"[8] GameZone's Mike Splechta said, "Fighter Within really showcases the larger problem with Kinect only games: they just don't work.

"[12] IGN said that the game was only able to adequately detect basic punches, describing the game as a "disjointed", "haphazard mess" due to its unpredictable motion detection, and considered its storyline to be "laughably bad" and a "flimsy excuse" to "fight [against] a long stream of AI opponents who look just as dumb as they fight.

"[14] GameSpot described its gameplay as requiring players to "stand like a lemon in front of the TV for what seems like an eternity as you feel your life ebb away during the excruciatingly long loading times; punch at thin air as fast as humanly possible until you trigger a combo; watch the lifeless combo animation; repeat these steps until your opponent is defeated.

"[10] Digital Spy gave the game a score of one star out of five, saying, "Perhaps as a tech demo and nothing more, Fighter Within would have raised a smile, but as a full-priced, next-generation it really isn't worth the time or money.

"[19] The Digital Fix gave it a score of one out of ten, saying, "Fighter Within on the Xbox 360 would be a disaster reduced to a footnote, ignored and left to wither.