Killer Instinct Gold

By sticking so close to the original Killer Instinct model for its first fighting game, Nintendo has pulled another safe move. Killer Instinct Gold could have been a fully three dimensional wonder. Instead it's another 2D fighting blunder. It's obvious that the N64 is more than enough box to handle a game as relatively simple as KI Gold. What's baffling is that Nintendo and Rare didn't see that. By the winter of 1996, game players have had time to move on, thank you very much.

Sure there's a game in here. But, it's the same game we've been playing for years and quite frankly, the launch of this system was supposed to signify something new. There's nothing new about Killer Instinct Gold. If you're going to have the audacity to release another 2D scrapper, then at least pack in game play that is going to stop traffic. Killer Instinct Gold's game play is so moldy the only thing it stops is smart people from reaching into their wallet to pick up a Nintendo 64.

To put it bluntly, KI Gold was simply the wrong fighting game choice for this machine. And considering the lack of titles and the length of the wait we've all had to endure for this terrific system, that feels like a slap in the face. A slap more stinging than any of the limp wristed combos the smelly fighters in this game are throwing.

Pretty

What's good about this game can be summed up in one word: flash. There are lots of nice graphical sparks and gizmos going. I like the colors and textures. The backgrounds are nice but they all seem like they've been taped to the screen. The attempt to create a 3D feel in the environments is admirable but I really wish the developers had taken more of a risk and gone all out to create complete 3D worlds for these fighters to duke it out in.

The fighters themselves look cool but I sure would have preferred to see 3D moves on them. There is some interesting camera work that follows the familiar back and forth combo-mania tennis match between two opponents. But the whole time this cartoonish sparring was going on, I kept asking myself why they couldn't have just gone the few extra steps and come through with a fighter that would compare with the magnificence and originality of Super Mario 64?

The elements for that game are here. Like 'em or leave 'em, there's no contesting the fact that Rare's KI team is capable of developing a fighting game. I've had a lot of fun playing Killer Instinct on both the 8 and 16 bit systems, where the 2D combo mayhem seemed right at home. But this effort on the super powerful 3D graphics demon of Nintendo 64 just feels half-assed. All the energy seems to have gone into making the game look pretty, instead of in the development of anything unique to the genre or videogames in general.

That's what happens when you raise the bar with a game and a system, though. Nintendo must have known that Super Mario 64 would change things forever after it was released. It has. I can't even look at a game as simplistic and boring, albeit pretty, as KI Gold without feeling cheated. If Nintendo's own stable of developers can get to the quality of SM64, Wave Race 64 or Pilot Wings 64, certainly their team in Britain can step above the ordinary as well. Or is the ordinary what we can expect from Rare's future N64 titles as well?

Fighting Moves

The essential component in Killer Instinct Gold; the key to great success; and the doorway to many secret options and characters, is the proper use of the combo. The combo is the Holy Grail of this series, which likes to allow players the opportunity to demolish opponents with upwards of 20 hit moves. On 16-bit, those combo sensations looked quite cool. On 64-bit, and after the likes of superior fighters like Tekken 2 and Fighting Vipers, these multi-hit combos look somewhat sad. You can practically see the developers begging players to be consumed by the flashy stuff in this game.

I have to admit, at first I was quite fond of KI Gold. I thought the control was appropriate and the style of the snazzy ACM (Advanced Computer Modeled) animations was diggable. But after a few days in this game's company, I found that it was insurmountably frustrating. The option to train and learn the combination moves is a great idea but in the heat of battle, the combo training just turns into a panicked flurry of button mashing. It seems that almost any linked button pressing and direction pad wiggling will be effective against opponents. I can't tell you how many times it felt like I either wasn't really controlling my character in the game, or that I didn't even have to watch the action to be a more successful fighter.

The control is set up in a similar fashion to the Street Fighter series - the three buttons across the top move from quick punch to fierce punch, and the three on the bottom are quick to fierce kick. The direction control is handled by either the analog or the digital interface but I had a slightly easier time moving my KI fighters with the digital pad. However, I sure didn't have an easy time with the buttons of the N64 controller.

The Nintendo 64's pack-in controller was not designed for a straight forward 2D fighting game like this. The tiny camera buttons used as regular fight functions is just murder on the thumbs (trying to hit just one button when you're in the middle of getting pummeled is next to impossible) and after a few extended bouts, the digital D-pad of the N64 turns out to be about as comfortable as the arthritis-inducing D-pad on the SNES controller.

When you consider how spastic your timing has to be if you want to get the 10-hit Monster combos going (not to mention some of the even more dramatic moves), you've really got to have super fast thumbs of steel and the hand flexibility of a professional masseuse to kick ass at this game. On the harder rounds, I had an incredibly difficult time just trying to keep my hands from cramping up. Even as I write this review, my fingers and tops of my hands feel completely stressed out. Killer Instinct Gold is not a game I could play for hours at a stretch, not unless I was prepared to give up the mobility in the extremities I use for typing. (The executive editor of The Electric Playground wouldn't like that - "I need more reviews for the site!!!!!")

You will discover that making the flashy moves happen is not as difficult as it may seem in other fighters, simply because of the sheer number of flashy moves you can find in KI Gold. Almost every punch or kick in the game elicits some kind of spark or flame effect. And when you start playing with something as familiar as rotational moves before a punch or a kick, a whole slew of colorful eye candy packed maneuvers will open up for you. There's no disputing how swell this game looks when it's running at full visual steam - thanks to the Nintendo 64. One of the coolest moves ever in fighting games - Glacius' liquidize & uppercut - has never looked better. The only problem with all of this visual sugar though, is that it still leaves you hungry for something more.

The Extras

Just like every fighter on the market, KI Gold sports a vast collection of extra options, abilities, hidden characters and tempting surprises. Gargos, the main boss on the easier levels, is playable by keying in a secret code or by defeating the game at higher levels. Speaking of which, every time you beat the game at a different difficulty level you are allowed into a new group of options that allow you to alter how the game is played. You can give yourself more or less flashy firepower, you can decide on the amount of blood in the game, you can choose to disable throws, you can make yourself invisible, you can even choose a new (but completely unplayable) camera angle.

You really can't say anything negative about the features in this game. Every fighting game fan (and I'm certainly one of those) appreciates it when the developers add the extras and KI Gold's team has gone out of their way to make sure the game stacks up well against the most feature-laden scrappers on the market.

However, you do have a relatively small stable of fighters (10) to choose from off the top, and although they're all physically different, and their moves are diverse, the way you pull off those fighting moves seems to be almost exactly the same for every fighter. I've never played a game where learning how to do one character's combo moves was pretty much the key in being able to win with all of the fighters. The timing for performing moves is pretty much the same for everybody, although strangely, the speed of each fighter is slightly different. I really just felt like I was forever doing quarter circles or blocking, while I was constantly wailing away like a chimpanzee on the buttons. This was the poorest excuse for control finesse I've ever seen. We're certainly not talking anything close to Street Fighter Alpha 2 here.

Don't Pack Up The Disco Ball

While we're starting to see fighting games evolve musically by presenting new stylish soundtracks into the genre (Namco's excellent Soul Edge is a fine example), Killer Instinct Gold has taken the safe road once again. The music sounds to me to be exactly the same as the SNES techno/hard rock medley stuff, only now there are more voices and nifty instruments involved. The aural clarity and separation of the electronic instruments in the music is duly noted but it's the same "guaranteed to pump the kids", white wash, faceless, electronic rave poo-poo that we've been hearing for a while now and I, for one, am getting bored. Let's just be cruel and mention that unlike the last KI, there was no need, nor public desire to send out a soundtrack CD with the first 100,000 copies of this game.

I do have to say though, that of the first group of carts for the Nintendo 64, Killer Instinct Gold's music easily ranks high on the list for sonic punch. Longtime KI fans, who've been dying to get their hands on this cartridge, should find plenty to like (and plenty familiar) in KI Gold's tunes.

You can't pick out flaws in the sound effects for this game, which correlate brilliantly with size and scope of the on screen violence. Every colorful smack, kick or fireball is suitably accentuated by an appropriate flashy sound. When it's a fighter who is either made of heavy metal (Fulgore) or is packing heavy metal (Tusk, Spinal), the weight and solidity of their mass, or their sword, is expertly conveyed by the sound effects. Each of the fighters has their own painful cry or elated yell, depending on whether they're winning or losing. And even the sounds of character selection or flipping in and out of option screens have been effectively conjured to help get players into the appropriate macho mood.

I was really impressed by the background sounds on specific levels, as well. The jungle animals on Maya's level were convincing and the helicopters taking off from Orchid's rooftop scene added more credibility to the environment. But the trains passing past Combo's urban street worked extremely well - so much so, that this stage quickly became my favorite arena in the game. Great work by the sound team. The Nintendo 64's sound chips have been utilized well here.

Use Your Best Judgment

Of the two fighters currently available for the Nintendo 64 I'm the least disappointed with Killer Instinct Gold. I don't feel that either game is worthy of being attached to the library of this phenomenal machine, nor of being placed on the shelf next to the three revolutionary N64 games that came out in 96 (you know what they are). However, if you've bought the system and are hungry to do battle right now, this is the cart to go for (promise me you won't waste you're money on two 2D fighters this winter).

Those of you who are biding time looking for reasons to bring another system in the home, can look right past this game, because there's no way I would recommend the purchase of a Nintendo 64 based on this game's performance. It looks great but then so can postcards from Los Angeles. This is a skip for all but the most ardent fans of this series or those who can't take the N64 waiting game any longer.

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