The King of Fighters: Battle De Paradise

Not a lot has been said about King of Fighters: Battle De Paradise, as the game is very easy to dismiss. When you hear that it's basically Mario Party with King of Fighter characters, well, it's easy to be a little hesitant. But I am here to tell you that not only is the game highly addictive, but it's also a pretty darn good rip off of Mario Party!!

First and foremost, let me warn you, King of Fighters: Battle De Paradise is a Japanese game, and is filled to the brim with Japanese text. There is a lot of practice, a lot of patience, and a lot of memorization that is needed to play (and enjoy) this game, but I promise you when you take the time, when you memorize, and when you learn how to play you will have a hugely rewarding experience.

Being this is a hand held game, KoF: Battle De Paradise is shorter than Mario Party. One game set on the shortest setting can be played, and generally won, in about five minutes. The longer games can take you nearly a half hour, sometimes longer. Mario Party sessions can last four or more hours, so this short attention span version is a nice breathe of fresh air.

The game is played over several boards, each is loosely based on other SNK games, though you would never know it. Each character rolls the dice and goes around the board ... just like the board games you grew up on. As you go on you will land on either a BLUE SQARE that gives you five coins, a RED SQARE that takes away five coins, a "VS" SQUARE that pits you against the other player in one of dozens of competitive mini games, or an EXCLAMATION MARK SQAURE (!) that is kind of like a CHANCE card (sometimes good, usually bad). You can also buy various "special cards" that can be useful, but thankfully the game does not pivot on them. The object of the game is to have the most STARS at the end of the turns. If you can do that, well, you can live to play another game.

The game is played pretty fast, only taking a breather to dole out the mini game action. The mini games are a mixed bag. Some are extremely easy to understand, while others (especially the reading games) are nearly impossible to understand if you don't read Japanese. There are only two impossible puzzles, and the rest are easy, once you get the hang of it. Playing two players (how this game was meant to be played) is nice because both players have the same disadvantage when it comes to those impossible puzzles. But I really shouldn't dwell on those two puzzles, as most of the mini games are highly addictive, and memorable.

There is quite a bit to earn here, as well, so the game won't get boring any time soon. Basically, it's a AAA game brought down only by the language barrier. And even though this game doesn't score the high marks it should, it is highly engaging, and recommended to anybody who likes board games.