The recent review on KOF XI that was submitted here was really poor, in my opinion.

I know that reviewing games is a vast and broad 'field,' but if you review a game and completely neglect the history of that game, its 'peers' in the genre, and don't understand the fundamentals of a game of its type, it's hard to take the review seriously unless you're a like-minded individual.

Most recent blog posts from Shaheen Riahy...
New Stuff Okkusenman! LOVE BIG BROTHER

Feedback
	Genj - July 06, 2007 (11:33 PM) Ummm, as someone that's extentisvely played KOFs 94 through 2003, I'll agree that the writer seemed very, very, very, very much not an expert of 2D fighters in general.
	joseph_valencia - July 29, 2007 (12:52 PM) I think you're confusing kissing SNK's butt with being an "expert" in the genre. Having played KOF XI myself, I feel lisanne's thoughts on the game accurately reflect my own. The fighting mechanics are certainly solid, but the experience as a whole is forgettable. I will admit to not playing the other ten King of Fighters, and I will also admit that it is unlikely I ever will. Who cares? The bottom line is I've played a few fighting games, and I think this one is mediocre. Maybe it's hard for me to find fault with lisanne's review because I'm a like-minded ignoramus who knows nothing about fighting games. Then again, maybe someone would have to be a like-minded SNK fan to take your criticism of her review seriously.
	khris - July 29, 2007 (03:17 PM) Forgettable, mediocre, etc, or not, her critiques are hardly valid when considering other fighting games and previous KOF games. My problem is not with the reviewer's, yours, or anyone else's opinion on the game, but instead of the obviously misinformed statements that the reviewer uses as reasons for the title to be mediocre, let me continue: "The problem is though, that this title doesn't offer anything new - there's nothing available here that wouldn't be available in other, existing games." This makes it pretty evident that the review is completely lacking in real knowledge of fighting games. As far as a KOF game goes, this one is radically different from any other and vastly improves the previous game's (KOF 2003) tagging system. However, I can agree that it's not new in the sense that MVC/MVC2 have already done this sort of tagging system, though I could nitpickingly say that where these games mostly fail and have created a new playing method for its players due to how 'broken' it is with its tagging system, KOF succeeds in making it largely a different experience when comparing the two. A mostly valid critique but it's hardly backed up with reasoning so it comes off as simply a random opinion. "...there are several new moves available here, which can be executed upon reaching a full power-meter. I'm still not entirely sure what the pattern is for getting your power-meter maxed out." This quote and this whole paragraph is akin to someone stating that they couldn't get past the title screen for any game because they didn't know they needed a controller to play. All this paragraph serves to do is further show us how much she cared to actually get into the game. I'm not saying she should have beaten the game inside and out, but fighting games are largely a genre where the mechanics define the game more than anything else, which is something she barely touched on. "While controls are for the mostpart pretty responsive, when it comes to the larger characters they just move too slowly." This is another sort of comment and paragraph I have a problem with. In what game should you expect that your big character should be able to plow through with high speed and high power? The reason these characters are slow is the same reason larger characters can't move as much in tactics games. Clearly you have to play them differently in order to succeed, but since the reviewer barely knows how to play the game, it doesn't look like that will be discovered any time soon. If these aren't valid points, then I'm sorry. I'm glad you found a chance to make some sly comments in my direction.
	joseph_valencia - July 29, 2007 (06:12 PM) A mostly valid critique but it's hardly backed up with reasoning so it comes off as simply a random opinion. You just said a few sentences ago that her review was "completely lacking" in "real fighting game knowledge." You then followed that up by saying a single mechanic in KoF XI is vastly changed from its counterpart in the previous game, without even giving an idea of how vast that change really is. This quote and this whole paragraph is akin to someone stating that they couldn't get past the title screen for any game because they didn't know they needed a controller to play. All this paragraph serves to do is further show us how much she cared to actually get into the game. I'm not saying she should have beaten the game inside and out, but fighting games are largely a genre where the mechanics define the game more than anything else, which is something she barely touched on. There are ten other KoF games out there. I think by the eleventh one, a reviewer wouldn't have to touch upon the fighting mechanics in detail. As for the power meter criticism, I didn't take it as evidence that she didn't care much to get into the game. Rather, it implies that she found the system unintuitive.
	khris - July 29, 2007 (08:05 PM) Ugh, man. I'm really sorry. I had an awesome response set up, but somehow I accidentally erased it. I'll have to respond tomorrow.
	joseph_valencia - July 29, 2007 (09:07 PM) That happens to me too, sometimes.