KOF:12 a newbie to the series opinion.
The only plausible reasoning behind the way the online play is set up is to simulate a sense of the old days of waiting in line at the arcade to play against whoever was the 'champion' of the machine. 2 players fight it out while everyone else in the room watches the match. I have no idea why this sounds like a good idea to the makers. When i play a fighting game online it is my desire to fight someone as soon as possible. Being forced to watch or quit the game when the match starts is annoying decision to make. As if the slow paced game wasnt bad enough a slow paced multiplayer set up time is even worse.
The fighting system is just plain flawed. theres the standard light punch/kick heavy punch/kick a roll a throw a charge up attack akin to the focus attack from street fighter 4 (a much better game go buy that instead of this) and a counter attack. oh lordy the things that are wrong with this thing. for one it does its job TOO well. it literally counters everything as long as you do it at the right time and the 'right time' is a long window of opportunity. i have one tip for you on using this move online, dont. As soon as you use it your enemy will be doing it like it will get him laid. The reason for this is when i said everything before i meant everything it even counters super combos. The super combos already have enough issues with the enemys ability to kick through it and knock you out of it. i have personally kicked through joes fire tornado thing and have taken no damage.
Speaking of joe and the rest of the gang. The characters are just bad. This may just be my opinion alone but theres is just something odd about 50% of the characters and that is theres alot of trannys in this game. I feel completly alone in this area where i think that the fighters that i use have to be cool. i flat out refuse to play as a dude named ash who at the same time is in the running for the most pretty character, no matter how broken he is. I may be a bit chauvinist but i also dont understand why guys want to run around fighting as a girl but thats neither here nor there. Where was I? oh yeah, this game sucks. Yes its pretty and yes its a fighting game and thats why i gave this game a 5, because yes technically its a fighting game and yes it is pretty but no it's not worth $60. I for one cant wait for tekken.