Killer Instinct

"Hands down, the CHEAPEST fighting game ever"

I amend my prior review of giving this ultra-cheap game a 6/10. This is by far the most unbalanced, cheap and unplayable fighting game of the last 10 years. I am so glad that I played this game on Free Play in my girlfriend's basement rather than actually spending money on this drivel in the Arcade.

The graphics are outstanding, yeah. The fatalities are neat, some of the characters are cool, there is nice blend of 2d and 3d, and the combos, if you can pull them off, are cool. But thats it.

The Computer blocks EVERYTHING you do with 100% success. You cannot break an AI opponent's block, even though they CAN hit you right through your block. Combos are ridiculously stupid...I was doubled over in laughter for about 10 minutes, because I saw my 15 hit 'Killer Combo' take off about a quarter of energy from the AI opponent, and then the AI retaliated with a pathetic 3 hit combo and took off about 60% of my energy in just those three hits. Computer opponents can perform 'Combo Breakers' which interrupt your combo and do tremendous damage to your character. Apparently, this is a way for the computer to stop players from getting too combo happy, as i've never been able to, nor have I ever seen anyone else break a computer's combo. The AI anticipates EVERY SINGLE MOVE you do, and slaughters you before you even pull it off. Charge Back, then Forward and press Fierce Punch? Nope, the computer is way ahead of you on that one...it'll block and unleash a 4 hit combo that takes off over 50% of your energy. Successfully hit a 15 hit combo? Great...the computer barely felt it. That 3 hit retaliation will kill you though. The computer has an answer for EVERYTHING...you jump, they knock you out of the air immediately. You duck, you still get hit. You throw a projectile, they teleport and unleash a combo on you. You walk forward, they teleport and slaughter you.

And the boss...forget it. Not only is it one of the stupidest looking bosses in Fighting game history ( a 2 headed alien with an axe or mace of some sort), it is also by far the cheapest. As I said before, I am VERY glad that I played this game in my gf's on Free PLay, because it took me and her combined about and hour and 15 minutes to beat the boss...assuming the game cost 50 cents, we estimated that, if we had to pay to play, it would've cost nearly $1500 to beat the last boss alone. I've never seen a fight end so quick in any fighting game. The announcer says 'fight' and the boss is already on you, doing a massive combo that destroys you. I remember one particular match. 'Ready' said the announcer, and all I saw was two well rendered character models in a disgusting blob with blood flying all over the place. Soon, the match was over. The clock read '93' out of a possible '100'. In 7 seconds, the match was completely over. I never once had a chance to touch the control...the boss unleashed an infinite combo. Even though there are two 'round' or each player has 2 life bars, i was beaten, and as soon as I got up, the boss slammed me again with the infinite combo. Also, if you do actually manage to take any damage off the boss, it gains it all back. I remember I got the first health bar down to nearly nothing, yet it uppercut me high into the air...and I conveniently stayed high in the air until the boss stamped his foot on the ground like a pansy enough times to gain ALL of his health back. After that, my character then fell back onto the screen. All damage I did to the boss was immediately recovered, every single time I was knocked down. It is also impossible to hit the boss, since it blocks everything and retaliates with a 100% damage combo. This was all on the easiest setting, no less.

This is one of the worst fighting games for single player EVER. Its best played with a friend, since the one player game is so ridiculously cheap and hard that it will only lead to a heart attack, a hernia, or an ulcer. Unless you can get your hands on an emulated version or know someone who has a machine, I don't suggest wasting your money on this impossible game if you happen upon it elsewhere.

Reviewer's Score: 1/10, Originally Posted: 01/30/04, Updated 02/01/04