Double jeopardy

After a couple of rounds playing Garou: Mark Of The Wolves and later switching to The King Of Fighters Neowave, I came to a conclusion: they don't make fighting games like they used to.

The SNK-Playmore entity just doesn't have what it takes to put back the magic of SNK's fighting games. A few minutes into both games confirmed it - there are a few things missing from Garou and KOF Neowave, easily naming them off on all five fingers on one of my palms. First, the character design just doesn't quite make the cut into what I would consider SNK-authentic. No longer SNK, you say? Then for Pete's sake, drop the SNK out of the company name if they can't keep SNK's quality. Those of you who have been playing KOF since KOF'94 and all the way through KOF'99 would probably know what I'm ranting about. Instead of the simple yet smart and stylish outfits that new KOF characters don with their introduction between 94 and 99, new characters starting from 2000 onwards have been outlandish and over-the-top. That I say the same for the recent Fatal Fury (Garou) series too.

The second issue is the animation - goodness knows what happened but I can safely say that the quality here does not seem to be on par to the previous SNK releases as well. Pay close attention and you'll notice that some slight animation frames are missing from most fighters between Garou and KOF Neowave, making the overall feel gritty and unfinished. The only one that I found to have 'accidentally' retained the fluid animation is Kim Kaphwan; take a look at his flowing garb and you'll understand better. So much for reasoning that the PS2 cannot handle intense 2D frames, especially with two crazily animated characters on-screen at the same time. Which made me think: if 2D is hard for SNK-Playmore to conceive, why not go for cel-shading? The plot thickens...

Sound effects make the third entry, where most of them are reused. Now don't get me all wrong: I'm all out for the crunching sounds and jawbreaking effects, but SNK-Playmore could've polished it more and do it justice for home video game consoles. It won't do to chuck every ingredient into the cauldron when you've yet to peel the skin off the potatoes and carrots.

The fourth issue that I have with Garou and KOF Neowave is the music - too much of it has been played down. Take for example KOF'97: now that's what I call the prelude to imminent danger. 'nuff said.

The fifth and last of all is the storyline. I thought KOF 2003 was bad, but KOF Neowave takes the cake. Well, probably SNK-Playmore wanted it to follow in the footsteps of KOF'98: The Slugfest. I don't know until I can get official confirmation from either a reliable source or from the horse's mouth. Year in, year out I have been having hopes that someone would knock some sense into the designing team at SNK-Playmore and show them what works and what does not. Moving from the old-age Neo-Geo platform to the Atomiswave is welcomed indeed, but when it doesn't make any difference, it makes you think...

Would I recommend KOF Neowave and Garou: Mark Of The Wolves then? I would suggest otherwise, my friend. Unless you're only into collecting two of the greatest game series and doesn't have an eye for detail, you might want to give it a try first before finalising your purchase.

As a final note, I believe SNK did a marvellous job on their previous games because their team really put their heart and soul into creating all the favourite games people play. If only SNK-Playmore can pinpoint this fact and not just worry about making profits alone, things might just make a turn for the better for both sides.