With all the 3D horsepower of next-generation consoles these days, it's hard to find a 2D fighter that's both fun, and playable. Since 2D fighters have fallen out of favor, you just can't find those good old fashioned multi-button mashing combo-rich titles any more. The developers at Sammy have taken it upon themselves to improve the situation as they have released King of Fighters EX: Neoblood for GameBoy Advance, which does a good job of bringing back the 2D fighter.
Let's take a look at what's good about King of Fighters EX.
Graphics:
The graphics, for something being displayed on a tiny little screen, are pretty good. The backgrounds have a fair bit of detail, while the colors help maintain a contrast between your fighter and the background itself. There are a few backgrounds that are a touch too dark, but most are very good and aren't distracting at all. Character graphics are detailed enough so that you can tell the difference between each character without suffering from eyestraing. Movement is fluid with no visible stutter at all.
Gameplay:
King of Fighters Ex is of course a fighter at heart, so the gameplay is straightforward. You kick and punch, mix up combos, and throw around special moves. Simple enough, but what improves the gameplay is the diversity of characters to choose from. There's a total of 24 characters on six teams, with each character supporting four special moves. The special moves range from throws to flaming punches to fireballs. All the special moves are documented, making King of Fighters EX a breeze to pick up and play. Along with the character-specific special moves, there are special "Striker" attacks you can call on during gameplay. You can only call in a striker move a few times during gameplay, but they can help out during a tough situation. When you call in a striker, you're calling in an extra player from your team to jump into the fray and lend a brief (2-3 seconds) hand.
The team fighting in King of Fighters: Ex adds an interesting aspect to the game. When in team mode, you choose a team of three fighters and set their fighting order. Once in the game, you face the opposing team, one fighter at a time, until you've defeated that team, or your entire team is defeated. If one of their fighters beats one of yours, then the next fighter in your lineup steps in to try and finish the fights. This continues until all of your fighters have been beatn, or the other teams have been defeated.
The AI in the game is unfotunately its major weakness. While it's light years ahead of Sammy's other fighter Guilty Gear X, it still could be better. The AI makes sure to use the characters' special powers and other attacks, it doesn't seem to know exactly when the best time is to actually use them. It seems to fight the same way every time, with a random combo thrown in for good measure. Sadly, it took me less than an hour to defeat the Team mode, which tells me the AI definitely needed some work.
Sound
With the GameBoy Advance, it's really hard to judge a game's sound,after all, the soundprocessor on the GBA is so limiting it's hard to imagine getting anything really amazing out of it. With that said, the sound in King of Fighters EX isn't half bad, but it's nothing to write home about either. It does the job for a GBA game, nothing more, nothing less.
Replayability
With the weak AI, you would think there would be almost no replayability to this game, but thanks to the variety of modes and characters, there is some limited replay value. The multiplayer option (through the GBA's link cable) boosts the chances that you'll play King of Fighters EX more than a few times.
Overall, King of Fighters EX: Neoblood is a good 2D fighting title. While the limited AI keeps it from crossing over into greatness, it's a refreshing change from the heavily 3D graphics-based fighters.
