King of Fighters: Maximum Impact: Maniax Review

King of Fighters has finally made the jump to 3D and the result is actually pretty good. The Xbox version of Maximum Impact includes a few new features not found in the PS2 version and you can also now play the game online. Maximum Impact doesn’t play like previous KoF games, which is either incredibly good or horrible news depending on how big of an SNK fan you are. Give Kof: Maximum Impact: Maniax a chance, I think you’ll like it.

Gameplay

The jump to 3D has changed the gameplay quite a bit from previous KoF games. Maximum Impact has the same basic feel and you can pull off most of the same moves, but the speed of the game has been turned up to an insane level and there is a new open-ended combo system you can play with. Basically, some combination of a directional button and attack button will start a combo of three hits or so. During this combo, you can press another d-pad and attack button to chain another 3-4 hits onto that combo. Each character has several different combo starters and linkers and you can generally mix and match them to create a bunch of new and different combos. You can also work special moves into these combos to create different, even flashier looking combos. It is incredibly satisfying to put together a nine or ten hit combo that you actually taught yourself and since there are a huge number of different moves you can swap in and out of your combos the game is just really fun to play and experiment with. You can also juggle opponents off of walls as well as score a few extra hits when they are lying on the ground. The fighting is fast, furious, and fun. ‘Nuff said.

Features

Maximum Impact features all of your favorite KoF characters along with a handful of new faces all in glorious 3D. Leona, Ryo Sakazaki, Yuri Sakazaki, Terry Bogard, Mai Shiranui, and Athena are just some of the returning characters so there is a lot to like here for KoF fans. There are some balance issues between the characters as there are some that are quicker and more powerful than others, but skilled players will be able to work around it.

As far as modes go, Maximum Impact offers pretty much everything you expect from a fighter. There is a story mode, mission mode, versus, and practice. There is also a feature that allows you to pause during gameplay and then move the camera around to pretty much any angle so you can take a screenshot. Not that big of a deal, but I like it.

The real reason to get Maximum Impact for the Xbox is the online play and I can happily say that it runs smooth and is a lot of fun to play provided you find someone of comparable skill. All of the features you would expect from an online game are here and accounted for along with some things such as the ability to set up your own tournaments with up to 128 participants. Basically, it's all good.

Graphics and Sound

Visually, Maximum Impact is a little disappointing. The backgrounds, character models, and animation are merely acceptable rather than amazing and compared to something like Dead or Alive Ultimate it looks downright bad. It runs smoothly, though, and seeing all of your favorite characters in 3D for the first time is a thrill. The next 3D KoF game will have to look better than this in order to compete, but this is a good start. The sound in Maximum Impact isn’t any more impressive than the graphics, but it gets the job done. The music and sound effects are pretty much run-of-the-mill, but they aren’t bad. One nice feature is that you can choose from English or Japanese voices which is a major improvement from the PS2 version of the game that only had the English voices.

Bottom Line

King of Fighters: Maximum Impact: Maniax doesn’t have the flash of Dead or Alive Ultimate or Mortal Kombat: Deception, but it absolutely plays better than either of those games so this is the game you should be playing on Xbox Live. Hardcore KoF fans won’t like it as much as non-fans just because it isn’t exactly like every other KoF games of the past ten years (come on people, things can change and still be good), but if you don’t let nostalgia affect you too much Maximum Impact is a very enjoyable game. The gameplay is fun and fast and satisfying and I like the fact that you have a ton of control over your combos and how you want to play the game. It has a different sort of feel to it than other fighting games that might not appeal to everyone, but I think that if you give it a chance you’ll like it. The online play makes Maximum Impact: Maniax a solid buy, but rent it first if you are unsure. If you go in with an open mind, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.