The King of Fighters XV Review

ign.com:

The King of Fighters series has built up a lot of momentum since 1994, and King of Fighters XV certainly keeps that going, if nothing else. The latest in SNK’s premiere fighting games plays it safe by focusing on subtly refining the already solid mechanics of 2016’s King of Fighters XIV and bringing the graphics up to a more modern standard, but never really reaches beyond that in an attempt to take the series to the next level. Because of that lack of ambition it won’t do much to grab the attention of those who don’t already have eyes on the series, but for longtime fans this is a reliable return for the king.

As is tradition, KOF XV is primarily a 3v3 fighter (though it can be played 1v1 in casual modes), with the twist of there being no tag or assist mechanics to speak of. Instead, matches play out in a series of 1v1 duels with the winning character staying in play with a persistent health bar until the opposing team’s three characters are all defeated. This means you don’t get the team dynamic and synergies found in tag fighters like Marvel vs Capcom or Dragon Ball FighterZ, but KoF requires you to think strategically in making sure that you craft a well-balanced team from the roster of 39 characters. Since you get more bars of super meter as your team is depleted to two and then one, you have to consider the order in which you place your characters. (Those who can build meter but don’t necessarily need it should go first, while those who excel at dealing massive damage once they’ve got a fully stocked set of five meters should be used as the anchor in the third position.) It’s a great and well-proven formula, and while I’ll personally always prefer to only have to specialize in one character at a time as opposed to