King of Fighters: Maximum Impact Maniax

THE GOOD:
Excellent graphics. Surprisingly fast-paced gameplay. Some interesting extra features included. Online play.

THE BAD:
Some notable frame rate issues. Rather shallow gameplay.

SUMMARY:
One of the newest installments in SNK's main fighting franchise, KOF maximum Impact Maniax brings its own unique fighting style to the Xbox, bringing with it 20 familiar KOF & Fatal Fury fighters as well as a hybrid of 2D/3D fighting to mix up the standard fighting engine.

The graphics are surprisingly good. The characters are very nicely rendered in 3D and show a high amount of detail matched by a very smooth and fast frame rate, although every now & then some animations seem to skip entire frames, a flaw that is easily noticeable. Backgrounds are very well detailed as well but don't offer a lot of interaction. Sounds are average, generally consisting of standard fighting and impact sounds during battles. Voices are plentiful but are good or bad...

THE GOOD:
Previously Released on the PS 2, It was anew King of Fighters that used a 3d engine and introduced a few new characters as well.

As mentioned, a new tournament sponsored by Metatron would want the best fighter to win. For what purpose however? As old friends and foes meet once gain, A new duo of siblings, the Meera brothers steps into the ring, however theyre intentions is deeper than just to win....

The game features single or Traditional Team style Game modes as well as a challenge mode where the player must fight foes in specific tasks to aquire new costumes and stages.

What is specially featured in this installment is that Voice subtitles can now be changed (yay) and the difficulty meters have been notched down.

The sound and music systems also got a few added upgrades to ensure more rythymed tunes while playing as well.

The biggest feature of all is the X-box live support. Players from around the globe can find players...