It's been said that you can never have too much of a good thing, but how much is enough? This is the question I kept asking myself as I poured hour upon gleeful hour into Killer Instinct . In a fighting game, how many characters is too few? How much can I really get out of it without an arcade or story mode? Quite a lot, it turns out. KI makes up for its modestly sized cast of just six characters by offering scads of unlockables, excellent training modes, and most importantly, a combat system that’s as fun and flashy as it is smart.

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Killer Instinct's combat is fluid, deep, and well informed by the mistakes of its predecessors. Double Helix has done a great job of staying true to KI’s roots while also solving the problem of long-form combos being one-way interactions where one person plays while the other watches. Killer Instinct employs an intelligent system of interlocking mechanics to instead make combos a natural extension of the neutral game.It starts with the ever-familiar combo breaker, which has been modified to reward both good reads and sharp reactions. Learning what every character’s linkers and auto-doubles (KI’s combo building blocks) look like is essential since you have to match them with the appropriate combo breaker input. Choosing the wrong input, or even mistiming the right one temporarily “locks” you out from any further attempts, giving your attacker time to go nuts. This makes choosing whether or not to break a meaningful decision while giving the attacker further reason to switch up their combos instead of using the same bread and butter every time.The new counter-breaker adds another layer of tactics, giving smart attackers a way to bait out and punish predictable break attempts for big damage. Of course, a smarter defender could sniff the trap out, refrain from breaking, and punish the whiffed counter breaker. But then, a still-smarter attacker might drop out of the combo intentionally before any of that happens and go for a reset, starting a brand new combo with the built-up potential damage from the original one. It’s a non-stop cycle of mind games that keeps both players dialed into the match, regardless of who’s hitting who. And for as combo-centric as it can be, KI's neutral game is remarkably sound. Footsies are entirely viable, anti-airs are threatening, and smart meter-management can win matches.Each of KI’s six characters feels distinctive and fully developed: Jago offers players with strong fundamentals an option for every situation; Sabrewulf dominates with a speedy high-low mixup game but makes you work to get in close enough to use it; Glacius is the exact opposite, controlling large amounts of space from medium and long ranges but struggling once opponents get in his face. Rounding out the cast are Orchid, Thunder, and finally Sadira – a series newcomer with incredible aerial mixup options. The one upshot of having such a small cast is that it's easier to balance, but at the end of the day, it's still only six characters - it's hard not to feel a bit limited by that.An endless survival mode stands in for the absent arcade mode as Killer Instinct’s de facto way to pummel a string of CPU opponents. There’s also a long list of increasingly difficult optional trials to complete that net you points to unlock tons of extra goodies. These bite-sized challenges are listed right on the main menu, and clicking on one conveniently drops you into the relevant mode with whatever character you're supposed to use. I play fighting games to fight and improve, so heading into practice mode to build a better combo or challenging myself to beat my best win streak with a particular character is already what I want to be doing - Killer Instinct's trials simply add structure and incentive to it. Personally, I found that more interesting than any arcade or story mode.But the real crown jewels are the modes dedicated to educating fledgling pugilists. For beginners, the path to enlightenment begins in Dojo mode, a series of 32 multi-part lessons that cover everything from basic movement and defense to more advanced concepts, like how to read and apply frame data. The information is presented in an easily digestible way, with well-written descriptions accompanied by CPU demonstrations. It amounts to two or three hours of content, and by the time you’re done you won’t just understand Killer Instinct – you’ll understand fighting games.Intermediate and advanced players get some wonderful toys as well. Practice mode can be set to provide frame data, combo state indicators, and even hitbox displays all at once, giving you an unprecedented level of real-time technical info. Better still, you can turn most of it on while watching replays of both your online and offline matches, which are automatically recorded and archived for you as you play. You can watch at half speed, or even pause and advance frame by frame to really break down tricky exchanges and situations. It’s an exhaustive suite of tools that would be impressive at any price, but you get all of it with the free version of Killer Instinct.The original arcade versions of KI were known for their high production values and over-the-top style. This latest incarnation only gets half of that right. During matches, impressive particle effects shower the battlefield as dynamic self-shadowing and aggressive lighting help lend the gorgeous backdrops a sense of place - all while running at an unflinching 60fps. But where the original cast was memorable in a cheesy 90s sci-fi kind of way, their new designs don’t fare quite as well. Jago looks less like a ninja and more like a goofy cross between a monk and a Roman soldier, while Thunder’s design could believably have been ripped from a different game entirely. It’s like a high-end sports car with an awkwardly-shaped body and a spectacular coat of paint.