fun fun fun!
The movement of your fighter is based purely on the digital pad, and can take a while to get used to. The general movement is fairly easy to pick up, with both walking and dashing simple to execute. Rather than have a separate sidestep button, the game uses up and down on the digital pad for sidestepping into the background or foreground respectively. A direction left or right combined with up will make the character jump, while a direction left or right with down will make the character crouch. The block button uses the right trigger and is truly a blessing in 3D fighters like this. Z, A, B, X, and Y are all attack buttons, though Z is sometimes just used to taunt. The left trigger switches fighting styles, which is where the gameplay truly takes on a new dimension.
Each character has 2 fighting styles and a weapon. Using the left trigger will cycle through these. Each style has a different set of moves and combos, and a different function for the Z button (taunt, power-up, or a weapon's alternate attack). When using a weapon, you can do insane amounts of damage, especially if you know the proper combos. To balance this out, your character will also take more damage while holding a weapon. Also, after the ''Finish Him/Her'' message appears, your character is able to access a fatality fighting style. This lets you enter in the right combination of buttons needed to do a fatality without having your character jumping around the screen, as they remain stationary. They also give you more time to do a fatality, so you aren't trying to push 5 different buttons in 3 seconds.
For play modes, the game has Arcade, Versus, and Konquest. Versus is exactly how it sounds, and lets you play against a friend. Konquest is a mode that introduces players to the basics of the game. After completing the first eight missions with a preset character to learn the basics, players are able to choose a character and take training missions as that character to learn their combos and various attacks. Through doing these missions players also earn koins, which can be used in the Krypt, which will be explained later. The Arcade mode is the main way players will earn koins. In it, they progress through increasingly hard opponents until they reach the end, where they are treated to their characters ending. The arcade mode is well done, but the AI can be quite frustrating. Rather than a gradual climb to the more difficult fights, the fights start off fairly easy, then make a big jump to the more difficult. Another frustration is that while you could be faring well in round 1, the CPU will absolutely destroy you in round 2, and block every single attack you do. While this can be overcome, the third last character you fight, Moloch, is simply a nightmare. You can't grab him, and projectiles like Scorpion's spear and Sub Zero's freeze have no effect. To make it worse, his attacks do insane amounts of damage. What you are left with is an unpleasant battle. Occasionally between fights, players will have a chance at earning more koins in a mini game. You can either "Test your Strength" or "Test your Sight". The sight game is a version of the shell game, while the strength game requires hitting A, B, X, and Y as fast and as much as possible, then hitting the R button to attack the thing you are trying to break. Simple, yet fun.