SNK vs Capcom Chaos (PS2)

[Tom Salter]

I just got this in today from play-asia, and although I've only played it for literally 15 mins, initial impressions aren't that great.

First, the good. SVC Chaos takes a whole different slant on the presentation compared to Capcom vs SNK. There's no OTT announcer, just plain, simple menus, AES style. But in game, the stages, whilst lacking colour, and in some stages any impression of depth, look beautiful. It's much more sombre, rather than CVS2's almost celebratory look. And some of the Capcom characters now look awesome, look at Dhalsims crazy head!

The bad: animation wise, it's slightly worse than CVS2, and light years away from SF3 3rd Strike. Terry Bogard's lost his Rising Tackle (a la MOTW), and he's my favourite character! >_<

[Ravon]

The music's bloody **** aswell.... sounds like a casio keyboard being played by a monkey...

[Jashin]

That music sounds great though. What have you got against monkeys?

[Geezer]

I'm still waiting for the MVS release that may never materialise ft:

To be honest, opinion seems to be either way on this one, a lot of peope at NG love it but then quite a few hate it. I ought to do some work on kawa-x so I can play it while I wait though!!

[Ravon]

Theres already a version out that does play it....

[Tom Salter]

To be honest, opinion seems to be either way on this one, a lot of peope at NG love it but then quite a few hate it. I ought to do some work on kawa-x so I can play it while I wait though!!

Don't get me wrong, it's fun, but compared to all the games that this title draws it's inspiration from, it shoulda been more. You can actually change it to Arcade resolution though!

Mai's lost her 423K kick though, which I used loads with her in kof98. I haven't played with the other snk characters much though. It just feels too...empty though. There's little soul, and it really does feel rushed.

[Super Monkey Balls]

Don't write it off too soon.
I agree, it's far from the event SVC could've been - gameplay is broken, effects are crap, some backgrounds are terrible and some characters are better than others but with a bit of time I found I really quite like it. Nice big sprites, it's fast, great with 2 players, great bosses, some of the Capcom characters are drawn beautifully and I love being able to fight Ryu VS Terry with a proper KOF-esque system. And the exceeds and guard cancels etc work very well.
Everyone's first impression of SVC is negative and it must be twice as bad if you've got CVS2 on the same console! It's not a return to the old SNK magic but I find it a challenging, rewarding, fun fighter if you give it a chance.

[Tom Salter]

Well, I've been playing 3rd Strike loads recently too, as well as KoF98. But SVC Chaos totally lacks any impact, that is, if you totally destroy an opponent with a shin-shoryuken, there's no flashing lights, no slow-motion KABOOOOOM! or anything, it's just diluted!

[Ravon]

Its lacking a bit tbh....give me KOF2k2, now thats how it should play..

[Duddyroar]

Got this for father's day...talk about coming to the party late!

First up, gotta disagree with all the gripes about the visuals. Forgetting the SNK characters for a moment (they look the same as they always did), the Capcom sprites are nothing short of stunning. I always like the way SNK shaded and rendered their fighters and seeing Capcom's finest re-drawn for this game confirms how good SNK's style is. Animation wise, I can't fault it. The backgrounds are a little weak in places, but overall I think graphically the game is decent - bearing in mind it's still based on the trusty old AES hardware.

Gameplay wise, I'm more than happy. To test the game, I decided to pick two of my favourite characters from each side - Terry for SNK and Ryu for Capcom. The real test would be if both characters played like they should - Terry obviously did, what with it being an SNK-developed game, but it was nice to discover that Ryu controlled just as he should as well. Not had to time to mess around with the other fighters yet but what I've seen so far is good.

The music is totally forgettable, but at least it's not offensive in any way.

My only gripe so far is that the boss characters are cheap as hell, pulling off impossible combos and even starting super moves when they're halfway through taking a super move of your own!

All in all, it's a nice little game and not bad for ?20.

[Big Seany]

Totally agree with you about the bosses. Was playing it yesterday and Goenitz kept doing that projectile/wind thing he can do inseveral different positions on the screen, and I simply could not beat him. Mr Karate is nigh on impossible to beat, too. I can never see myself unlocking Red Arremer as you have to survive 36 matches in survival mode.

[eastyy]

for ?20 its not bad but i must say its well below par for snk the graphics are very average (even when you consider it was originally on a neo geo system the neo geo could do alot better) the fighting just felt like nothing new

[moonwhistle]

I picked up SVC on the Xbox at a very cheap price but I still feel ripped off as I can safely say I'll never turn on this game again. I've played a huge number of 2D fighters in my time at this must rank as somewhere very near the bottom of the pile. The engine is broken beyond belief, Guile's flash kick takes almost 4 seconds to charge but can be done instantly, with no charge if cancelled from a low kick....madness. Also, Mai's fan attack (dragon punch motion) only works if cancelled from another attack, it cannot be exectuted otherwise. The game is choked full of horrible errors like this, and they add up to a frustrating and ultimately pointless game IMO.

SVC is also totally lacking in any sense of impact, there seems to no satisfaction from pounding your opponent even with the fanciest of moves. The wimpy sound effects and music do little to help. The backgrounds are also total **** as far as I'm concerned.

I didn't expect this game to anything new, but it can't even do the old 2D mechanics right. I think it's best viewed as an admittedly pretty static gallery of Capcom and SNK characters, as some look nice standing still, but in motion and in play I find this a totally redundant game. ft:

[Duddyroar]

I've played a fair few 2D fighters in my time and I don't think it's quite that bad. The fighting engine has errors, but only if you go looking for them. It still plays well, IMO.

Sean - Goenitz didn't pose too much of a problem for me, as he tends to keep his distance so if you have a projectile character like Ryu you can simply pound him into submission (lame I know, but then when faced with cheapness you have to be cheap in return). My 'pad thrown across the room' moment came when I faced Akuma/Gouki - he's cheap as hell! I nailed him with Ken's super and he hit him twice, before the third hit connected he pulled off a super move of his own - now THAT is both broken AND impossible to boot!

In two player this game rocks, by the way.

[eastyy]

i think my major problem is when you put this side by side with capcom vs snk 1 or 2 it makes the game seem far worse than it actually is