An Xbox One exclusive, Killer Instinct certainly raised some eyebrows after it was announced, especially after how it was revealed at this year’s E3. So as you can imagine we were very curious to play this new fighting game.
One of the first things you will notice while playing the new Killer Instinct is that the characters hit hard, the attacks feel like they have a huge weight behind them. This makes generating combos feel incredibly satisfying and more powerful. This is a great feeling for a fighting game to have. Do you know what this heavy impact feeling also improves? A C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER! Combo breaking has never felt so amazing to pull off and has never sounded cooler (although if you are a fan of the original, you can replace the announcing voice in this version with the originals).
The combat is also improved by a very well implemented set of ambient sounds which make the music fade in and out of your combos. This makes the actions the character is attempting feel not only faster but more cinematic as well which enables even the most inexperienced fighting game player feel like they have pulled off some amazing moves.
Brutal but awesome stuff!
But despite how good the game is to play, it doesn’t look that great. Being honest, it looked more like an Xbox 360 title rather than an Xbox One title which was a shame. Another thing, remember how I said this game felt heavy, as in the game felt like it was packing a punch? This feeling is lost on the player as soon as you jump. The jumping just looks really light compared to the combat and it can be quite jarring to witness during a fight.
After playing with the characters available, personally, I enjoyed Sabrewulf the most. His fast and brutal attacking style really seems to suit this new game the best. He also really has some easy combos to use right off the bat unlike the other characters. A good example of this is Glacius, his style was based on using range based ice attacks to play keep-away with your opponent. This hard to master fast enough and some of the players playing the demo did not like this character for it.
Overall, Killer Instinct looks to be a really kick butt exclusive for the Xbox One and a pretty stellar fighting game. If you’re planning to pick up an Xbox One, make sure you check this out!
