I confess honestly: in SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy I was interested for only one reason – I really wanted to know why the heroines of the fighting game are dressed in such revealing outfits. “They wear such costumes not because we wanted them to,” said the project’s producer at the beginning of the year. Interesting wording. Is the explanation really worth it to buy the game and find out the truth??
Show everything that is hidden
Actually no – the story here is so banal that after completing the plot you regret the time spent. As it turns out, the mysterious guy Kukri (who first appeared in King of Fighters XIV) – a pervert who wants to suck all the life energy out of girls and turn them into sand figures. To do this, he opens a new dimension, places the heroines in the palace and forces them to fight each other. In the end he is defeated, all the captives are saved, the credits crawl across the screen..
The introductory and final videos are absolutely the same regardless of which characters you have chosen – before the start they ask you to take two fighters, whose story you will watch for half an hour. Yes, half an hour – that’s how long the “story campaign” lasts, which in fact is more reminiscent of “Arcade”. Replay value lies in the fact that the plot is offered to be watched several more times, choosing other girls. In this case, you will hear new dialogues, but the essence of the clips on the engine will remain the same: Kukri will sit in his lair, watch recordings from surveillance cameras and focus on the convex parts of the bodies of his victims.
The story is worth going through just for the virtual currency, which is used to purchase cosmetic items. All heroines have three costumes (the standard one is given free of charge), as well as a huge number of various accessories. From headdresses to face paints to back bling to arm and leg trinkets, character customizers can spend an entire evening creating the perfect versions of each heroine. You can also use this currency to unlock all sorts of images, and for the “story” they will give you unlimited access to all videos and sound files, but this is completely stupid content.
The strength of opponents https://gasimocasino.co.uk/mobile-app/ in the campaign is adjusted in the pause menu – you can make them completely helpless or very dangerous. On standard difficulty SNK Heroines will seem elementary even to beginners who have never played fighting games in their lives. Almost all the basic mechanics are explained at the very beginning on 14 pages, and everything else can be learned from the tutorial, which ends before it even begins.
You can also fight here
The buttons on the right half of the gamepad are responsible for weak and strong hits, grabs and special moves. A separate button allows you to switch between heroines, two more are needed for a block and a special finishing blow, and by moving the right stick the player uses an object that he knocked out of a ball hanging in the air. Items either affect the characteristics of your fighter (replenish his stamina, for example), or cause damage to the enemy or somehow affect his capabilities in the arena. A knockdown bomb, a banana peel lying on the ground, there is even a wooden figure that can be placed in the middle of the location and used as a wall – preventing your opponent from getting out, using various combinations.
But everything here is so primitive that after just a few matches you feel very confident and use the same techniques in every battle. They hit you – you block. The enemy puts a block – you strike until the block is broken. Or you press the throw button, grab the enemy and throw him into the opposite wall. If your opponent jumps, repeat after him and grab again. There are very few combinations, and some of them are generally the same for many characters. Learn to play for one and you can achieve success for another.
An interesting element of the gameplay seems to be stamina, which is spent on special techniques and grabs during battle and is necessary for victory. The fact is that victory is not awarded here for depleting the enemy’s health scale. It is imperative to perform a finishing blow when the color of the enemy’s “lives” bar turns red. If both participants do not use this technique until the end of the match, the system calculates the number of points and makes a verdict, but this happens very rarely. Do you think a finishing blow is something complex, like a “fatality” in Mortal Kombat? No, it is activated with one single button.
At least some depth in the gameplay SNK Heroines still there. If the enemy is stunned and one step away from death, and you don’t have enough energy, you’ll have to fight him further and wait until you have the opportunity to finish him off. But if you immediately monitored the indicators and did not waste energy on all sorts of stylish tricks, you would have seen the winning screen earlier. Items are also important – if the enemy is beating you non-stop, a bomb arriving from above will stop him. Or you can use it in the middle of your combo.
It’s a pity that there’s practically nothing to do in the game – there’s criminally little content. Outside of the story campaign, Versus mode (regular fights with the computer), Survival mode (survival against constantly appearing opponents) and training are available. It’s not entirely clear why the developers are asking as much as $50 when they cost almost the same Injustice 2, Tekken 7 and many other high-quality fighting games. It’s great that artists got their head around and came up with dozens of unique costumes and hats, but it’s unlikely that many people play such projects for the sake of customization.
In multiplayer the situation is even sadder – you can play a match with friends sitting in the same room with you, or you can start a quick online duel. Players are allowed to choose signatures and avatars, their profile descriptions include favorite heroes and history of wins and losses… and that’s it. No ranked mode, no interesting ideas, just boring puzzles. Surely after a couple of weeks it will be impossible to find anyone online.
It’s not entirely clear who it was created for SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy. Fans of hardcore fighting games are unlikely to stay here for long; newcomers are more likely to be attracted to superheroes in Injustice 2, and those who want to gaze at charming girls in revealing outfits can visit the corresponding sites for free. In addition, the game looks downright lousy, at least on the Nintendo Switch. There are “ladders” in both portable mode and stationary mode, and it should be a shame to release a fighting game with 30 fps in 2018. Overall a total disappointment.
Pros: a large number of accessories for heroines and many “interesting” costumes; a couple of interesting ideas in the combat system.
Cons: a short story campaign with a banal story; characters are similar to each other in skills; there is catastrophically little content; Graphics and performance on Switch leave much to be desired.
