The King of Fighters XIV (PlayStation 4) Second Opinion Review

Anyone who grew up in arcades will recognise some of the iconic characters from the King of Fighters series, with favourites like Mai Shiranui, Kyo Kusanagi, Terry Bogard, and so many more. These gorgeous and unique characters truly shone in 2D with their crisp and gorgeous sprites, and then as the series developed over the years they grew to look better and better, the signature art style and designs now iconic to SNK. Then SNK did what it seems every old-school fighter feels a necessity. It made the jump to 3D. While this has worked for many of its kin, like Street Fighter and Guilty Gear, it's something that really did not work for KOF. The overall presentation was awful, and the characters looked like something from a generation ago, with models that lacked depth and covered in flat single colours on skin, clothes and hair alike.

SNK has always been a great company when it comes to listening to its fans and addressing their concerns. When the fans told them they were not satisfied with the graphics of this latest instalment, SNK listened. The result was this free 3.7GB patch, an update that promised to address some of the graphical complaints, and, honestly, it does a damn good job! As seen in the video below, SNK has delivered a considerable overhaul, and the huge roster is finally done the justice it deserves.

The new lighting system and shaders have made such a significant difference that it's unbelievable. Those flat single colour outfits and uniform skin tones are long gone. It's not just the characters, either; the special effects have had a revamp, too, as bright flames and vivid particle effects deliver some very cool looking abilities. On top of that, there's a nice surprise lurking within this patch, too: a bunch of new colour schemes for each character, including new colours for each unlocked outfit.

 Okay, so the new patch addresses the graphical concerns, but what about the nuts and bolts of the game? Most importantly, regardless of the new 3D visuals, this is through and through a King of Fighters game; it feels fast and fluid, and is filled to bursting with an expansive roster of very individual characters.

The series has always had some great fighters, and there are 50 here from all of the series' history—characters indelibly linked to the franchise, like Iori, plenty of the previous antagonists from games of series past, and even the diminutive Chinese warrior and face of SNK's Pachinko machines, Dragon Gal. Then there are the brand-new characters, like the Mr. Satan-esque boss of this tournament, Antonov, a charming gargantuan brawler with quite the soft side. There are more than enough characters for every player to find a few favourites.

There is a perfunctory story mode, which is completely generic regardless of the three-person team used, other than some short dialogue moments between characters. Ultimately, it's more of an arcade mode than a story. It's one of the few areas in the game that still feels like a let-down. Sure, most players aren't picking this up for the story mode, and to have a unique opening/ending for all of the 50 characters would be a tad excessive, but with such unique and fantastic characters, it would have been a nice addition instead of having "secret cut-scenes."

Outside of the story mode, there is a tutorial mode to introduce each of the fundamental controls and abilities, ranging from learning how to jump and duck, to how to deliver every special move, and even how to perform every type of cancel, an essential ability to master. Then there is a training mode, where the CPU action can be customised to be able to freely practice with any character.

There is, of course, the usual Versus mode in either Team Vs or Single Vs modes. Next up is Mission mode, which offers up three different challenges; a Trial mode, which gives series of moves to perform for each character, and is perfect for learning new tricks, chains and combos for each member of the cast; Time Attack is a 1-on-1 versus mode consisting of 10 fights against the computer; and finally, Survival mode is again 1-on-1, where the opponents are never ending.

Then, of course, there is the requisite Online Mode. After registering a character, a team, and a favourite stage, the world of online battling opens up. Within this menu there are Ranked Matches for the competitive players out there, Free Match for having fun without having to worry about losing games, and Online Training allows players to take part in the game's training mode online with other players. Finally, there are leaderboards and live streams, along with an ability to upload and watch battle replays. There are still some latency issues with the online play, but SNK will hopefully address these soon.