SNK, despite being dead at one point, is alive and kicking, and rather than just rehash its old games, the company has gone the distance to make sure that it provides us with new gameplay experiences. Case in point; King of Fighters: Maximum Impact. It's no classic, but the fact that SNK has managed to take its 2D franchise and successfully bring it into the third dimension makes it worth a look by any fighting game fan.

KOF: Maximum Impact brings 20 brawlers to the mix, ranging from several classic faces like Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui (my favorite) to a few new fighters who have their own style of fighting. The game is a mixture of old and new techniques that blend pretty well, for the most part. You've got your sidestepping maneuvers, your counters, your super moves, and also the ability to juggle with multi-hit combos. This may frustrate some of you who have grown up on the previous KOFs, but the gameplay works well. However, since this series has always been in 2D, the new game may take some time to adjust to.

Where the game really becomes a pain is in the sound department. A couple of the music tracks are catchy, but the rest are washed-out tunes that are quite forgettable. Also, the Japanese voice acting is gone, and in its place is some laughable English dubbing. It would've been nice if SNK included the option to turn on Japanese voices.

The game's graphics aren't too bad. Some of the animation looks awkward, especially during super move executions, but it still works. Some of the character designs are fantastic, and the detail in each stage is pretty well done. The environments aren't fully interactive, but they still look great.

Where King of Fighters: Maximum Impact really shines is in its various game modes. A lot of the classic SNK modes are present, including 3-on-3 match-ups and a single player story mode that's not too bad. There's also a challenge mode where you can complete various obstacles and earn unlockable goodies and costumes. This also leads us to Profile Mode, where you can tweak the fighters and give them unique touches such as alternate outfits or strange little props like cowboy hats. Unfortunately, for all its extra features, there isn't an online mode.

King of Fighters: Maximum Impact won't satisfy all fighting fans. There are those who will be attentive to heart-stopping detail, and will probably stick with Namco's efforts, and some old-school fans won't like the fact that KOF has gone 3D in the first place, and probably won't be too crazy with the juggle option. Yet, there's still plenty of fighting fun to be found here, and it's bound to find that niche audience. It doesn't make the maximum impact that I had hoped it would, but you'll still feel it.