Using Character Controls For BGE I'm relatively new to blender but I am wondering if there is a way to press a button to set a rotation for an object in game logic. For example, press up to look forward, left to look left, right to look right, etc. I'm trying to achieve movement like in the Super Mario 3D games as opposed to steering the character to look in a certain direction
A simple solution with action:

You create an action with 4 rotation poses e.g. at frame 1 (North), 2 (West), 3 (South), 4 (East).

Then play the according pose dependent on the key:



Be aware: 
This does align to the scene. It does not align to the camera!