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NFTs coming to an arena near you - King of Fighters Arena Quick Review

6K View2022-11-18

Tournament fighters have always been a thing. Sure, Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat may have been the golden children, but in the nineties, SNK's King of Fighters had a special place in my heart and the arcade. Flash forward to 2022, and the series is still going strong. So when I learned that SNK and Netmarble were teaming up to release a new King of Fighters mobile game named King of Fighters Arena, I was thrilled! When I learned that the same game would include NFT play-to-earn mechanics, I was immediately skeptical.

THE STORY

What story? King of Fighters Arena is a 100% competitive PVP experience. There's no story mode, and the game does its best to get you right into the action from the moment you finish downloading. Fans of the series might recognize that the gameplay shares some familiarity with King of Fighters AllStar.

PLATFORMS

King of Fighters Arena is currently available for iOS, Android, and PC. I played on my iPhone 13, and although the animations ran smoothly, the one thing I experienced was lag during the fights.

TIME PLAYED

I spent around four hours playing King of Fighters Arena over two days. It's easy to get the hang of it once you start. Most of the playthrough involved testing various characters, building up characters, and trying out the three game modes.

WHAT'S AWESOME

• Streamlined combat. There's usually a learning curve when it comes to fighting games, but not with King of Fighters Arena. From the beginning, the buttons are organized simply into evade, combo, special, and finisher moves. Pulling off a twenty-hit combo is as easy as holding down a button, and dodging and evading are just as simple. For those that aren't fans of learning a ton of tricky maneuvers to fight or love just mashing buttons to win, this is your game.

• Character roster. From the start, you have access to thirty-seven characters from the SNK lineup that you can use to build your squad. You can use these characters in one-on-one PvP (best two out of three wins) or three-on-three elimination matches.

• Animation. Clean, crisp, and fun as hell! It was entertaining pulling off finishers and watching the fight animations play out on some poor bastard online. Much of the joy I had while playing came from this satisfying feeling.

WHAT SUCKS

• Lag. This game is one hundred percent online with no offline mode available. That means you'll need a strong internet connection to get full enjoyment out of this. Even with a strong internet connection, there were times when the game still lagged, which contributed to my opponents beating the hell out of me on several occasions. I promise it's not just my skills!

• NFTs. Love it or hate it, Netmarble has incorporated a play-to-earn system into many of their games. For King of Fighters Arena, the NFT implementation is a bit sneaky. You'll find an option to purchase a controller to enhance your gameplay experience. No, these aren't live controllers you can connect to your device; they're customizable tokens you can collect and sell on the blockchain.

A controller box costs 2,400 diamonds, the game’s premium currency. To give you some context, 1500 diamonds cost $99.99 in real-world currency! Buy at your own risk.

SHOULD YOU PLAY IT?

I had fun playing King of Fighters Arena. As a PvP combat experience, it's pretty awesome, although there is no option to battle your friends, which is a drawback for me. Additionally, it's hard to build up your characters without paying for summon cartridges, which of course require diamonds that are obtained through real-world cash. If you're looking to excel at this fighting game, it seems like you'll have to spend some money. If pay-to-win and “pay-to-earn” mechanics don’t interest you, I would just stick with King of Fighters AllStar.

💬 What's your favorite tournament fighter of all time? Let me know in the comments section, and we can chat!

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