The Xbox One's first fighting game is a reboot of one of Rare's most beloved classics, but is being free-to-play doing it more harm than good

A unique combat system that keeps the best of the earlier games and adds in some useful new ideas of its own; Decent graphics that make the best of the original designs

The microtransaction system is ruinous to the variety of the game; especially online and especially as there are too few characters anyway – or game modes for that matter

Killer Instinct isn't what you'd typically call "free to play," and that's bloody marvellous. See, us hacks were quick to mislabel Xbox One's debut fighting game after its E3 showing, but we eventually learned that things were slightly more nuanced than just "F2P.

Fluid; brutal and versatile action feels fantastic on the new D-Pad; Handsome crisp visuals benefit from gratuitous particle effects; Exhaustive playable tutorials and smart business model

Desperately needs the story and arcade modes ASAP; feels a bit flimsy; Jago vs Jago match-ups are already wearing thin; Some classic characters still MIA; more memorable arenas would be nice

I've been playing Killer Instinct until my thumbs hurt. The left analog stick didn't give me the level of control that I needed so I switched to the Xbox One controller's new-look D-Pad fairly early on in proceedings (side note: it's much superior to the Xbox 360's for fighters).

Fighting games are hard. For many they're impenetrable. Sure, you can do a hadouken; that quarter circle forward motion is ingrained in the psyche of most gamers of a certain generation, but beyond that Well, things get complicated. And online Forget it.

Killer Instinct is back to bust heads and break combos after an almost two-decade-long hiatus. Once you decipher the game's free-to-play pricing , you discover a bombastic brawler whose balanced fighting mechanics buck the trend towards very long, very technical combos while still providing an...

Fights are intense and engaging; Combo and counter breakers emphasize mind games; Online play runs smoothly; Ultra Edition includes classic Killer Instinct

Barebones online and offline modes; Lacks replay sharing

This game didn't really have a long replay value for me because you soon get bored of the gimmicks. Anybody can memorize a series of buttons. The skill and true fun of a game come when need to think more about the match to win. That's the formula for a long replay value.

I like how all the characters are pretty well developed and have their own styles and uniqueness; Including TJ Combo in this package is a nice plus; He's the most fun of all the characters in Season 1 or 2; The graphics are pretty nice too; The price wasn't too bad either

The ultimate failure of this game is perhaps its greatest draw which is the long combos; This game requires less skill and strategy than other fighting games because it heavily relies on simply memorizing a chain of buttons to pull off devastating combos.

You can only use 8 characters. You have to pay 5 dollars for each other character you want. What a complete joke. Why wouldn't it say this in the description before people waste their money What a rip off..

Killer Instinct is a brand new fighting game in its own right, as well as a complete reboot of the Killer Instinct franchise. Never heard of it That's not that surprising, really, given the last game in the series - Killer Instinct Gold - released for the Nintendo 64 in 1996.

These past few years have ushered in a great era of fighting games. From Persona 4 Arena to Skullgirls to Marvel vs. Capcom 3, gaming's seen a lot of fresh blood mixing in with the older franchises making a comeback.

Several PlayStation 4 and Xbox One launch titles haven't really taken much advantage of either console's improved hardware, but Killer Instinct looks outright incredible; From intricate character detailing to the splash from blocked fireballs, it's clear that the developers pushed the graphics as...