I really should have mentioned this in my review. There’s not a single other fighter on the market that doesn’t have female fighters that make me cringe to see and make me reluctant to play in front of my wife and kids. Injustice 2 is the next closest because of the source material, but it’s a distant second. KI took three pervy, Janet Jackson looking sex dolls from KI 2 and made them into interesting characters. Orchid, Maya and Kim Wu all look great, have distinct and interesting personalities in the form of their gameplay and aren’t just leaping around flashing skin. Mira is the same and even Sadira is well off the cheesecake standard set in other games. I cannot express adequately how glad I am for this, and I wish more games would take this approach. Likewise Thunder as a character is 1000 times more interesting in this game than KI 1. I think it was brave and creative and a complete success to take the approach that they did to character design.
Well said, and I couldn’t agree more. I know that some don’t like the current incarnations of some of these characters, but the fact that the decisions were made to make this game more modern and grown up in this regard was honestly refreshing.
Some point to the irony of “maturity” in a game with a robot fighting a dinosaur, but I think the content itself differs from how the content is presented and in this game, so I’m happy that the presentation thankfully forgoes the frankly embarrassing stereotypes and design choices that this genre’s been known for since the early 90’s. To me, that’s a big plus.
I happen to agree with the mature angle these characters had received when comparing to their previous games. There’s hardly anything of them that comes off as stereotypical that would have been too idiotic in this day. I would hate to read weird comments from immature gamers talking about the “eye candy” in this. It gives me the creeps.
When Jeff and I first saw the trailer, we were hyped, we didn’t even stop talking about it or the rest of the day. We even re-watched trailer not once but twice!. I even shouted the name of the characters before the announcer shouted them.
First I’m gonna get the bad stuff out of the way.
Negatives.
So far, only 15 characters have ultimates and I do hope to see more of them. This could do more for everybody since every character has fans.
Gameplay
This is by far the most balanced fighting game of all. It certainly is balanced when compared to MvC3 which would keep you in a combo and you never escape. It has a uphill kind of style to it. It starts off easy, but as you further and further it gets harder. I put a ton of hours into the game even after it came out.
Season system.
This one will have some people disagreeing with it, but I was okay with the systems, I see the advantage of having for those who longed to have their favorite characters return. If they never went with that some would;ve been left out. That may not be a big deal to some but it can be a deal breaker for others.
Character Designs.
It’s the most diverse roster in all of fighting game history. Even if some people don’t like that, I personally do. It’s the only game that can pit a dinosaur against a werewolf, or a boxer. No other fighting game has ever made an attempt at that. The designs, I had an open mind to. I knew they were going to give them new looks, and I was prepared for what was going to happen to Riptor. What I didn’t expect was her to loose the snake aspect, but I love both versions of her equally, and I think she is the first cybernetic dinosaur in a fighting game.Needless to say, I’am very happy to see that the whole cast form KI-1 and KI-2 return and I will continue to fight for that in the future.
Ultimates
While the ultimates aren’t in all of the cast I do enjoy most of them. Riptor, Glacius, and Sabrewulf, being my favorites. I know some people hated the idea of KI being rated teen, but at the same time if we got an M-rating most if not all of the ultimates would’ve involved buckets of blood unless of course you are Glacius and you can freeze them to death. But not all of the ultimates are that good. TJ’s could’ve been better, and Sadira well…I’m with the crowd that things she could’ve done more.
Shadow Lords
Shadow lords has fallen flat in some instances, like the shadow data’s fail to load and that we aren’t always going to get a different guardian each time.
Nostalgia
I enjoyed the original KI and I do play it from time to time, and I enjoyed some of the nostalgia that was brought into the game. Game shouldn’t always have to rely too much on nostalgia, but a happy blend works out for everyone.
Overall a 9.9/10
That’s true, I’d love to have kept that effect but I really do prefer the rich purple smoke of the new one.
I’m going for 9/10 as well. I have my grievances, most of which have been discussed, but lately I’ve come to the realisation that when I say “I like fighting games,” I really mean “I like Killer Instinct.” There just hasn’t been an FG that’s tickled the same feeling
I honestly don’t understand how despite the reviews containing quite a few cons, as well as pros, the overall score ends up being higher than a 7/10. Granted, people are entitled to their opinion; however, I don’t really think most here are being totally objective, and the end result becomes “I like ‘X’, so despite ‘X’ having multiple problems, I’m still giving ‘X’ a high score.”
I’m not here to be a party pooper of any sort. The only way this game can become any better is if there are true objective analyses provided. Yes, many of you have done so, and for that, I appreciate it.
Any way, here’s my breakdown:
Pros:
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Best netcode thus far (on par with Neo Geo Battle Colesium, Samurai Shodown Sen, and Virtua Fighter 5 FS)
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Unique cast with unique sub-systems for each character. Aside from Jago, everyone feels like a hybrid character akin to KOF, where each character falls in 2 or more character archetypes.
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Good balance of depth and accessibility for both vets and newcomers. Players actually know what they did wrong after a failed combo breaker attempt. This is synonymous to the way Guilty Gear lets players know if they didn’t block specific attacks properly.
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Excellent sound overall. I could honestly tell without looking at the screen what was happening, and that’s something that most games aren’t capable of producing.
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Great tutorial system, only rivaling the tutorial on “Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution”
Cons:
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Glitches dating back from S1 were still around and/or took a very long time to get patched out
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Not enough cosmetics and other interesting unlockables to keep casuals interested. Instead, players were presented with a quick cash grab for poorly executed skins. Plus, the level 50 cap should’ve been a bit higher, or doubled at least, to open up more opportunities for unlockables.
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Not every character has extra stages or songs. How is it that Mira, who is actually in the KI canon doesn’t get character theme music or a character stage, and Arbiter, who clearly is not apart of KI canon, gets both a character stage and character theme music?
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Having a “Teen” rating really hurt the games overall presentation, especially with the implementation of things like Ultimates.
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Microsoft not really supporting the game finance-wise ended up leading to the cinematic enders and Ultimates not looking to exciting for fans and spectators alike.
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Season structure has and still does put fans at odds when it comes to waiting for new characters, drastic system changes, and other nuances like cosmetic items and Ultimates. This also produces strange things like having font for season 1 on certain modes, and having season 2 layouts for other things, while we’re currently in season 3.
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Despite having a great tutorial, there isn’t any character-specific tutorial. I’ve talked to many people about this, and it would’ve been something that would’ve made more people interested in learning a character. Yes, there’s YouTube and other means of getting specific info, but not everyone wants to hunt and peck for that sort of information all of the time. Again, I make another reference to VF4:Evo, and how not only was there a general tutorial for the system, but there were individual character tutorials, as well as other game-specific tutorials that helped the player learn about how to deal with certain situations. Guilty Gear XRD did something similar to that as well.
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Not being available for Steam for such a long time has definitely polarized potential fans who just aren’t willing to shell out ducats for an Xbox One, or are willing to upgrade from Windows 7/8 to Windows 10.
So, all in all, I’d give this game a 6.75/10. It may have gotten a better score if this were done in S2 or even S1. Would I recommend this game to any fighting game fan? Most definitely! I do believe this game needs more support mainly from Microsoft. It could’ve easily capitalize on SFV’s sales. From the competitive FGC perspective, what was it that made well-known players from many games make the decision to drop this game, especially after the massive, but beneficial overhaul that was S3??? Also, from the casual(?) perspective, out of the 6+ million downloads, how many of them are still actually playing the game??? What are the issues surrounding this game that may have led these players from being dedicated to a relatively great game???
Again, I’m not deliberately bashing the game, or trying to sound like a salty player from the days of ole. I totally wanted to review this from a legitimate objective viewpoint. Please feel free to point out any inconsistencies I may have overlooked. Thanks!
What do you mean by this? You mean theme music?
Yes, I was referring to theme music. I had several things in my head while I was typing… My bad… lol
It’s cool. I think you can access miras music from the character select menu. In s3 they gave players the option to choose character themes because not every character was getting a stage.
Yes, I get that. My thing is I can understand guest characters not getting a stage or theme music. Characters that are actually apart of KI canon should’ve at least gotten both imo. You can’t equate this to console limitations either. I’m sure not many people would’ve complained about Rash or Arbiter not getting a stage. That makes more sense. Imagine Ryu not having a stage in any iteration of SF?
Not to derail anything, from a reviewers standpoint, they’re typically more forgiving if a non-canon character doesn’t get too much treatment over a canon-based character. They may still complain, but most if not some reviewers will be forgiving in general about those sort of things, especially if there’s no huge financial support for the game, as is the case with KI.
Oh now i understand. I get it. I agree actually.
Well, for me, saying “the game has best in-class netcode, gameplay, balance, character design, and sound design” accounts for a LOT. It doesn’t take up much space in a bullet point list, and yes, KI has multiple problems, but I’ll give it a high score because that list overcomes a lot of its problems for me.
Even among your list, I agree with several (not all) negative points, but the fact that (for example) the Steam version took a long time to come doesn’t knock any points off the score for me. When sites review a game, they don’t say “it’s not on PS4, so we’re taking 1 point off the total.”
If we’re judging this based on the regular videogame review metric (which has flaws, but ok), 6.75 puts it way worse than Marvel Infinite and SFV (games that were 7 at worst, 9 at best), and games that have problems so severe and numerous that it’s an insult to the entire genre – the people who continue to play those games either like the gameplay enough to try and block out everything else that has sent the genre back 10 years, or they play for the money. For my money, KI isn’t that low.
If you’re talking about known names from other games, very rarely will a player stick with a non-SF or non-Marvel game for longer than a few months. They almost always play some games on the side, use their strong fundamentals to win early, then quit when the game gets to be too much work to keep up with (as everyone else gets better). I don’t think it has anything to do with the quality of the game.
If you’re talking about players who mostly just played KI, well, there are a few factors, but two main ones: 1) the community was extremely negative about a bunch of bullsh*t and that both a) made good people leave and b) soured almost everybody else (they poisoned the root of the tree, and it eventually spread to the entire playerbase), and 2) you get tired of playing a game after a while, so you branch out to other titles. Again, I don’t think either of these is largely due to the quality of the game.
Honestly, the game not being released on Steam didn’t even change my score much, considering it was available for Windows 10.
Trust me, if I were to score SFV and MvCI, the scores would be waaaay lower, especially considering they were dealing with a bigger budget overall-- enough money for marketing, world cups, dlc, etc… I digress though…
That’s not totally true, especially when you think of NRS players. Yes I do agree that they may have side games, but there are tons of players who stick with that main game. Tekken 7 is an example. I know quite a few people who I knew about way back during the Tekken Tag 1 tournament scene that still play Tekken only as their tourney game. Keep in mind, these games aren’t SF. I would agree with that point for maybe extremely newer players, but even that point is hit or miss from my personal experience and analysis.
My main point honestly was for the players who didn’t treat KI as a trend, but rather those who actually had a passion for the game but left during S2 or S3— why? Or rather, what about the game made people feel as if it was time to pack up and hop on another game. This is more of a side thought that kinda popped in my head.
I appreciate your feedback (yours and everyone else who’ve posted thus far)!!!
Yeah, I guess what I meant to say is “those who play SF and Marvel tend to only dabble in other games, and usually only briefly.” Clearly there are NRS-only, and Tekken-only, and anime-only, and Smash-only players, but I think that very few players in those scenes tried KI. If there was cross-pollination, it was usually SF/Marvel players, largely because KI is closest to SF in gameplay.
Why have so few people from other scenes tried KI? I dunno, but I think it being on only Xbox has a lot to do with it.
I think I answered this mostly in my other message, but I really do think it has to do with strong negativity from a small subset of players, which really poisoned the group that had played either during S1 or S2. I think I could write an entire blog post/retrospective on what I think happened, but very rarely would I mention the quality of the game as the reason why. For example, Keits (lead combat designer) used to be very active in the forums and on various other channels (twitter, discord, twitch chat)… he has more or less vanished completely from talking to players, because of the way the scene was acting.
I also think it’s important to state that just because a few select people left doesn’t mean the scene has died. There are still lots of people who like the game and play it and support it, both on these forums and on Xbox Live. Top players quit playing lots of FGs all the time for all sorts of reasons, but usually other top players fill the void, and I think that’s been true of KI. In fact, I’ve seen some interest in people who stopped playing a while ago coming back and playing KI again casually – once the negativity subsides a bit, and you take some time away and experience other titles in the genre and see that it’s not all perfect everywhere else, you start to remember why you liked KI a lot.
Re: an “objective” score of the game, I’ll point out there really isn’t such a thing. A review is a subjective take on objective things; hard facts will be filtered through how the individual feels about them. Maybe one person really hates that SFV doesn’t have 2P rematch - maybe another just thinks of it as a mild inconvenience. If the core of the gameplay is interesting and fun and exciting, a list of cons regarding how many accessories each character gets can be pretty unimportant overall, and the review score will reflect that.
I’ll respond later with a more comprehensive take, but suffice it to say KI hits a lot more with me than it misses. A lot of its gaps just don’t bother me very much, and for my money it’s still the most fun I’ve ever had with a fighting game.
I’m trying to follow my own rules about not wrecking the thread by arguing, but I have to point out that you came in here and told everyone their review of the game was wrong, and that it was somehow hurting the game to have a positive opinion of it. Then you scolded everyone for not being more objective. You seem like a decent enough guy and I will take you at your word that you aren’t trying to wreck the thread but I have to tell you stuff like this drives me crazy. It comes off as arrogant and condescending, and it’s part of what I view as a trend in society where everything has to be negative and anyone with a positive outlook is ridiculed for being somehow deficient. People are allowed to like stuff.
There are no perfect games. But if you look at people’s “cons” who gave the game good scores it’s mostly complaining that they want more content for the game - in the form of wider releases and more things to buy, additional modes and content. When people are clamoring for more that doesn’t scream “6,” to me. No one is asking for more DLC for Superman 64. So I think people are evaluating the game as they see it. Personally, if someone was pouring hundreds (or thousands) of hours into a game they thought was a 6 I would probably wonder why they didn’t just go outside…
The only other thing I will point out is that this is a never ending and futile quest. The unstated assumption behind the question is that these people have been somehow turned off by a flaw or a mistake in the development of the game and that they are somehow right to leave and if we only figured out why, we could “fix” it. Everyone has their own story. Infiltration still plays SFV and I don’t. We don’t have to sort out all the whys and which one of us is right. If people want to figure out how/why KI can have a better offline tournament scene they are welcome to do that, but believe me the answer isn’t going to come from chasing down people who don’t play the game and asking why they left. The fact that a small number of people have played Tekken only for 20 years is fascinating, but I would struggle for an explanation about their odd behavior before I asked “why doesn’t KI have players like that.”
So, you’re opinion is welcome and so is your review. But don’t try to tell everyone their review is messed up because it doesn’t agree with yours.
Mira has a theme music, but not a stage.
Finances had nothing to do with the ultimates, The IG team wanted it to happen technically. Some say it was censorship but they have said numerous times that it was planned to be like that.
Also I know that I’ve said this multiple times, and while I understand some people want it to be m-rated, I believe that if they did that, lots f the ultimates would’ve been dismemberment or ripping out organs. Glacius would be one of the few that would be an exception because his enemies would still freeze on death.
Now that being said, it isn’t it likely to happen if they got an M-rating, but an M-rating means they have to make sure the game they don’t have jago just cut someone’s head off and call it a day.
hey guys long time no see.
I agree with you Big Bad Andy granted my only real complaint is the want for even MORE content. I hope MS gives this game another shot and hopefully we can anticipate more coming to this KI! I think graphically at least in the case of lighting, season3 is one of the best. Especially since you notice things you never could before. Like TJ’s stage actually has an allyway down somewhere. Cinder’s body actually illuminates the floor, etc. Also more ultimates couldn’t hurt.
Only thing I’d hope is that they do continue to fix up the graphics down the line in small adjustments like Fulgore’s claws glowing and this should apply to pretty much all.
I know we got colors, skins, but I would still like more colors. At least one color in coverd. In particular I like some of Fulgore’s colors but I did kinda wish some of them could’ve gone better. Another set of colors would be more colors for classic costumes. I would’ve used classic Riptor alot more if it had the color I wanted. Again these are nit pics and don’t mean scratch against the pros:
pros:
-Amazing music by the talented Mick Gordon, Atlas and Cell-dweller. They did NOT disappoint. This game has admittedly put Mick on a pedestal when it comes to video game music in my eyes, lol.
-The roster is the most diverse in any fighting game. Most fighting games just stick to human fighters from around the world and some games that supposedly have diverse characters (Tekken I’m looking at you) they don’t stay around for long and are just side-shows and jokes. KI not only acknowledges it’s non-human combatants, but it takes PRIDE in them. The roster makes its universe and its world more interesting than a game where the roster 85-90 percent human. For me this is important since when I play fighting games I like to put myself into the character and express myself. Considering I love robots, dinos, and monsters of all types its easier to express myself in that way than a character who already has an identity of some type. Plus it’s fun playing something that is non-human. KI gives me lots of options and I love it. Being a sucker for the old KI as well I can say it was worth the wait to play Fulgore, Riptor and Cinder again. All three even more fun than ever.
Score=9/10
Yeah, Adam Isgreen said once they did it in order to leave the death up for interpretation. If you wanted to believe they died, they did. If you wanted to believe they walked it off and were ready to go for the next match, you could do that as well. I honestly really respect that approach.