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
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.
They changed up the
selection screen... looks alright.
REVIEW:
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
MANIA(CS) for
giving the characters in KOF: Maximum Impact English voices."
Thus, the Xbox version of Maximum
Impact fixed the terrible English voices that cursed the PS2 version, and put them back the way they
should be... Japanese. Thankfully, the characters sound like themselves again. Now, Maximum
Impact at least seems like it's a "3D KOF game," instead of something
from the twilight zone.
Lien's about to do a nasty
wall combo.
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 amde 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.
The sequel, Maximum Impact 2 ended up being a more complete game. 
I'm guessing SNK was thinking something along the lines of "WE were
MANIA(CS) for
giving the characters in KOF: Maximum Impact English voices."
Thus, the Xbox version of Maximum
Impact fixed the terrible English voices that cursed the PS2 version, and put them back the way they
should be... Japanese. Thankfully, the characters sound like themselves again. Now, Maximum
Impact at least seems like it's a "3D KOF game," instead of something
from the twilight zone.
