Putting SNK and Capcom characters into the same fighting game has been done before, but this is SNK’s first attempt at it and the results...well interesting. The crux of the matter is that the previous Capcom VS titles and of course Guilty Gear X, just look so much better.

However we all know that graphics do not make the game, and even though this game was released on PAL Xbox and PS2 in 2005, the game itself is far older. We must also consider the price, as £19.99 is an excellent price for a game that you will no doubt keep playing offline or online.

SNK Bias. As this game comes from the SNK camp, the Capcom characters have been modified to play more like the King Of Fighters game system. This means that some of the Capcom characters have lost moves, and/or existing moves do far more damage in an attempt to balance the game. This will confuse people who only play Capcom games, like CVS confused the SNK following. SVC uses the same 4 button layout you would find in the KOF games and CVS1
Characters. The SVC character lineup does read like a who's who in fighting game history, the only problem is that some of the characters are really unbalanced. This is not a new problem as CVS1 had this issue, and to some extents CVS2 also had it. The only positive aspect about this lack of balance is the fact that a skilled player can still beat an average player, when playing an unbalanced character.
SVC excels! SVC does excel in one area, and that is the pre-fight dialogue between characters. This is always funny and it is a nice touch that the SNK characters are always teasing the Capcom lot. However I don't know how many times you would actually read this dialogues before skipping them completely. The art work for these dialogues are great, and it is a shame that the rest of the game was not done at the same quality.

Connecting.
When you land a punch or kick in SVC it is not always obvious as to whether it has actually happened. It seems that SVC lacks any kind of connection impact, or that the characters actually respond to being kicked in the head.

The super moves that the characters have access to have been weakened, mainly to make room for the new super special. This does give the game an unique feel, as now charging your super meter is not the be all and end all that it was in CVS.

If this game had come out alongside Capcom VS SNK, then everyone would have been happy. Unfortunately we have had Capcom VS SNK 2 since then, and SVC fails to better that game. SVC is a good game, and for £19.99 there is no reason for you not to buy it.