Okay, so once again I find myself having to be honest with you guys...again. I really, really, really, suck at fighting games. I am dead serious. Where once I was the king at 2D fighting games in the arcade and the Sega Genesis, I am now the court jester of any recent fighting game that has come out (two exceptions being the Soul Calibur and Super Smash Brothers franchises). Before, I had combos lined up that no one can counter against. Before, I mastered every fighter in any game I played in the 90s. Before, I was the guy who couldn't be beat. Nowadays, I struggle with new game mechanics, the 3D fighting fields, and four to five button combinations that are needed for one move.
It just seems that fighting games nowadays are all about button mashing and spamming the one move that you know no one can recover from. Back in the days of Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Marvel vs Capcom, and Fatal Fury, I had no problems learning everything that there was to the fighters and stories of those games. I perfected every fighter I played. Nowadays, I'm lucky if I manage to master any character.
When I heard about a new Mortal Kombat that is set to reboot the series, I was excited. I was awesome at the original Mortal Kombat games. At first, I was hesitant because of the possibility of something new screwing up my ability to be an efficient opponent. Then the magic words popped up, "2D fighting". Again, I got excited. But then I thought about button combinations. What trouble could those cause me? I'll tell you how much trouble it caused me in the new Mortal Kombat: none.
Yeah, none whatsoever. Controls and button combos were the main thing I was concerned about and for once I had no problems. It was like being back in 1995. I saw the move list, I tried out the moves, I came up with combos, and I started winning. Something I thought was near impossible has become possible. I am winning in a fighting game in the new century.
The controls are amazingly smooth. Button combinations are easy to remember. It was like being back in the original Mortal Kombat! Granted it took a few tries to get the Fatalities right, but it was well worth it. I am able to pull off moves that don't feel rushed, but at the same time are easy to execute. I do believe that this is the fighting game that I have been waiting for. Now how about the other features?
For one, Mortal Kombat now has a fully fleshed out story. Sure in the past you got a biography on each character and got endings with them in arcade mode or in the game's own small story, but this time it's given a huge makeover. There are no single image screens with scrolling texts anymore. Instead, we get full blown cutscenes! The chapter style that was seen in Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe is back. Just like in Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, each chapter has you in control of one character and you see the story from their perspective. Each fighter you control gets four fights per chapter, but that does increase near the end of the game.
Mortal Kombat begins with the aftermath of a huge scale battle from Armageddon. Heroes and villains lay dead just outside of the pyramid where Blaze resides. Inside, however, Raiden and Shao Kahn are fighting to the death. Raiden is the loser and Shao Kahn is brimming with the power he took from Blaze. With one last ditch effort, Raiden uses whatever power he has left to send a message to his past self through his amulet of what is to come and what needs to be changed. Welcome back to where it all began: the first Mortal Kombat tournament!
Classic favorites return with Raiden, Liu Kang, Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Sonya Blade, Johnny Cage, among others. You will have the opportunity to control most of the characters during the story as secrets and plot twists occur. All the while, Raiden is trying to make sense of the future that is to come and what he can do to change it to their favor. The story is definitely well structured and interesting. I loved every bit of it and at the game's end I can honestly say that I am looking forward to future projects by NetherRealm Studios.
Speaking of characters, since I played the PS3 version, Kratos from God of War makes an appearance here. He has his own move set that really brings God of War into the realm of Mortal Kombat. I think the only fault I had playing him, much like I did in Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny, is that Kratos feels much slower and restrained than in his own series. I think it's mostly a fault in the transition of going from open world hack and slash to 2D fighting, which God of War veterans may have trouble being accustomed to. Nevertheless, it's easy work around and Kratos can become a very deadly opponent in your arsenal. Also, a little note about Goro, you will only get to play him in the Challenge Tower and not in the regular modes of PvP. It's unfortunate, but at least you get everyone else.
Now let's talk about the major thing of Mortal Kombat: gameplay! Gameplay is fun and diverse. Aside from the classic 2D format, each fighter's move set is unique and allows players to combine their moves for deadly results. My all time favorite to use is Sub-Zero and a few new ice attacks make him all the more fun to use. Another feature to the fighting system are "X-ray Moves". Basically, these are moves that when activated, show your fighter doing internal damage to your opponent through a special combo. Broken bones and ruptured organs are seen clearly, yet so clearly that it will make you cringe at the damage done. Expect a lot of "Oh!" moments.
Babalities make a hilarious comeback. If you think slicing and pounding your opponent with a Fatality is bad, the biggest insult you could do is turn them into a baby. Now combat does not go without the usual fighting game negatives though. I can guarantee that there are plenty of gamers out there who spam long range attacks. Also, those same gamers may push their opponents into a corner and unleash an unblockable combo that can potentially knock out your character. It's a problem, yes, but it's an expected problem. Spamming moves and combos happens in every fighting game. The only thing I can say is just hope you don't run into that kind of player.
Mortal Kombat also offers numerous modes to choose from. You have a Fatality training simulator that will show you how to execute a fighter's Fatalities. There is a Tutorial that helps new gamers or veterans learn how to move and attack in matches. There is also Tag Team fights that up to four players can join in on. There is a Challenge Tower and modes that consist of saying "Test Your (insert word)". These are basically minigames that "Test" various skills.
Online gameplay is extremely satisfying. Unlike Duke Nukem Forever, which had texture loading problems and slow connection rates, Mortal Kombat is the complete opposite. Load times are no problem, lobbies are easy to access, and getting into a game is simple. Lag was an issue early on, but that has since died down. At least to my knowledge it has. You can even go into a large group of players and watch as two other players are fighting in their own match. You have your own little avatar that is anxiously waiting to get in on the action. This viewing allows you the opportunity to get a feel for what the other players' strategies are. Probably my favorite feature is the fact that you can rank how the fight went between the other two players.
If you haven't received the hint that I'm a sucker for extra content and collectibles, this next feature will cement that. Mortal Kombat delivers with the Krypt. Basically, this feature allows you to spend points that you accumulate from every mode in the game and spend it on unlockables. It gives you something to work towards and choose what you want to unlock. Sure I wish there were other things included like alternate costumes, but perhaps they might have something like that for DLC. Downloadable content, though, also has four fighters that you can purchase for five dollars each. It's not like you're even forced into buying them. You can select them individually. Among the four are Kenshi, Skarlet, Rain, and Freddy Krueger. No, that's not a typo. I thought it was weird featuring the Springwood Slasher in Mortal Kombat, but it made more sense when I remembered that Warner Bros. owns New Line Cinema so in affect they own the right to publish Freddy Krueger any way they see fit. Ownership and copyright can be very strange bedfellows sometimes, but I digress.
Finally, the graphics are really well done. The stages are vast and impressive to look at. The "X-ray Moves" that show the internal damage, plus blood affects look great. Battle damage on the characters really gives the affect that these guys are seriously hurting each other. The characters look amazing and they are really fleshed out. All right, because you're probably already thinking about it the second you read that part of my sentence, I'll do this one joke. "Fleshed out? Yeah, fleshed out like Sonya's chest!"
Seriously, though, Mortal Kombat is a welcome game to the year of 2011. This is especially true coming from me since I have been a noob at fighting games for the past decade. Now I can finally regain the glory I once had. I am also happy that Mortal Kombat has made such a great return. I'm looking forward to more installments of the series and hopefully they will be as good as this one.
The fighting genre is full of mini-games, from Street Fighter's car destruction to Tekken Ball. Here's the best Mortal Kombat mini games.
Cultured Vultures: We've gone to the trouble of ranking the Mortal Kombat games across the series' history. Special Forces is clearly number one.
My favorite is always going to be Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. I know some people didn't like the addition of the run button. But, man that game is burned into my memory from childhood, lol.
That's the one I played the most as a kid. Fun times gaming on my Sega Genesis, the memories
MK2 will always be the best in the series. Been playing a lot of MK1 lately though. Definitely enjoying it more than any other NRS era MK game.
I will always have a special place in my memory for MK 1 and 2. You had to be there during that era at the arcades. Martial arts tournament fighting movies were still popular, and MK 1 was exciting. Real life motion captured characters done well (unlike Pit Fighter). A cast of characters we all liked like Bruce Lee(Lui Kang), Van Damme(Johnny Cage), the Lightning god(Raiden) from Big Trouble in Little China, and Ninjas, gotta have Ninjas. Goro was menacing as hell. The MK arcade had some of the best speakers similar to Killer Instinct as you could hear the loud crisp and bassy sound that was distinctly different than other arcades. MK 2 improved greatly on the controls and fighting mechanics
Anyone who knows me knows if there's one game I will always go back to, it's Mortal Kombat. From the characters to the stages, from the story to the towers and bonus modes, I have been a sucker for the franchise as long as I can remember.
Your life is so worthless and meaningless that it can be saved by a simple video game.
No need.
Different strokes for different folks.
My dad passed just before Doom 2016 released and the original Doom was the first game we played together, so playing that game for a solid few months after his passing kept my mind healthy.
There is no "meaning" and biological matter does not come with a price tag. You must be one of those confused "religious" types.
@mav, you're an idiot. How you going to sit there behind your keyboard telling people about their lives is such a venomous manner.
People go through different things and have different methods of coping. Don't be a prick. Listen and learn.
When I found myself in a dark place a few years back, gaming really did help. It was the escapism, the distraction from real life that I needed. It helped me focus, and get my mind straight, so yes, a "simple video game" can help.
When someone is in that place, the last thing they need to hear is that their life is worthless and meaningless, so maybe think before you write.
You miserable git. Why post something like this? There are better ways to feel better about yourself than tearing other people down. Maybe try working on yourself first eh?
Without reading the article, I'm guessing he had a high school bully. Then he got himself a copy of MK and started to learn some moves. Next time he got bullied he performed a fatality, and that is how MK saved his life.
Glad to hear you used Mortal Kombat to bring some work entertainment to overcome and help you heal . I am about to enter my late 50s and I use the DOOM franchise to keep my mental health sharp . My body is breaking down I need a knee replacement, have a bad back and have arthritis in both of my wrists, but defeating a DOOM ETERNAL Master Level on Nightmare brings joy to my brain Which helps me deal with pain in my wrists , back and knee. The next DOOM game probably will not come out till I am 60 years old , so I need to stay in good health so I can play it.
all games have therapeutic value. Games like grand theft auto that people thought made kids violent actually did the opposite to some. If a young lad were tempted to go out with the boys and steal a car for a joy ride but instead decides to stay home and play grand theft auto, they get the same dopamine hit while also learning the consequences from the safety of their living room. its the same with mortal kombat. instead of ripping a guys head off in real life just do it in the video game and you're not going to throw your whole life away. video game therapy has endless applications and one day could also potentially identify certain behavioral traits like those of a school shooter.
Great review, and sorry for sidetracking, but if you played fighters "back in the day" then you should definitely check out the new King of Fighters 13. I grew up with fighters like SFII, Killer Instinct, Tekken, and, well, King of Fighters and the new one makes you feel like the arcades never died.
It's not a ten but it's an extremely fun fighter and witout a doubt the best Mortal Kombat game, it's just a bit too cheap and immature to be taken seriously.
Great review. I am kind of similar to you, when I was young I used to always play fighters, Tekken, Battle Arena Toshinden, Bloody Roar, Soulcalibur, Soulblade, small bit of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat too. But I just sort of veered away from them when I got a PS2 and forgot about them. I can't even remember if I was any good at all at them before but since I played them a lot I'll assume I was ;).
MK9 was my first fighter since the PSOne days if I remember correctly and I liked it quite a lot. But man I forgot how frustrating and tough it can be to try and learn the ropes of a fighter again (or a "new" one I guess I can say since it felt like it was new), and how hard it can be and how long it can take to get even moderately good with it. I would spend hours every week with it but still I'd go online and find out how dire I still really was at the game, so I'd go and spend this and that many hours to practice and have the same result lol. But it is a good game and I felt it was fairly easy for newbies to get into, sure I even downloaded the demo of it on a friend's PS3 without him knowing it and he and a friend played it when they saw it and they loved it, I even brought MK9 over when I got it and we had such a blast playing it together, it's hard to beat playing a fighter with friends like that.
The only issue I had with it was I felt a little bored by it after a couple of months, but the chances are that was mainly down to me just getting a bit annoyed by trying to master it (and failing). But I did enjoy getting back into the fighting scene with this and felt it was perfect for trying to do such a thing too. Wish I had more friends that played fighters though, fighting randomers online can prove an irritating task!