrounds look decent, but kinda lifeless. Nothing too special, even tho I'm getting used to them....
Sound/Music
Same ol' voice acting, garnished with blunt J-pop-ish tracks, some of them are decent, overall the music does the trick and isn't too annoying, but it pales in comparison to older KoFs, which is a bit weird because of the AW's supposedly superior sound with way more storage than the old Neo ever had... ah well.
Presentation
Boring intro, some text scrolling with weird coloring/shadow effects and an intro tune without punch - nothing worth mentioning. The menu is standard fare. The PS2 port has slightly more options than the original game, mostly in terms of graphic and sound options.
I always said that SNKP have to work on the presentation of their stuff.. they should look over to Capcom to see how it's done - say what you will about CFJ or any other of the latest Capcom releases, most of their intros are way better than anything SNKP have put out so far.
Conclusion
KoF NW is a good game with excellent gameplay that IMO badly suffers from weird character artwork and overall uninspired presentation, both in terms of graphics and sound, but the myriads of gameplay options and the big roster make feeding the cab with tokens or buying the port a worthy investment.
A lot has been said about the old sprites; many people feel that Playmore should have come up with something new in this regard, but perhaps the new KoF XI will give us the long-awaited sprites update - if they still have some time left between Tenka and KoF XI...
In short, if you like KoF2k2 and/or have a soft spot for technical fighters, you will love KoF NW - all others should give it a try first.
