This is the biggest disappointment in video gaming for 2009.
Okay, let us start with the visual overhaul, as this is the only thing in KOFXII that isn't an empty promise. You can just see for yourself how awesome the character models look, and in motion, they are even more breath-taking. The sad thing is the visuals are still not as good as they could have been.The 3D backgrounds (all 6 or them) are not done as well as BlazBlue, and the NPC's are shamefully static. It seems more effort went into the characters than the set pieces, which would be understandable if the character models showed the time and effort that supposedly went into them. Close ups of characters look so horribly pixelated that it actually IS funny, especially when we're talking about a next-gen game. There's just no excuse. Also, everyone's witnessed it, everyone's mentioned it....but what the heck is up with the abundance of overweight women in the France stage?
Onto the gameplay. Honestly we're only going downhill from here. If you've played KOFXI as much as I have, and then move onto this, you'll need time to adjust. They add some new things like the system that locks the two players if they connect with the exact same move at the exact same time, which is okay, but useless, honestly. You have the blow-back move which if done while holding back turns it into a cheap shameless rip-off of the Saving move from Street Fighter IV. Then you have this technique which requires a meter, and once filled, will be activated by countering your opponents move with a hard attack (stupid method), and once activated, you can do a custom combo of sorts for a limited amount of time and end with a huge finisher, usually and preferably a super combo. At least the moves look great because the animation is superior to the other KOF games and is at least on par with BlazBlue (although BlazBlue still looks noticeably better). The gameplay still takes place in traditional 3 on 3 (traditional to KOF anyway), but 1 on 1 can be chosen. Online sucks, period. It's sad, it's just really, really sad. It's so lagged and unplayable that you'll be stuck with local multiplayer and if you have nobody to come over for matches, you'll be stuck with the only single player option: Arcade. Okay, well there's training.......kill me now,..
All in all, this game is not worth your time or money. Even long-time KOF fans (like me) will be so utterly disappointed that they will try to forget it. If SNK would have just made this game exactly like KOF XI, but with the graphical overhaul and good online play, we all would have been more forgiving. Too bad....we'll just have to wait for whatever SNK feels like doing next....