Knocking down opponents in a limited amount of time and space, and KOing enemies with gorgeous combos, this sense of achievement and impact of fighting games has always impressed countless players. However, limited by the natural technical barriers of the old guns of the fighting, the ultra-high entry threshold has also made countless newcomers stop and return home in sorrow.
Long time no see
As the final work of the "Big Snake Chapter", the youth memories of Chinese players, the arcade overlord "King of Fighters 97" is now nearly twenty-five years away, and even the 3D test work "King of Fighters 14" has passed six years, and the new work "King of Fighters 15", which is highly anticipated by the fan group, has finally met with players. Although there is no blessing from the streets and alleys of arcade halls, I believe that this multi-faceted innovation of snk will surely rekindle the fire of fighting in the hearts of new and old players.
If only time could be turned back
Battle Characters Has as many as 39 characters to choose from in this game, and it is worth mentioning that on the basis of ensuring the game experience of new pit players, it has greatly respected the nostalgic enthusiasm of veteran fighting game fans. The former goddess Kagura returns, and although the design of the clothes is not ideal, the means of fighting are already ethereal enough; the Great Snake team re-emerges, and twenty years are fleeting. Since "King of Fighters 2002", the Seven Shackles, Charme and Chris have once again become one with the player in this game, and snk thanks the players for their perseverance and expectations in a unique way; what is even more emotional is that K9999, who appeared with Angel, Kura and others in the "King of Fighters 2001" sound nest team and was highly acclaimed, finally returned. K49 was extremely popular at the critical moment of SNK's bankruptcy in 2001, but it was deleted because it was similar to the main character of Akira Otomo's anime Akira, Shima Tetsuo. The shadow hidden in the Emperor of Fighters encyclopedia was finally seen in the image of Cologne in "King of Fighters 15", and Angel also called K49 in the ending of the Cologne team in the plot mode of this work, which could not help but make people sigh again.
K49 super must kill, what a nightmare
Graphics special effects believe that many players have such a doubt: is the graphic performance of a fighting game really important? Or, in other words, putting aside the seemingly fancy pairing and super kills, the playability of the fighting game is exactly how much remains in the standing back. This is undoubtedly a bitter lesson for SNK, because the technology is immature and forced to choose the company's self-developed fighting game engine to produce King of Fighters 14, due to the many problems of screen rendering, it was ridiculed by the player group as if it was just yesterday. After a few days of experience, this time the Unreal Engine 4 can be said to be not to seek merit, but to seek no fault.
This dress really doesn't dare to compliment
Compared with the previous game, the 3D rendered picture is simply a leap forward, and compared with the plastic rendering that has been criticized by players in the previous game, the realism of the light and shadow performance of this game has made a significant improvement. Although the stiffness of character modeling is occasionally visible, and the problem of wearing molds is also laughable, it is undeniable that the once turbulent snk is indeed on the road to the next generation. At the moment when the art style is changed from 2D to 3D, I hope that the only thing that will remain unchanged is the teenager who was obsessed with rubbing tricks in the arcade hall.
In addition to the rendering, the overall tone performance is also far stronger than the previous game, and even has the effect of pressing "King of Fighters 13", but on the basis of the slightly chaotic combat background, it is difficult to say that it has obvious advantages over several other fighting game manufacturers.
The background is slightly cluttered
Combat system
Compared with the version of the previous game that was called "2B game" by the majority of game enthusiasts, the combat system of this game has been greatly improved. (2B is a light foot command in the game, resulting in the version of the powerful character must have a 4 frame, far enough, low enough to be hit by the decision frame)
Grass under the light foot 2 gas BC migrant worker company
In the game screen of "King of Fighters 14", you can often see Mary, Eight Gods, Instant Shadow and other characters constantly using the next B, if the point is opened BC to set, the point is not in the point to continue to point, until the point, when 95% of the way to even stroke is under B, the same battle experience will quickly dissipate the enthusiasm of the player. In addition, the ordinary attack of "King of Fighters 14" only needs an air slot to enter the BC, and the speed of the hit recovery is particularly fast, which makes it difficult for many players to adapt, the overall combat experience is cyclical, and the game perception is extremely poor.
In King of Fighters 15, the above problems have been reasonably circumvented. First of all, punching and kicking BC requires two air slots, and the BC launched by ordinary attacks such as punches and feet is pink BC, which is the QUICK MAX MODE in the game, which is only half the time of the naked blue BC (MAX MODE), and does not enjoy the bonus of attack power and defense breaking value during this time. In this work, the income value of pink BC, that is, fast BC, has basically been reduced to 0, and the era of punching and kicking the lottery to open BC has become a thing of the past, and newcomers can boldly enter the pit, and this game still continues the system of the previous generation in terms of handability. As long as you continue to use light punches, the system will automatically help players play different moves and substitute super kills on the basis of the air slot, which can be said to be full of sincerity.
Smash the successive sections of the blow
Another thing worth mentioning is the newly introduced core system, SHATTER STRIKE. It's something that came up in the King of Fighters New Wave version, very close to Street Fighter 4's SA. Consumes one air slot, the character makes a CD attack action and comes with its own block, after hitting the opponent, there is a kneeling or bouncing wall effect, the player can choose to chase, after hitting can recover half of the air slot. These changes have made the uncertainty of King of Fighters 15 extremely large, and put forward the highest requirements ever for the knowledge and proficiency of players, and I believe that under the development of your high play, this mechanism will be promising.
Not yet proficient in SHAFT STRIKE
Feel the experience
The feel of fighting games varies from person to person, but the King of Fighters series is undoubtedly the one with the most input commands per unit time, and this game is naturally no exception. Unlike Street Fighter's steady victory, the King of Fighters series has indeed achieved its own extreme in the field of smooth jump attack, and at the same time, in the accuracy of jump instructions, personally feel that the demand for players is higher.
When it comes to the feel, the keyboard experience of this work is really not flattering, the slightly uncomfortable default key and the space button that is forced to lock by the system have become the biggest drawback of the experience for several days, and under the improvement of the command accuracy requirements, the problem of key optimization is really a bit unreasonable.
Slightly simpler CG
King of Fighters has always emphasized the number of playable characters, rather than the single-character characteristics and deep playability characteristics of the new generation of games. Even sometimes the relatively simple plot will make you forget for a moment that this is a new generation of carrying work. The static CG cutscene is more like a love letter to an old player, with the twists and turns of these more than two decades.
Thanks for the company
Then comes the important test that every fighting game will face, namely the network problem. The long-heard rollback code has played a stable role in the network battle, and in the more than 100 games played by the author, there are almost no problems without accelerator assistance, and the frame rate and delay are generally the same as offline matches.
In addition, snk's music production has been kept at a good level, and this DJ station feature allows players to enjoy the music from previous works and set it as the background music for the battle. This is an element not to be missed for veteran players of SNK games. People have feelings, and for the emotional card, SNK did a good job this time.
This wave of emotion is full
If there is any suggestion for this game, it is probably the beginner tutorial part, and for a game with such diverse combat decisions, simple combo practice is more chicken. Compared with the temptation and the standing back, the bigger advantage of the king of fighters lies in their gorgeous combat experience and the variability of jumping into the attack, perhaps in the future, the AAAB-style combo contact can have more practical things, such as: how to use the air - how to face the enemy with strong aerial skills - how to face the safety jump - how to face the air to change tracks, etc., with the injection of fresh blood from the player group, I believe that the next action polishing will be more delicate.
The significance of actual combat training is slightly weaker
The long-term improvement of the animation rendering performance, the battle design that returns to the heart, the constantly tried mechanical decision-making, and the feelings and memories that are precious to the old players. All of this is enough to make people believe that "King of Fighters 15" has lived up to the wait of six years. He does have some flaws, but he is also completely worthy of the most suitable work for newcomers to enter the pit.
Rating (10 out of 10):
Picture effects: 7 points, obviously better than the previous generation, but need to be further polished on the 3D road.
Battle System: 10 points, enrich the combat experience, weaken the fast BC touch prize.
Motion feel: 8 points, very few combos stutter, keyboard player nightmare.
Single-player mode: 8 points, has never paid attention to single-player plot, but considering the style problem is quite acceptable.
Battle experience: 9 points, the rollback code is indeed worthy of the name.
Music sound effects: 10 points, King of Fighters players nostalgic old players account for the vast majority.
Overall (100 out of 1):
Total score: 80 points, looks like a decent score, in fact, snk has slowly improved a lot, this game must not be the best boxer, but Street Fighter 5 is not the best Street Fighter. So even if there is still a slight gap with other action manufacturers, the good villains have already walked on the road of the next generation, which is worth looking forward to.