PlayStation 2

The King of Fighters: Neowave

While King of Fighters: Neowave offers nothing new to the genre, it does throw up the opportunity to play a classic beat-em-up for those always too afraid to drift beyond the realms of Street Fighter II - and at a budget price. Sure, a challenge mode, time attack and many more bells and whistles would have been welcome, but like the endless waves of retro compilations out there at the moment, there's something endearingly simple about Neowave that everybody can enjoy.

Overall, KoF Neowave is a really good game, which has loads of characters that will take forever to master, each with pages and pages of moves to learn. There are enough single player modes to play through before you even think about the main meat of the game - playing against your friends, which as always with fighting games, is the best part. Still not quite as good as Street Fighter III, but this is still a highly enjoyable 2D fighting game.

Whilst some recent additions to the post-Neo universe have been shoddy at best (such as the 3D misfire that was KOF: Maximum Impact), the quality control appears to be improving.

King of Fighters NeoWave is a solid yet uninspiring 2D beat 'em up with a surprisingly in-depth and lag free online mode. Chances are, if you're a hardcore fan, you have already gone out and purchased the game, and if not then this review has probably done little to spark your interest in the franchise. Although it certainly has its positives, most of them have been around for years, with the new additions doing little to add to the series or genre as a whole. If anything, King of Fighters Neowave simply stands to show how little the genre has moved on in the last ten years.

King of Fighters: Neowave is another solid title in the series, but with so little in the way of new features that when put up against other 2D beat ‘em ups, it is hard to justify the purchase, even at the budget price point. It’s not all doom and gloom, as a large selection of characters and the groove system make it a fun little distraction, but the fans of this genre will want more than that. With Ignition releasing King of Fighters XI and NeoGeo Battle Coliseum within the next few months, Neowave may find it hard to establish itself before the others steal the limelight. If you are a fan of King of Fighters, this may tide you over before the next game. For gamers looking for some old school 2D fix, you’re best bet is to look elsewhere.

So, Neowave doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it is a good home conversion of a solid fighter. As such, if you've played King of Fighters in recent years you'll know exactly what you're getting here, which is a fairly deep fighting experience that may not be as accessible or immediate as some of the competition, but is rewarding enough for those who are willing to put in the time. It's really a game for those who can't get enough King of Fighters, and especially for those who want more KOF2002.

King of Fighters Neowave is a novel flashback to how things used to be, but one that will make you more grateful than ever that we aren’t at that point in time any more. Dated, jaded and passed it sell by date. Let’s hope that instalment 11 brings the series into the same century as the rest of us.