The King of Fighters XIV is, as its name alludes to, a fighting game in the long running The King of Fighters series. Developed for PlayStation 4, this iteration of the game is unique in that it is the first game in the series to be rendered completely in 3D.
The game, unlike its predecessors uses full 3D models for characters and backgrounds, though fighting still occurs on a 2D plane. The game pits players in a three-on-three tag team battle, though characters can’t be interchanged during battle unless they have been defeated. This makes character selection crucial, which can be a challenge in itself when choosing from over 48 characters.
This 14th iteration of the game, spanning across 22 years, sees a whole host of new, robust, characters including many from previous games. While built in 3D, the art style of the game can make characters appear rather stiff and dulled down, which does feel like a let down to such a unique set of characters. Likewise, whilst a step up from the traditional 2D visuals of earlier games in the series, the visuals of The King of Fighters XIV is nothing compared to other fighting games currently in the market, such as Street Fighter V or even One Piece: Burning Blood.
The good news is that the visuals and graphics in no way affect the game mechanics, though long time fans of The King of Fighters games will notice that this version does appear very slightly slower in terms of movements. However, fighting game fans will still get a kick out of the relatively fast-paced, punchy, combo-heavy gameplay.
Unlike Street Fighter games, The King of Fighters XIV comes with a number of different play modes. Newcomers to the series will enjoy and likely make full use of the game’s in depth training mode, which not only allows players to familiarise themselves with characters, but also to practice using each character’s special techniques. In addition, there’s also a story mode, which players can enjoy (if there’s no expectation of plot-heavy narratives) as well as an online mode.
When comparing The King of Fighters XIV to other fighting games, the one thing that stands out is that this game is truly designed for hardcore fighting gamers and is a lot neater than Street Fighter V was at launch, with an easy, gradual learning curve and a multitude of different play modes. This in itself, sets the game apart from other, newer, fighting games which appear quite hard to learn for newcomers to the fighting game genre.
Whilst the game hasn’t quite broken through the Western market in terms of popularity, it is still a fighting game worth playing, whether you’re simply playing for fun or wanting to challenge friends, if you can ignore the visuals.
Interested in checking the game out? It’s now on sale here.