The
King of Fighters: Maximum Impact Maniax
STORY:
Addis was the most powerful gang in
Southtown. Its leader, a man known only as Fate, was considered a modern-day
Robin Hood to the poor and downtrodden. He himself had adopted two twin
brothers, Alba and Soiree Meira, and trained them to be successors to his
legacy. Six months before the in-game events, Fate is killed by Duke, the leader
of the up-and-coming Mephistopheles gang. Duke then proceeds to exploit the poor
to serve his own twisted thirst for power.
In the present day, the Mephistopheles
Fighting Tournament is beginning, with the venue being all of Southtown. The
participants ( Minus the Meira Brothers and Lien.) believe that the tournament
is being sponsored by a charity organization known as the Metatron Foundation,
but they soon learn that its true sponsor is the Mephistopheles gang. However
for Alba Soiree and Lien they are contacted directly by Hyena so they know
Metatron has nothing to do with this.
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MANIAX
updates the selection screen design... improvement!
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REVIEW:
The last time I checked, MANIAX is not a word... not a good start,
guys. 
I'm guessing SNK was thinking something along the lines of "WE were
MANIACS for
giving the characters in KOF: Maximum Impact
terrible English voices."
Thus, the Xbox version of Maximum
Impact fixed the horrid English voiceovers that cursed the PS2 version,
bringing them back to more natural-sounding Japanese voices. Thankfully, the characters sound like themselves again. Now,
at least Maximum
Impact feels like it's an actual "3D KOF game," instead of
sounding like something
from the twilight zone.
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Lien's about to
land a nasty
wall combo.
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The Xbox version
has slightly better graphics than the PS2 original, and also supports online
play (for the 5 people in the world who actually want to play this game online).
It might be entertaining to try out your favorite KOF characters in 3D for a little while, but the gameplay
of Maximum Impact seems to be
lost somewhere "in-between" 2D and 3D. After playing this, it kind of made me
want to play either a
traditional 2D fighting game or a (real) 3D fighting game.
The core gameplay
is all about combos and juggles, and maybe some projectile wars for fun... but that's
about it. You can also sidestep, though it's not very useful. MANIAX also has an exclusive mode that lets you pause the
game and rotate the camera around
the action. You can even snap a picture of the action, and the in-game effects
actually look relatively cool when paused. It's possibly the most fun part about
the entire damn game, and that's pretty sad.
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I've seen better
Power Geysers in my day... just sayin'.
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| Page Updated: |
December 14th, 2019 |
| Developer(s): |
SNK Playmore |
| Publisher(s): |
SNK Neo Geo |
| Artwork
by: |
Falcoon
(Initial design only, not CG renders) |
| Platform(s): |
Xbox,
PS2, PSN
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| Release Date(s): |
June
28th, 2005 Xbox
Feb. 18th, 2015 
PSN |
| Characters: |
Alba
Meira, Soiree Meira, Lien
Neville, Chae
Lim, Mignon Beart,
Kyo Kusanagi,
Iori Yagami,
Terry Bogard,
Ryo Sakazaki,
Ralf Jones,
Clark Still, Yuri
Sakazaki,
Athena Asamiya,
K',
Maxima,
Rock Howard,
Leona Heidern,
Seth,
Duke
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Featured Video:
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| Related Games: |
KOF: Maximum Impact, KOF: Maximum Impact 2, KOF:
Maximum Impact Regulation A, KOF '94, KOF '94: Re-bout,
KOF '95,
KOF '96, KOF '97, KOF '98, KOF '98 Ultimate Match, KOF '99, KOF 2000, KOF 2001,
KOF 2002, KOF 2002
Unlimited Match, KOF 2003,
KOF XI, KOF XII, KOF XIII,
KOF XIV,
KOF XV, KOF
EX Neo Blood,
KOF EX2 Howling Blood,
KOF R1, KOF R2, KOF Collection: Orochi Saga,
Street Fighter EX,
Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition, Final
Fight: Revenge, Kenichi |
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Gameplay
Engine
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5.0 / 10
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Story
/ Theme
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5.0 / 10
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Overall
Graphics
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7.0 / 10
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Animation
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6.5 / 10
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Music
/ Sound Effects
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7.5 / 10
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Innovation
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5.0 / 10
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Art Direction
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5.0 / 10
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Customization
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6.5 / 10
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Options / Extras
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6.5 / 10
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Intro / Presentation
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5.5 / 10
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Replayability / Fun
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5.5 / 10
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"Ouch" Factor
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6.0 / 10
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Characters
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4.5 / 10
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BOTTOM LINE
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5.8
/
10
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| Final
Words: |
MANIAX is definitely a better version than the original, but that's really not
saying much. The roster is still uninspiring,
along with the gameplay... you'd think they'd add an extra character or two for
this "updated" version.... Nope! 
The sequel, Maximum Impact 2 ended up being a more complete game.
~TFG
Webmaster |
@Fighters_Gen
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