Microsoft’s free to play flagship, button mashing, punchy and kicky fight game Killer Instinct has returned. Killer Instinct: Season 3 brings with it a wave of new colourful characters, maps and stories so you and your mates can virtually beat each other to a pulp, until your friend Dave gets so frustrated from losing, that he leaves and says he’ll never play another game with you again.

Killer Instinct itself is free, giving you a single character to play with and the option to spend more to unlock others, either individually or in bundles, Season 3 being one of these such bundles. Now it must be said I think that the free-to-play model is ruining this industry, but lets just put that to one side for now.

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Killer Instinct is actually pretty damn fun, with manic, bright and fast paced graphics, updated with Season 3 to allow for as much visual carnage as your TV can fit. An absolutely gob-smacking amount of playable characters, (If you buy them, that is…) and a pretty funky little soundtrack. The controls are simple and intuitive, having a “Combo Assist” setting which makes button mashing not only an effective strategy but a deadly one.

A nice touch to allow newbies to get involved with experienced players and not get slaughtered.

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The new season launched with four new playable characters including the Arbiter from Halo (that’s right you can now be cheap with energy swords in multiple games!)

Rash from the Nintendo classic Battletoads and Killer Instinct originals Kim Wu and Tusk. The Season launch also includes new outfits, maps, colour schemes and storylines ready to play immediately, although the Season boasts much more to follow.

Over the coming months the Season is set to release 4 more characters, a new multiplayer mode and most exciting of all a brand new and infinitely re-playable singular player mode called Shadow Lords. Little is known about Shadow Lords yet, although it’s been advertised as a Campaign style mode in which you create a team of fighters to punch and kick your way towards thwarting an alien invasion.

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The Shadow Lords mode looks to give the player a solid reason to pick up the game in a single player capacity as your classic fighting games become stale fast if you aren’t playing them competitively anymore because Dave left.

Overall Killer Instinct is easy to pick up and even easier to get addicted to, although it can become boring quickly if you’re just playing by yourself. The music, graphics and wide swathe of characters alone make this game worth checking out although to get the most enjoyment out of it you’ll probably have to chuck some cash their way.

As far as fighting games go this one is solidly enjoyable for almost all types of gamers and even non regular gamers. It’s almost as good as Marvel Vs Capcom 3 (the greatest fighting game of all time in my opinion). So play Killer Instinct: Season 3 (and then go and play Marvel vs. Capcom 3).

What do you reckon?
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Killer Instinct: Season 3 (Xbox One) Review

Released: March 2016
Rating: R16
Platforms: Xbox One, PC Gaming (Windows 7 or higher)
Genre: Fighting, Action
Developer: Iron Galaxy Studios, Rare, Double Helix Games, Microsoft Studios
Publisher: Microsoft Studios

3.8Overall Score
Gameplay
Graphics
Sound
Replayability
Reader Rating 0 Votes