2D fighters as a game format just won’t die and with good reason. They’re fun and challenging and require a great deal of skill and time to really master and there’s plenty of market share of game fans willing to put in that skill and time. Titles like Blazblue have been shining lights for the genre this year and Street Fighter IV, despite its lustrous colours and 3D characters, was really a 2D fighting game. You’d think a title with enough history behind it like King of Fighters would be keen to deliver something above par. Well King of Fighters XII is sadly not above par, quite the opposite in fact.

How does she jump in those heels?

Where to begin? Lets start with presentation, the game looks just plain bad. The character sprites in King of Fighters XII look blocky and jagged and generally pretty terrible. Their movements and actions are reasonably fluid and slick but the characters themselves look awful; disappointing for a game that’s supposed to be giving the character designs a complete overhaul. Likewise the backgrounds are rubbish, largely featuring the same character sprite seemingly copied and pasted around the background. On top of this the ludicrously terrible cut scenes that feature news journalists talking about the competition are even worse, frozen images whose mouths flap when they’re talking, like something from a children’s TV show. It’s almost painful to watch and you’ll be wondering why it took three minutes for the screen to load before the fight. My iPhone loads better looking games quicker.

The Fatal Fury team of the Bogard brothers and Joe have made the cut, but fans might be pretty surprised who didn't

King of Fighter fans will more than likely feel a little stiffed by the character roster, almost cut in half from previous titles to a mere twenty characters. Most of the core characters have been kept around but one of the main draws of the series has always been its expanded roster, to cut that down so dramatically seems crazy. Another missing element is the Tactical Shift System from KoF 2003, this allowed players to switch between their three fighters during a match at appropriate times and use switch attacks and a special attack for the character nominated as the leader. Despite the fact this was a popular and effective addition to the series its been mysteriously dropped. In its place is a Critical Counter System this allows you to follow up a close strong punch counter with a flurry of combos ending with a special move that can pretty much decimate your opponent. It takes careful timing to pull of, and its nice, but it’s a pretty small addition to the series to replace a large omission.

Breaking an attackers combo and turning the pain back on them when you the advantage is they key to success

In terms of audio King of Fighters XII finds itself pretty wanting as well. The English voice dubbing is the worst you have ever heard in your life. It’s almost like they created a program specifically to speak in the most stilted broken English you’ve ever heard. The characters themselves have a tiny number of catch phrases each that you’ll be well sick of by your third match and there's actually only a single piece of music that plays over the entire game. The entire auditory experience can be summed up by a single word: grating.

King of Fighters XII does feature a pretty solid fighting system. All the moves are split over four buttons with combination presses for throws and push backs, success is mostly down to mastering timing and breaking opponents combos to turn the aggression back on them. For the hopeless there's even an easy play mode that reduces the most complicated power moves into a single stick twist and button press. Unfortunately, yes there's more unfortunately, there's only one single player mode, Arcade, with a larger emphasis placed on online play, the vast majority of achievements on the 360 version are related to online play. So don't go looking for any survival or time trial modes. Unfortunately online play is also rubbish, finding games is hard enough, but finding an online game without lag is nigh on impossible from our Pacific corner. The only unlockable element is a fairly average image gallery and all the characters are available to play from the start.

You deserve this bitchslap Terry, for wearing a trucker camp with a pony tail that long, you deserve it bad

King of Fighters XII was meant to be a reboot for the series, a reinvigoration of the franchise to ignite the passions of ailing fans and bring new ones into the fold. Much in the same way Street FIghter IV has fight fans going ga ga for Ryu and Chun Li all over again. But this game will most likely distance both the fans and potential new players, only the committed King of Fighters die hards are going to weather this entry to the series. Reading up on the production of the title it seems that a new platform and a severely reduced schedule had the development team ice skating uphill from the begginning.

The main problem with King of Fighters XII is that its just got too much good competition at a cheaper price. For a fraction of the cost you can download the HD version of Street Fighter II or Marvel Vs. Capcom straight onto your PS3 or Xbox 360. Two games that look and play better than King of Fighters XII does as a full price retail game. If you wanted to blow your pennies on a full price game you'd be hard pressed not to pick up Blazblue or Guilty Gear 2, games with a lot more polish and depth. But if you've played everything else and still need to get your fighting itch scratched, or if you're a hard core King of Fighters XII fan with the Fatal Fury team tattooed across your back, then you'll get some satisfaction out of King of Fighters XII. But mostly it feels like a lot of missed potential.