The classic arcade fighting game "King of Fighters '98 UM" is now available on mobile with the title "KOF'98 UM OL." The game offers great mechanics and compelling visuals, but be prepared for lots of grinding and some bugs. As described by the game itself, it's a thrilling battle fighting experience now at your fingquips.
Reviews
- The game offers a nostalgic experience for fans of the KOF series, with great graphics and character designs.
- There is a lot of content to explore, including various game modes and events that keep players engaged.
- The gameplay is fun and addictive, allowing for strategic team management and character upgrades.
- The game has a heavy emphasis on pay-to-win mechanics, making it difficult for free-to-play players to compete effectively.
- Many players experience frequent bugs and crashes, particularly after updates, leading to frustration and loss of progress.
- Customer support is often unresponsive, leaving players feeling ignored when they encounter issues or bugs.
- graphics44 mentions
- 68 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
Overall, the graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many players praising the visuals and character designs as impressive and well-executed. However, some users criticize certain aspects as cheesy or lacking depth, and there are calls for improvements in graphics quality and performance. Despite these criticisms, a significant number of players express satisfaction with the game's aesthetic appeal and its alignment with the gameplay experience.
“The graphics are awesome 2D which suits the game so well.”
“Great graphics and awesome gameplay love it!!!”
“The game is great the graphics shocked me.”
“Some of the artwork looks pretty cheesy and cartoony when compared to real KOF art.”
“The graphics are kinda bad, but I like it; keep up the good work, devs!”
“Worst gaming graphics.”
- gameplay31 mentions
- 52 % positive mentions
- 35 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
Overall, the gameplay is described as fun, addictive, and engaging, particularly for fans of the KOF series, with smooth mechanics and a variety of content. However, many users express frustration with issues such as missing buttons, long loading times, and a pay-to-win model that detracts from the experience. While the graphics and character acquisition are praised, inconsistencies and technical problems have led some players to uninstall the game.
“The gameplay is fun and addictive; hard to find other gacha games with similar gameplay.”
“Great graphics and awesome gameplay, love it!!!”
“The gameplay is smooth, consistent, there's a ton of content, materials are easy to obtain, and the number of events is perfect.”
“The gameplay for me and my exciting experience to get more characters is 5 but now... after updating, some of the buttons like the back button are missing. So I decided to uninstall the game and download it again, but it failed to download files.”
“The concept is weird, like an RPG game, and it's heavily sided with pay-to-win players. Not to mention the gameplay is so boring that it takes less than 10 minutes to uninstall after playing a bit.”
“The game itself is really fun, especially for fans of the KOF series, but there are too many gameplay inconsistencies and pay-to-win options.”
- story22 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- 59 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
Players have mixed feelings about the game's story aspect, praising its compelling narrative and character depth while expressing frustration over limited mission opportunities and the lack of a robust story mode. Many users feel that the game could benefit from an expanded storyline and more accessible content, as current limitations hinder their engagement with the narrative. Overall, while the story is appreciated, the execution and accessibility issues detract from the overall experience.
“The story is compelling and the characters are unreal!”
“Great gameplay, simple controls, great visuals, cool story, huge roster to choose from, and best of all, it's not pay to win.”
“I like King of Fighters story, so I want it.”
“After last version update, no event and quest display, uninstall and install the game and never able to enter the game anymore, decided to leave the game already, wasted a monthly card...”
“Many servers are gone because many players are gone, it's all thanks to 'everything has paid', hard for grinding (stamina gain and stamina loss is not equal, 1x grind 16 energy, and 1 hour recovers 1 energy), hard summons (don't expect to get 4-star or AP 14-16 characters unless you're wasting your credit card). If you only want 2 or 3 stars then welcome to play, hard enemy story and elite (your attack only hits enemy for 1300 damage and enemy hits you will receive 5000-7000 damage, and once again only if you have VIP 10).”
“Cuts off lots of story...”
- stability17 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The stability of the game is heavily criticized, with users reporting frequent glitches, lags, and freezing issues that disrupt gameplay, particularly during battles and loading screens. Many players have experienced significant frustration due to these bugs, which have led to lost progress and in-game currency, alongside a lack of effective support from the developers. Overall, the game's stability is described as poor, detracting from the overall experience.
“Constant glitches and lags; there have been many incidents where I won a match but it can't load, yet whenever I lose, it loads.”
“During a battle for the live battles, there are certain characters that, once you use them, the game freezes!”
“This game is extremely buggy.”
- monetization10 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 10 % neutral mentions
- 70 % negative mentions
The monetization aspect of the game is heavily criticized for being a "cash grab," with players feeling pressured to spend money on diamonds and upgrades despite the absence of intrusive ads. While some users acknowledge the game as generous in terms of in-app purchases, others express frustration over lost progress due to server issues and the presence of random ads. Overall, the sentiment leans towards dissatisfaction with the monetization strategy.
“The game is probably one of the most generous mobile games in terms of in-app purchases.”
“Great game, but I'm still not getting into microtransactions.”
“It's become a 'cash grab' app.”
“A cash grab and I'm a victim of this.”
“A hungry cash grab game.”
- music10 mentions
- 30 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many players expressing frustration over the limited soundtrack, often citing the repetitive nature of the single main theme. While some appreciate the existing music, they desire more variety and the inclusion of iconic tracks from the franchise. Overall, the consensus is that the music detracts from the experience due to its lack of diversity and the absence of sound effects.
“I have had fun playing this game, but I do want an update to add more soundtracks from other teams.”
“Everything is amazing, but I just want to listen to my own music instead of the game's music. Please make it happen!”
“In the intro, you had the actual music that plays when you fight Orochi in '97, but in the arena and campaign, it's just 'Esaka' forever. It would be cool if they had their actual themes whenever you fight them. Overall, a cool game and I love KOF, but just hearing the same track gets dull when I know how amazing all the KOF '98 tracks were.”
“The animation is terrible, the characters' movements are lame and the music is awful!”
“Awful, lack of life in the game, boring music and few rewards.”
“In the intro you guys had the actual music that plays when you fight Orochi in '97... but in the arena, campaign, etc., it's just 'Esaka' forever. Upon fighting Iori, I thought 'Arashi' saxophone would play but it's just 'Esaka' forever. It would be cool if they had their actual themes whenever you fight them. Overall a cool game and I love KOF, but just hearing the same track gets dull when I know how amazing all the KOF '98 tracks were.”
- grinding8 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of the game is widely criticized for being excessively time-consuming and frustrating, with players noting that obtaining desirable characters often requires a year of dedicated play or significant financial investment. Many feel that the game's mechanics, such as energy recovery and character summons, are unbalanced, making it difficult to progress without spending money. Overall, while some players enjoy the grind, the consensus is that it detracts from the overall experience, especially for newcomers.
“Gets exceptionally grindy after not too long.”
“It's a long ass grinding game; if you love grinding, feel free to grind the stuff in it.”
“Takes forever to get specific characters and requires heavy grinding to progress.”
- humor6 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is widely praised, with players finding it both genuinely funny and entertainingly absurd. Many describe it as a great source of laughter, often highlighting its quirky characters and amusing scenarios that contribute to a lighthearted gaming experience. Overall, the humor serves as a significant draw, making it a delightful time-waster.
“That's all I have to say is 'lol' and not as in wow this is fun, more like haha so bad it's funny.”
“Great time waster in a fun universe with nice humor and great characters.”
“Hilarious game.”
- character development1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
While the game features impressive graphics and character design, players have noted that character development is hindered by the presence of overpowered characters and frequent crashes, particularly during online play. This undermines the overall experience and progression within the game.
- optimization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Users express frustration with the game's optimization, citing poor performance and a subpar gaming experience, while feeling that the developers' responses are inadequate and dismissive.
“It's disappointing to see that despite numerous complaints about poor performance and gaming experience, the response is often dismissive and unhelpful.”