"Killer Instinct = Great Game"

Since the first Street Fighters game, there has been many good and bad fighting-style games. Among all of them one of the most relevant is Killer Instinct. I'm not quite sure, but this game was one of the first ones to include the ''combo'' system. Now you were able to give your opponent more than 2 or 3 continuous punches and kicks. And now, here comes its successor, Killer Instinct 2, one of the best fighting games out there. Of course, the competition is now very strong, but KI2 still offers lots of fun to all players.

After Eyedol was defeated in the previous tournament, his archenemy has come: Gargos. Now, the tournament opens again to see who's the best. Of course, your main objective in the game is to defeat the new boss and stop his evil plans. This won't be so easy as the previous game. Most of the previous fighters are back again like Orchid, Spinal, Jago, Sabrewolf. Only a few were removed like Cinder and even less fighters are new like Kim. Even though, you still have a high variety of characters to select.

If you have played Killer Instinct before, then you won't have any problems with the gameplay. It didn't suffered any changes at all. On the other hand, if you haven't played KI before, then you will have some problems. Not precisely with the controls because they are not too complicated, but with the combo system maybe. This is because it can take you some time to understand well how to perform a good combo. However, once you understand how to make them, be ready to make all those ''infinite'' combos to your friends!

Rare has always incorporated a very good audio to all of its games, and this is not the exception. The sound is very good, although maybe you won't appreciate it very well if you are playing KI2 in a very crowded arcade local. On the other hand, the graphics are simply excellent. You will be more than impressed when you look at all the cinema displays the game has. If you want a proof of this, just wait to see the introduction and some of the bio sheets of the fighters.

As always in this kind of games, it's a challenge to finish the game. But if what you want is to have tons of fun, play the game with a friend. Also, if you want to see all the possibilities the game offers you, try using all of the characters and you'll see what I'm talking about. To finish, I want to highly recommend this game. If you are a KI lover, you will enjoy this game as I did. If not, just try it. You will have an exciting time playing it. Of course, you have the last decision about it.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/29/01, Updated 09/29/01