There is a problem with attempting to write a review about a title from a series of games. The reviewer has to try to produce his/her review without it feeling to similar to another reviewer's take on a previous title in the series, or in this case sounding too similar to his own views on a previous outing. Hopefully, the person blessed with reviewing Halo 2 for instance, should find enough has changed in terms of both game-play and graphics to produce a fresh review to follow that of Halo.

Look at the left of this column and read the genre. Now, everyone think about it for a moment, think about the games that fit into the term "Fighter". Done it? Good. This reviewer's grievance is further compounded by the fact that the genre of Fighters is pretty much a well trodden path. A step further and thinking about 2D Fighters, gamers will know exactly what the game entails before the words have a chance to dwell in the mind. Take a genre such as Role-playing games and it can be seen that there are many ways to tackle the genre; Baldur's Gate, Deux Ex, Final Fantasy, Lost Kingdoms, each bring a new aspect to their genre. However, we all know the format for 2D beat-em-ups; Street Fighter, Guilty Gear, King of Fighters. Designs and moves may change but the genre is very specific, with many games following the same mould.

A fault of both SNK and Playmore to date has been that their DC ports are direct conversions of their Neo-Geo counterparts. Thanks to the Neo-Geo's ageing architecture, developers for the format found that they had squeezed about as much as they could out of their pride and joy a few years back. Hence, the past 3 to 4 incarnations of the King of Fighters series have looked extremely similar, feeling more like updates rather than sequels.

The seventh game in the series, unlike its predecessors King of Fighters 2001, wasn't developed by SNK but by Eolith. The result of this is a new graphical style to the intro and player selection with essentially the same game-play at its core.

Following the same format as its last outing, the emphasis is placed on team based combat. Players pick a team of four characters to enter a match with; these characters can then be assigned as a normal fighter or a Striker. A Striker, for those not in the know, is a character that appears on screen and performs a one-off attack before disappearing. This feature is utilized in both team and single player modes, the difference being that in single player, three of the members have to be Strikers. During combat, successful hits and damage incurred builds up power stocks, with each full power stock (up to four are allowed) allowing players to use a powerful Desperation Move or Striker attack.

Each Striker present in a team adds an extra power stock, allowing a maximum of three extra stocks with three Strikers. The game has been balanced so that care must be taken in choosing how the team is to be used effectively. A team of four fighters, for instance, will find that they are unable perform Super Desperation moves and are of course without the benefit of strikers. A team with one fighter and three strikers will have the benefit of SDM usage and better damage absorption, but the power gauge will take longer to fill; a single round lost hands the match to your opponent. This ratio system should be familiar to those who have played the Capcom Vs SNK games.

For this particular outing, two new elements have been added to the combat engine. The first is the ability to Super cancel. Even though this is new to the KOF series, it has been present in other fighters for sometime. Each character has at least one move which can be cancelled into a Desperation move or Super Desperation move.

The wire damage system allows players to knock their opponent across to the other side of the screen before bouncing back to them. This can then be followed up with any move the player wishes. Any character hit by a wire move becomes vulnerable to the follow up which is inescapable. As such, the wire move is a good way to start a combo. However, if the move is used as part of a combo or chain it will lose its special properties. A wire move can also be performed as a counter attack.

As per each of its former incarnations, the Recovery roll, Emergency Evades and Dashes are present. However, unlike KOF2k the Taunt yet again does nothing (in 2k it restored a striker stock at the expense of a DM bar stock). This is because the Striker bombs have been removed, due to a striker attack using up one full power stock.

The active striker system from KOF2k which allowed strikers to come in at any time has also been abolished. In its place, the ability to Striker Cancel has been introduced, allowing a striker attack to be used again and again; this requires two power stocks and the opponent to be on ground.

Because the King Of Fighters games use a two punch button, two kick button setup, they are ideally suited to the Dreamcast pad, leaving one shoulder button to call on Strikers and another for taunting or a preset combination of punch and kick buttons. The controls are responsive, with no lag present between the players button presses and onscreen actions. As always, an arcade stick is preferable to a joypad to make the most of a beat-em-up, but the DC pad does an admirable job with well placed buttons and a comfortable hold.

There are four new characters and one returning character; Foxy, Angel and K9999 join Kula to form the tenth team known as the NESTS team. May Lee replaces Jhun on the Korea team and Heidern returns to the Ikari Warriors team from his last appearance in KOF 98 to replace Whip, who now sits on the Hero team.

Optional extras are presented in the form of the new Puzzle mode. Players pick a character and then compete against other challengers in the same way as a normal Verses game would be conducted, starting with the easier players and working up to the game's two bosses. The game screen is split vertically in two; each half shows the chosen character and the puzzle, looking a bit like a cross between a vertical Super Puzzle fighters and Tetris.

The rules are simple; each player has a series of blocks with varying patterns at the "bottom" of their screen. The aim is to eliminate all of the blocks by getting four or more blocks of the same pattern to connect and hence disappear. This is achieved by rotating if desired and then pushing a four block square or a two block rectangle onto the pile of blocks below. Defeat occurs if your opponent beats you to it or if your blocks pile up past red line at the top of the screen.

As blocks are destroyed, the chosen characters power gauge increases, allowing them to use one of two DMs or an SDM move on the opponent. The result of which can add more blocks to the opponents screen, decrease their power gauge or change the pattern on their blocks.

The puzzle mode makes for a much more interesting diversion than that featured in KOF2k. Winning the Team game or the Puzzle mode will unlock the Gallery and Survival mode seen on the main menu.

As mentioned above, graphically the game suffers from its origins on dated Neo-Geo technology, using the same low resolution for the last 11 years. For some, this will faithfully recreate the graphical style they have come to know and love over time. To them, a change may represent a step away from what could be seen as the heritage of Neo Geo games design. Others will find that because this is a straight port and not much has changed, it falls behind games such as Garou: MOTW, Street Fighter 3 and Guilty Gear in terms of graphics quality and as such is disappointing. However, it must be taken into account that this is a port and a fairly accurate port at that, to expect Playmore to alter the content of KOF2k1 is perhaps a bit heartless. Instead, it would be better to wait until Playmore have their own opportunity to control the development of a KOF title on or off of the Neo Geo architecture. In which instance, any argument for failing to take the opportunity to update the graphics may be justified.

As it stands, the backgrounds and characters are as well animated. The backgrounds in particular this year appear to feature more animation than previous years with regards to the actions of spectators. However, they still appear bland compared not only to the 3D backgrounds of Capcom Vs SNK 2 and Marvel Vs Capcom, but also in comparison to KOF '98 and '99. Worthy of note is the fact that Playmore have seen fit to include the backgrounds from previous KOF games which can be used during training and verses games.

The animation is still smooth and effective, with the slight animations such as breathing, panting and pacing on the spot lending not only detail but personality to each character. This reviewer will still repeatedly use Vanessa's Machine Gun Puncher combo simply because the animation of her shaking her tired hands and facial expression never fails to be amusing. Even when characters share similar traits, such as Kyo and K', each is portrayed in such a way that the feeling that it's just another clone never rears it ugly head. Taunts, DMs and the manner in which they move onscreen ensure that it's easier to find differences than similarities between characters.

Unfortunately, the soundtrack this year is mediocre and uninspired, with no arranged version in sight. This is a real shame, considering both '99 and '00 had some very good tracks. Even though a decent soundtrack isn't essential, it helps to put players in the fighting spirit and even heightens some battles making them more dramatic, boss battles in particular. No need to worry about such things here though, there aren't any memorable tracks present nor are there any tracks worthy of mention. Even Kyo has poor background music this year. In its favour, at least it can be said that the music isn't painful to listen to, so in that respect it can be simply ignored.

The familiarity of these titles can be both a blessing and a curse; whilst the games are comfortably easy to get into, they suffer from the feeling that it's the same old territory being covered time and time again. And with that feeling can come a lack of appreciation for that title, as well as a generally shorter lifespan in terms of game-play. Whilst the game suits its heritage perfectly, it is hard to escape the feeling that the opportunity should have been taken to produce a King of Fighters 2001 Plus rather than a straight out port.