Xboxist

King of Fighters XII Combo Trailer

As we eagerly await the release of King of Fighters XII on the Xbox 360, the folks at SNK have sent us a new trailer showing off some combo gameplay footage. King of Fighters XII uses new, hand-drawn 2D sprites on detailed 2D backgrounds, and it looks gorgeous. There will be at least 20 playable characters in this version of the game, although we wouldn't be surprised if more are added later. The game was released in Japan in April of 2009 for arcades, while home versions will be released worldwide for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on July 28.

Combo attacks remain an important part of gameplay in KOF XII. This game uses the usual 3-on-3 team system, with each fight possibly lasting 5 rounds. KOF XII also introduces a new "critical counter" system. When a player lands a close strong punch as a counter, the character enters into a critical counter mode where the player has a short amount of time to link multiple attacks together (combo of death). Once the critical counter's time period has expired, the player can finish with a special move that deals even more damage tot he opponent. Clearly there is a lot of depth for fighting fans, and we look forward to having our butts handed to us be readers when the game is unleashed in July.