Even without a Story mode, the launch version of Killer Instinct has quite a bit to offer. The Dojo mode exhaustively teaches seasoned fighting game fans and newcomers alike the ins and outs of Killer Instinct as well as general fighting game strategies. A total of 32 lessons teaches you everything from how to neutral jump over a fireball to reading and understanding frame data. It's easily one of the most comprehensive training experiences of any fighting game to date.
Speaking of training, the Practice mode is also top notch. All of the basics you'd expect can be found here. If you're a competitive fighting game fan, you can record the dummy performing any action you wish, turn on frame data and hit boxes, and really break down each and every character.
After logging nearly 100 games, I've found the game's online performance to be silky smooth. I experienced a couple of instances in which the opposing character seemed to teleport around the screen, which is how lag is presented in the "rollback" architecture of the netcode. However, even these glitches were few and far between. The only serious issues I had with the online play is that there's no way to tell where your opponent is located (not even a ping listing), and there's no lobby system. Whether you're playing exhibition matches or ranked matches, it's always one-on-one. There's no way to watch another match aside from the Game DVR built into the Xbox One; KI automatically records your last 200 matches, online or local.
