Nice graphics, plays more like Street Fighter; but too short. No boss.
I am an avid fan of the King of Fighters series, but KoF XII is a let-down.
Yes, the characters are all hand-drawn, not pixel sprites like they used to be. But other than that I felt the game was a let-down.
Firstly, there is no boss. Yes. A great shock to me when I first played through it going "what? It's over? huh?". I really like boss-fights.
Secondly, my favorite character Kyo Kusanagi uses moves from KoF '99; not his new moves which I have grown quite attached to like what he has in KoF 2002/3. Also, Iori uses slashing moves rather than the moves that he uses in, say, KoF 99/2002/03.
Thirdly, the game is way too easy. Yes I know the main idea is to do player vs player; but I also like a good single-player in my KoF which is what most of the past editions of the series has given me.
KoF XII is far too easy. I can finish the single-player only using Kyo doing jump + weak punch + punch + dragon-punch over and over.
However I haven't given it a 5.0 or anything like that because above the easiness of the single player I do admit that playing another human can be a lot harder as you delve into the cancels and the counter bar.
Plus in KoF XII you also get knocked about a lot easier; which you could say is a good thing because it adds variety to the game, but it also has its downfalls. For one, getting knocked (which can be quite easily done) can lead to some annoying, mindless attacks (such as the Kyo move mentioned above) and the strong punch you can almost continously hammer-out with Shen Woo.
Still, it is a fun fighting game none-the-less although if you are looking for a fighting game that you can play by yourself; KoF 12 won't cut it.