July 28, 2009 - Most gamers may not want to pay full retail price for only a handful of light features, despite how pretty the game is, but if you love your fighters old-school and 2D, The King of Fighters XII is probably worth checking out.

July 28, 2009 - KOF12 doesn't feel like a KOF game. Its signature rushdown playstyle is present to some degree, though the new mechanics, the guard attack and critical counters, prevent an overly offensive strategy. The roster feels slightly off, with half the cast exceptionally developed, and the other half incredibly anemic. And KOF12 fails to seize the windfall in online matchmaking.

September 1, 2009 - In the end, the sparse content maims Kof XII. Next time around there better be more stages, characters, modes - more everything. You can't just rip the five-minute-per-play arcade code straight to consoles and expect people to invest the full $60 over a few coins.

August 7, 2009 - The King of Fighters XII is a title that tries to go back to the basics for a storied franchise, but instead of offering an accessible game, the developers deliver an entry that feels stripped down and shallow.

July 31, 2009 - If you're lucky enough to have an in-house fighting game competition, you're probably in the best position to enjoy KOFXII. If you're not, you might have trouble justifying the decision to pick up this game when there are other excellent 2D fighting games out there with stronger online multiplayer, more characters, and more offline content.

July 27, 2009 - It's sad in a way that it's still fighting for things the rest of the world has long forgotten - scaling sprites, smoother animation. No matter how proud this latest installment stands or how loud it roars, it's still a dinosaur.

September 1, 2009 - Worth a rental for certain, but only the most diehard King of Fighters fans will want to add this one to their collection.

August 4, 2009 - If you're planning on playing versus matches against local friends, go right ahead. But everyone else should probably wait a bit for a lower price, another set of online-focused patches, or both.

July 29, 2009 - King of Fighters XII is fun to play when you're fighting a buddy locally, but everything else about the game is seriously lacking. This is not the franchise rebirth that SNK was hoping for, as smoothly animated sprites can't make up for the bare-bones presentation and broken online support.

October 5, 2009 - When it's all said and done, The King of Fighters XII isn't going to be placed on a mantle above all other fighting games. It lacks proper net code and not everyone is going to enjoy the pixilated graphics. At the price point of Ł40, KoF XII is a hard sell to anyone outside of the fanbase.

October 5, 2009 - In the 90s, KOFXII would have been hailed as a brilliant fighting game. In 2009, in the post Street Fighter IV world, however, it has to go down as a disappointment that won't be of interest to anyone except the most loyal KOF fan.

August 3, 2009 - With 22 fighters, this stands as the worst-attended KOF game to date, and as the series still largely relies on team battles, the limited mix-and-match options are particularly annoying. The fancy graphics here are just compensating for deficiencies elsewhere.

July 28, 2009 - As a $60 retail release, this title is just hard to justify. It would have been perfectly suited as a $20 downloadable game, however. It just doesn't feel like a complete game.

July 28, 2009 - The only way you're likely to get any enjoyment out of King of Fighters XII is through local matches with friends -- and if you're that attached to SNK's characters, it is a decent 2D fighter that does all the basic things that you expect a 2D fighter to do. But with so many better options to choose from, why would you want to subject yourself to this?

September 29, 2009 - The whole game is lacking a certain finesse that's really needed in a genre that often feels so stale. The King of Fighters XII's few new ideas are heavily overshadowed by its wealth of problems.