|
We just got KoF98UM in Japanese arcades today. So for all those interested, here are some of my initial impressions of the game:
I've been playing KOF XI since it came out so I'm very accustomed to the speed of that game. Before playing UM I figured it might be a lot slower. Surprisingly it's not that slow at all, faster than I remember the original being.
I played about 10 matches all versus human competition and:
Grapplers/Grapple moves are still a bit overpowered.
For those used to KOF XI combos, unfortunately, combing once again requires timing.
Hops didn't seem to have the same offensive force they use to. Seemed slower to me, very easy to see coming and counter. However, still pretty effective for corner-trap, wake-up games.
Ralf's far C is an excellent poke; stuffs just about anything. And his c.D isn't bad either.
Geese is very good. Great rush down character. He slides forward on his double repukin, which is annoying. His air repukin isn't very useful. The ragging storm has a slow start up but covers about 1/5 of the screen.
Maybe I was a bit out of sorts playing with Krauser, but I had a very hard time playing him effectively. He seems to have low priority on all of his moves. In general he moves alot faster than his '96 version. I'll have to play him some more to really see what he can do.
Eiji is a far cry from is KOF XI version, moves alot slower and can't poke his way to victory.
Terry and Ryo are pretty much as I remember them and still very solid characters.
Played alot against O. Yashiro, but he didn't seem as menacing and overpowered as I remember him being.
Yamazaki looks to be a very solid character
I managed to play about 3 matches against the computer and the setting was probably on the highest difficulty. The AI is cheap. It reads your joystick motions and instantly counters anything you throw out. Example: Krauser versus Goro, Whenever I tried to throw a Blitz Ball it was instantly countered by Goro's earthquake move. I couldn't get out a single Blitz Ball in two separate matches.
Graphically it's kind of disappointing. When I first saw it I really had to double check the cabinet to make sure it was "UM" and not the "Orignal". The animation looks dated and old. I don't mind so much, because I really don't put a lot of emphasis on graphics. But the machine right next to it was SSF2T, and well, comparatively that looked a whole lot better than KoF '98.
[s:428][s:428][s:428][s:428] |
|