Mortal Kombat - Gut Reactions

Mortal Kombat - Gut Reactions

Though it's been less than three years since the release of Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, it feels like much longer since a Mortal Kombat game has been released. Luckily, the stars above Earthrealm have aligned and just when you thought the franchise was finally dead; Scorpion, Sub-Zero and all of their weird friends return for another round of gore-tastic fatalities.

Let me preface this gut reaction by saying that I'm not a huge fan of the fighting game genre (despite Super Smash Bros being in my top five favorite franchises - but does that really count?). There's something about learning complicated series of joystick quarter-turns and button presses and applying them within the blink of an eye that has never appealed to me. This could be, in part, because I was never very good at it. The other main reason I've avoided the genre is because it's usually really only fun with two or more people and this boils down to me either getting slaughtered by someone who loves fighting games or getting slaughtered by someone wildly button-mashing.



But despite these horrible odds I've stacked against it, I flippin' love the new Mortal Kombat so far. If you've ever played a game in the series, you'll know that the kombat is boiled down to very simple special moves and kombos that are easy to pick up but allow enough room to master. In the newest MK, this formula has been left untouched for the most part - though a few tweaks have been added to the system. The new "X-Ray" specials, in which klassic kharacters unleash bone-crushing (literally) kombos when a meter is filled, are downright awesome to behold and will have you wincing along delightfully.

Now you're probably wondering what makes Mortal Kombat so great if the basic gameplay (though very refined and smoothed out) is the same that has been employed for decades. Well here's a hint, when I slipped the disc into my PS3 there were so many tantalizing options on the main menu that I didn't even know where to begin.

Mortal Kombat isn't satisfied with just tossing you an arcade-esque fight ladder, solid fighting gameplay and mechanics, and two-player versus. No, on top of the mainstay arcade ladder, there's a fully-fledged story with hilarious and awesome cutscenes featuring all of the series lovable (and usually deformed) misfits, an enormous tower of unique challenges to climb through, a solid handful of fun mini-games, two-to-four player tag-team versus as well as two player tag-team co-op, the revival of the "Krypt" with literally hundreds of unlockables (alternate costumes, fatalities, stages, music, behind the scenes stuff etc.), and more fight settings than I can count. And I haven't even taken a peek into what modes are offered online yet.

With no one left on Mount Olympus to kill, it looks like Kratos has taken to exploring new realms.

Since it would take far too long to give a preview of each mode I'm just going to add a paragraph or two here about my experience so far with the story mode. Even though the back of the box claims that this is one of the few PS3 games that is 1080p capable, the cut-scene graphics are sadly not very good - they're not terrible either, I was just hoping for a bit more. Setting that aside though, the story begins with an overview of a battlefield where every kombatant is massacred in grotesque ways. Raiden himself is nearly killed by Shao Khan (the only two left standing) when the lightning god uses the last ounce of his power to go back in time to the very beginning of the Mortal Kombat lore to make sure this tragic end does not come to fruition.

As far as I'm concerned, Ed Boon and the developers behind the game couldn't have made a better decision here because the Mortal Kombat tournament on a secluded island is what everyone knows and loves. One thing that really impressed me was how seamlessly the game goes from cutscene to game-play in the story mode. One second I was watching Johnny Cage hilariously trash talk everyone and the next I was backing up his macho bravado with his signature MK moves. I won't spoil the story from there but I will tell you that it feels familiar and new at the same time.

Ultimately, all the new options, modes, features, and settings in this iteration of the Mortal Kombat franchise tie together with the iconic kharacters, stories, game-play, and spine-ripping action that fans know and love to create one of the best fighting games I've played in a long time. While it may not quite be a flawless victory, it's definitely a victory nonetheless and I suggest anyone who isn't offended by ridiculous gore and violence and wants to play a solid fighting game GET OVER HERE.... so you can play with me :) Or just buy your own copy and I'll see you online.