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General: First off, what a stupid title. MANIAX?!? Ohh my F*cking %#@^! That's just retarded. I guess SNK was thinking something like "We are MANIAX for giving the characters in King of Fighters: Maximum Impact English voices." Hence, the Xbox version of KOF: Maximum Impact fixed the crappy English voices, and put them back the way they should be... Japanese. The characters sound like themselves... and now it seems like a 3D KOF game at least, instead of being something completely weird. (Although some of the rigging models are a little obsurd).
   The Xbox version has slightly better graphics than the PS2 original, and also supports online play for people who actually want to play this game... And I don't know too many personally, because it's still the same lackluster gameplay. It's fun for a little while, but the gameplay in Maximum Impact seems to be lost "in-between" 2D and 3D. It kind of makes you want to play either a solid 2D fighting game or (better) 3D fighting game. The core gameplay is combos and juggles, and maybe some projectile wars for fun, but that's about it. You can sidestep at least, but it's not all that useful.
   The Xbox version also lets you pause the game, and move the camera around for some dramatic scenes and allows you to snap a picture for future.. umm.. inspiration... Definitely a novel idea, something that other fighting games should include.
Manufacturer: SNK Neo Geo USA
Platforms: Xbox
Year: 2005
Characters: Alba, Lien, Soiree, Chae Lim, Mignon, Kyo, Iori, Terry, Ryo, Ralf, Clark, Yuri, Athena, K', Maxima, Rock, Leona, Seth, Duke
Comment: MANIAX is definitely a better version than the original, but that's not saying too much. The roster is still uninspiring, you'd think maybe they'd throw in a bonus character or two? Ahh well, play this version if you have to play Maximum Impact.
Rating: 6.5