King of Fighters Allstar was released not that long ago and may look like a really nice fighting game. But is it fun to play? Os, is it greedy? Does it deliver what it promises? I’ve played the game for a few weeks and now I’m ready to share my experience with you. In this King Of Fighters Allstar review, I will try to find what is good and what is bad about this game full of content. So, let’s have a roll at this game!
KOF Allstar promises a lot
King of Fighters Allstar is a new big mobile game based on a popular fighting franchise. Actually, In its core, KOF Allstar is more of a beat ‘em up than a fighting game, since it is focused on PvE and often involves beating some lesser enemies before a player can fight a boss. But there is some PvP in the game too and we will return to this question later. Now, let’s see how King of Fighters Allstar is advertised in Play Store. The game claims to have amazing graphics. Simple but exciting fighting experience, a great variety of characters and real-time PvP and cooperative play.
The game is a pleasure to watch and play. Animations are fluid, characters are detailed and the colors are vibrant. It may not look that great in static, but in motion, KOF Allstar looks just nice.
Next, fights and control mechanics. At the start of their journey, players have only a few button options to learn the game’s simple control scheme, but that quickly evolves into some serious button mashing with some real skill and strategy involved. And I have to say that it is a good thing in a free game, where characters can be upgraded and levelled up. The fights are really fast-paced and the game has some variety to allow some strategic character builds.
There is enough content
A wide array of content that King of Fighters Allstar promises is a real thing too. There is a lot of unique fighters to unlock, upgrade, equip and combine in different ways. The last one is a very important part of the game because all the fighters have different powers, that often shine if specific teams of fighters are formed. The downside to it is that a player will have to spend a lot of time or money to unlock and upgrade all the characters they need. But it’s a common thing for such games.
Variety doesn’t stop for just characters. King of Fighters Allstar has a truckload of game modes, events, rewards, progress bars and other stuff. This also includes a long linear story. To be honest, all that content overwhelms a bit and the story with a default amnesia twist feel very bland to me. And also a bit cryptic. But I am sure that there will be some people to actually enjoy it. Big check on the content’s part for this game. A big one. Well, to the next point.
Real-time PvP and other multiplayer stuff
PvP and Cooperative play are in the KOF Allstar but those modes aren’t in their best shape to be true. Mainly because of the games connection issues. Btw, check out this image.
You probably will see this one a lot while playing this game. Most of the PvP modes in the game are asynchronous. It means that a player fights other player’s characters that are controlled by bots. In other words, they are fake. But, there are not fake modes too. It’s a friendly PvP mode, which I wasn’t able to play and a Tournament mode with real-time PvP that is laggy as hell.
By the way, I have to give King of Fighters Allstar some credit. That real-time PvP mode is kinda fair since all characters in that mode are upgraded to the max. I also wasn’t able to play cooperative PvE modes just because there were no willing players. But that wasn’t a big downside to me, just because somehow the developers have added cooperative play options only for some low-level activities. Or, there is a chance, that I’ve managed to find only those. Anyways, if the connections become better, this real-time PvP fighting will be a pretty nice feature.
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Monetization. Friendly or not?
On the one hand, King of Fighters Allstar uses some monetization patterns that are common for such games. It has it all: hero collecting and levelling, upgrading stars with use of various resources, character synergies, time-limited events, stamina system and so on and so on and so… on. The ways those games are tricking players into paying are often incredible. And the discussion can go on for an unlimited amount of time. No need to focus on that very deep here. Just keep in mind, that this game may make you want to spend some money by introducing you to some stronger enemies or offering you a character you can’t resist.
And on the other hand, KOF Allstar does not really pressure its players into paying something. At least for a very long time. So long, that it is very possible for a player to get bored with the game. As for me, I collected a basic team of rare heroes. And to complete a full story on easy mode. That maybe wasn’t very challenging. But to let players enjoy the full story without introducing them to any paywalls is a very polite move from the devs. Also, King of Fighters Allstar often introduces some modes featuring fair play, where players can competitively play using fully upgraded characters.
Things to consider
So, should you try King of Fighters Allstars? Well, it’s a beautiful hero collecting RPG fighting game that uses a popular franchise. So, if you are into those things, then you should at least try KOF Allstar. The good thing is that if you don’t like the game or just don’t feel like grinding, you can just complete the story, try out some game modes and proudly leave without paying anything. But be aware of this game being potentially addictive and introducing some paywalls later in the game. Also, you will probably have to pay some money to climb higher in some late-game activities.
After a month
Actually, all described above are my impressions of the game that I’ve gained in the first week of playing. That big chunk of text was written a little bit before and I’ve decided to leave it like that just to capture my initial experience like it was.
But, I’m actually surprised that my expectations were a little bit lower. I was expecting paywalls and aggressive monetization later on in the game, but in the late-game, I still feel no noticeable paywalls or pushes into paying real money. I’m really surprised by that situation.
F2P way of playing
This game is also very generous with giving away its hard currency and unique event content. For example, in a recent event (Tekken collaboration) I was able to unlock 6 out of 8 characters and I even got special equipment for three of them, so it means that I have a full stack of unique characters to play with.
And the game allows you to “pity pull” a needed character if you’ve tried enough and didn’t get it in a specific amount of tries. Here is an important note: I didn’t pay anything but my time (and electricity) to achieve that. And I can probably complete the game on other difficulties but I can’t see an actual reason to do so. So I won’t do that. At least soon enough.
In terms of progress, there are still some challenges that are achievable for me. However, I’m not pressured to buy something that will help me grow. And buying stuff with real money looks only like an option for collectors or people who are seeking to dominate the high-end PvP activities. And that is fine in my opinion, especially for this genre. I would definitely recommend this game to all folks, who are interested in RPG hero collection games and also are in love with old fighting franchises.
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