Game: "King of Fighters XI"

Console: PlayStation 2

Developer/publisher: SNK/Playmore

Genre: Fighting

Number of players: Two

Rated: Teen, for alcohol reference, mild suggestive themes, violence, animated blood, mild language

The premise: A new King of Fighters tournament is announced, bringing back familiar favorites such as Terry and Ryo and newcomers to the battle. Not all, however, is as it seems; mysteries will be uncovered as you fight your way to the top. Using 47 playable characters, join 11 teams as they battle to win the tournament.

Game play: It's not just one-on-one fighting, but three-on-three. You have the ability to swap out characters when their health is getting low. You can also pick the order in which you want them to appear.

The good/bad: It's good to see such a plethora of fighters under one roof. You have the ability to customize your teams to include three of your favorites.

Score another point for SNK, which has created another irritating ending boss. Sometimes when you're playing against this punk, you won't land a single hit. Thank you, SNK, for adding another gray hair and another broken controller!

Even after all these years, SNK is capable of producing a challenging 2-D fighting game in the age of 3-D games. Besides a complicated ending boss, there are also challenging, unlockable midbosses.

After exploring the characters, I noticed some are just awful. Unless you know their bizarre move sets and decipher their fighting styles, they are a waste of data. Instead of introducing lame characters, bring back already established characters such as the missing Rock Howard.

Tips: If you're having trouble beating opponents, take advantage of the rewards the game offers for continuing.

Unlock more characters by beating them in battle.

My take: In this new age of video-game consoles (the PS3, the Xbox 360 and the Wii), it's interesting to see the PS2 hanging on and that games still are coming out for it. Lucky for us PS2 owners, "King of Fighters XI" came out for the PS2, as opposed to a next-generation system - that gives me a reason to continue playing my old PS2.

I won't be giving "Fighters" a perfect score because there are no bonuses besides the unlockable characters. If only "Fighters" had emulated "Street Fighter Alpha 3," which had a number of bonuses such as extra modes, characters and two-on-one fighting.

For those of you who like fighting games and continue to enjoy the "King of Fighters" series, do yourself a favor and pick up this one.