09
MORTAL KOMBAT XL
The tenthMKgame turned the brutality
up to a bone-crunching 11. In addition to
fatalities, building up your energy meter
allows you to perform X-ray moves, so
you can see just what kind of damage
you’re doing. Neck breaking, and still truly
groundbreaking. With a memorable cast
of characters (the idea for the originalMK
was to get Jean-Claude Van Damme in
the game, leading to the photorealistic
graphical style) like Johnny Cage, Sonya
Blade, Raiden, Scorpion and Sub Zero,
few games have been as significant and
influential. Get over here,MK11!08
INJUSTICE 2
TheMK creators got DC’s heroes and villains
to face off in 2013’s Injustice: Gods Among
Us. For once in a fighting game there’s a well
written story with a clever McGuffin involving
alternate realities that allows everyone to
fight everyone, even themselves. So Harley
Quinn can mess up her mate Power Girl,
Batman can smash The Flash, and Aquaman
can dim Green Lantern’s lantern. Beautiful
visuals, transitioning levels, spectacular
finishers, and we love the way characters’
dynamic dialogue actually amounts to more
than the usual pre-fight jive talk.10
DEAD OR ALIVE 5:
LAST ROUND
Koei Tecmo’s long-running fighting franchise
is perhaps best known for the bouncy boob-
physics of its female fighters, but as a great
launch title for the Xbox,DOA 3was one of
the defining games of the first generation of
Microsoft console.DOA 6is coming real soon,
whileDead Or Alive 5: Last Roundon Xbox
One, is still one of our favourite fighters with
a huge range of characters, fluid, intuitive
moves and controls and a pleasing ‘gravity’ to
the fights that make matches feel more like
UFC bouts than fantastical chop-socky.
Best fighters on Xbox One
YOU CAN PLAY THESE 10 CRACKING FIGHTING GAMES RIGHT NOW!
068 THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE
06
STREET FIGHTER IV
Street Fighter II was the first game to really
nail side-on, challenging, button-spamming
fights, with special moves and unique fighting
styles – de rigueur ever since. Sadly, we didn’t
get to see V on our consoles, but 2007’s
Street Fighter IV is a strong one, with updated
yet still gorgeously stylised cartoon visuals
and a wide range of the series’ most popular
characters. The 30th Anniversary Collection
meanwhile will let you go back and enjoy the
original entries in the series, like Street Fighter
II and 1999’s Street Fighter III: Third Strike.05
TEKKEN 7
The King of Iron Fist tournament seems
to have been with us forever, and the
most recent is as superb a beat-’em-
up as you’ll get, with some imaginative
fighters with unique and complex move
sets, lush backdrops and stylishly
exaggerated fight physics. All the best
characters return, like Nina Williams, Lei
Wulong, Jin, Paul, King and Heihachi,
while some new guest fighters include
Geese from SNK’s King Of Fighters and
Fatal Fury, Akuma from Street Fighter and
even Negan from The Walking Dead.07
DRAGON BALL
FIGHTERZ
An insanely colourful and visually superb
2D team fighter with a huge roster
of crazy manga characters, from the
much-loved anime series based around
Goku and his companions defending the
Earth against nutbags and androids.
In the challenging Arcade mode, your
performance dictates the path you take
and therefore the opponents you’ll face.
It does justice to the lore of Dragon Ball,
while coming out on top as Xbox’s best
team-based fighter.OXM INVESTIGATES