I’ve not been a fan of what I initially saw from Killer Instinct but as a fan I sure as hell wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to at least check it out. After all I was the person who wasn’t afraid to voice his criticism after I saw game’s unveiling earlier this year at E3. We all like to complain on the internet but those complaints are ultimately nothing more than genuine concern for games that we’re especially fond of. Despite what some “elitists” will tell you, criticism can actually help developers craft a better game and it seems that Killer Instinct is a good example of that.
After the short trailer at E3, I actually wanted to grab the nearest object to me and throw it through the window. Horrible character redesigns, a very forced announcer trying to sound edgy and gameplay that resembled Street Fighter IV more than it did the original Killer Instinct games all made for a bad first impression. The fact that Double Helix were developing the new Killer Instinct and not Rare was the final nail in the coffin for me. These guys were responsible for such classics as Silent Hill Homecoming, G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Green Latern: Rise of the Manhunters. Strangely enough, it’s Double Helix’s quality that’s starting to rise these days.
What Did You Think Of The Killer Instinct Demo?
Killer Instinct for the Xbox One is a traditional one on one fighter that alongside Capcom’s vs. series helped popularise the combo system. The game plays similarly to Street Fighter II so picking a character like Jago and performing the same moves you would with Ryu will yield you similar results. The actual main difference comes from the auto doubles that are used to perform all those abusive combos we’ve come to expect from Killer Instinct.
The basic idea in Killer Instinct is that every character has a handful of special moves and “auto doubles” are what connects them all together. For example, a quarter circle back motion on the stick combined with any kick will perform Jago’s wind kick which can then be followed up by any regular punch/kick attack to do an auto double. At the end of this auto double attack you’re able to “finish” off your combo by perhaps doing a “dragon punch” motion and that in it’s MOST BASIC FORM is how Killer Instinct works.
Special Move (Starter) —> Auto Double -> Special Move (Ender) = Basic Combo
Just imagine Street Fighter’s special moves being combo’d together by the addition of “linkers” or as Killer Instinct likes to call them, auto doubles. Obviously the depth comes from working out just how much you can squeeze in within the game’s “rules”. It’s vital to know which moves act as good starters and which moves are great enders, it’s more about knowing the properties of a move rather than the game’s mechanics.
Traditionally I’ve always been a Jago player so for the purposes of the demo, I decided to stick with him as it would help me work out what’s changed in Killer Instinct. It’s hard to come to grips with a fighter in a short span of time let alone 15 minutes but I did notice that auto doubles don’t appear to be limited to medium attacks any more. What this means is that performing combo breakers is not as predictable as it used to be and it also helps give the game more depth or at the very least, more variety in combo opportunities.
For the most part, Jago played similarly to how he did in the previous games. Some moves have been dropped and others added but the classic special moves are all there. Sabrewulf on the other hand is still a “in your face” character but his moves are all new as I’m still not seeing any somersault kicks. No need to fear however as this is just an excuse to make Sabrewulf even more insane this time round and perhaps the most combo friendly of the lot. Even with my short play time in mind, by the end I was performing attacks that had me switching to the front and back of my opponent whilst squeezing in some short “super” combos for a 19 hit pay off.
The general impression that I’m giving off here is that Killer Instinct is more mash friendly than ever but far from it. My opponent was clearly mashing away and he got his ass handed to him by me. I’m not a Killer Instinct professional by any means but I certainly knew the mechanics and systems better than he did so he didn’t stand a chance. Ideally the better player should always win out and in Killer Instinct, I felt that the mechanics were tightly balanced so that both types of gamers could have fun but the better players could always emerge the winner.
I’d love to tell you about the music in Killer Instinct but sadly it’s Eurogamer Expo, we couldn’t hear anything and weren’t provided with any headphones for Killer Instinct in particular. The screen setup wasn’t much better either as Microsoft had us sitting 5cm away from 32inch screens with the sharpness set to max. Even so Killer Instinct failed to impress visually as it honestly didn’t look all that much better than what we’ve come to expect from a current generation fighter. Never the less the action was locked at 60FPS and it’s a pretty fighter with some nice effects, particularly in it’s particles so I’m not complaining. You can’t help but shake the feeling that Namco will be the ones to deliver the graphical show pieces we expect from these new systems whenever they decide to make new version of Tekken and SoulCalibur.
Be Honest, Will It Suck?
Overall I had a blast (er combo…) with Killer Instinct, I don’t feel that my initial negative opinion was wrong based on what I saw at E3 but rather the game has come a long way since then. Sadly Killer Instinct is launching with only six fighters, it will be updated throughout 2014 with additional fighters but that won’t stop it from becoming a “weekend fighter”. Something you get on Friday be done with it by the time Monday arrives which is a major bummer for fans like me we waited some 17 years for a sequel to one of our favourite titles.
Killer Instinct fans can rest easy knowing that Killer Instinct for Xbox One is slowly but surely becoming the game that we want it to be although it might be late 2014 before it becomes anything other than a glorified demo. It’s quiet incredible that the generally crappy Double Helix games is developing this one, what a fantastic turn around for the studio. I’m genuinely really happy to see Double Helix prove the haters such as myself wrong, everyone loves an underdog story.
It’s not a system seller nor is it a showcase for the Xbox One but Killer Instinct is entertaining in short bursts which some would argue was the spirit of the first two games anyway. I think Killer Instinct has potential but it’s probably best to wait until this one becomes a more full fledged fighter before jumping in or at the very least, until they add in Fulgore and Cinder.
