improvement over those of its predecessor The King of Fighters 2003. GamesRadar+ enjoyed the considerably higher number of characters and the noticeably fast combat than in previous entries in the series. Ryan Clements of IGN called it "a very old-school 2D fighter" while indicating that the style of the series had not changed much since The King of Fighters '94. He said the game was well organized, despite the large number of playable characters, and enjoyed experimenting with each character's variable fighting techniques. He added that fights would be very difficult for players, until they learned how to use the special moves. Andrew Park of GameSpot opined that the game was well-balanced with its variety of playable characters and complimented its illustrative design. Eurogamer called it an "excellent 2D game", comparable to other works such as one of Capcom's most famous games, Street Fighter III, although they complained about the lack of popular characters from the franchise such as Joe Higashi. Numerous publications said the graphics were dated due to SNK Playmore's constant use of sprites, although Siliconera enjoyed the art employed in other areas of the game which they said showed a significant increase in graphic quality. Eurogamer said The King of Fighters XI would not stand out amongst other fighting game franchises like Soul Calibur or Tekken, which employ 3D graphics in contrast with this game's 2D graphics. Meristation agreed, saying the franchise was in need of a major overhaul. IGN said the developers should have optimized the graphics, though they felt the menus and cutscenes were well done. uVeJuegos.com was more critical, saying that SNK Playmore should have updated the graphics of the series several years earlier. On the other hand, Game Revolution did not mind the use of 2D graphics based on how the scenarios change across the fights. Despite finding the game's graphics dated, GameZone enjoyed the overall presentation, which the reviewer called "one of best fighting games ever to grace the PS2", noting its low price provided great replay value. The boss characters attracted some negative responses. GameSpot described the sub-boss Shion as "terribly powerful" and the final boss Magaki as "absurdly overpowered", and criticized the voice acting for the Magaki character, additionally noting that his appearance was unimpressive. GamesRadar+ agreed, describing Magaki as a "Typical KoF final boss from hell". While noting the artificial intelligence had improved from that used in The King