MORTAL KOMBAT!
One cannot say the name of this series without yelling the name out as loud as possible each time it is brought up.
Maybe that’s just me, but in any case, Mortal Kombat has been out for over a month now and has been gaining a tremendous following of fans, old and new.
The series has had its ups and downs since its debut way back when I was in Junior High School, all those many years ago in the early nineties.
You’ve got your Street Fighter loyalists who generally hate this series, then you got the guys like me who loved MK because it was so vastly different from SF in every way, which is what made it loveable.
Sure, it’s always been stiff and sort of ugly on top, but the game has been refined to perfection and now stands as a testament to that claim as well as a gift to fans of the first three games.
Everyone knows that after Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and MK trilogy, the last two awesome MK games, the series went 3D and turned completely to shit with MK4 and its sequels.
Many fans gave up on MK and turned their backs on the franchise, including me, though I still played my older MK’s as often as possible on my Playstation 3 (via PS1 disc).
The franchise tried to re-insert itself into fans’ hearts with the release of MK vs. DCU a few years back, but that was a huge failure as well, although, I did enjoy it, since it had supreme fan service for comic book fans and MK fans such as myself and also brought the series back as close as it could to it’s roots, for the time being anyway.
Then the announcement for the new Mortal Kombat game, simply titled “Mortal Kombat”, a series reboot (or MK9, to avoid confusion), was made and I was as excited as a virgin in a whorehouse.
I grabbed this game as soon as it released and have been playing it nonstop since.
One thing I’ve always liked about MK is that it is sort of the easiest fighting game to get into as well as teach others.
There are no complicated circular moves or diagonals such as in other fighting games.
In MK, if a move is forward, down, forward, punch, that’s it; there is nothing more to it.
In a game like Street Fighter, that type of move requires you to input rounded or diagonal motions and ends up being something like Forward, down, down/forward, punch, which tends to confuse many people and turn them away from the series due to complicated button inputs, don’t even ask about such games as King of Fighters, with half circle motions and worse. MK nixes all of that in favor of a very easy input scheme and move set.
Each fighter pretty much has the exact same Martial Arts fighting style, a low punch/jab, a high Punch/Uppercut, a sweep kick and a heavy roundhouse kick, with a few variations to each here and there, but essentially the same thing.
So knowing one character allows you to have a somewhat decent grasp on the rest. This works out well when you want to switch from guys like Sub-Zero and Scorpion to characters like Sonya and Quan Chi.
Though, don’t let me make it sound so basic, each fighter has vastly different special moves which is what makes MK so exciting and diverse as well as deep enough to be a highly competitive fighting game with some incredible combos.
This new MK allows for skilled players to pull off some complex combos that can easily smash away half your life bar if you aren’t prepared to defend against it.
What’s even greater is that you can come up with many of your own combos on the fly by just experimenting, a difficulty in other 2D fighters, which have a totally different type of timing involved as well as complexity in movement. MK is the game to play if you want to understand those types of mechanics on a level where you can walk in at an entry level and come out with an intermediate grasp on it in no time.
I made a combo for Cyber Sub-Zero that does 43 percent damage, no internet searching required, just a few minutes in training mode.
This doesn’t mean I’m some pro, you still have to be able to set this up and pull it off against players who move around the screen like lightning bolts, the game is just that intense.
The game also has its tried and true fatalities as well as classic and new stage fatalities and even the non violent Babalities which are pretty comical this time around.
Some of the fatalities are hilarious while others are pretty graphic in nature, though, all will please fans.
It has many modes that can be enjoyed by anyone who really doesn’t go online, such as a stellar story mode that takes you through the events of Mk 1–3, though, changing a few things around slightly (Smoke and Sub-Zero’s fates, for one) in good taste, however.
It also features a challenge mode with 300 challenges that actually never get old or boring. I enjoyed it so much that I’d actually sit and complete 50 challenges before I even realized how much time I just spent on the game.
It’s that engaging and involving.
Most of these modes grant you “Koins” that you can use to spend on items in the Krypt, which is where you unlock most of the secrets and hidden moves within the game.
Then there’s the classic ladder mode, where you take each character through an arcade style set of matches towards a fight with the boss, followed by an ending for the character of your choosing.
Each of these modes were fun and I never got bored once, even when I had to go through ladder mode with each and every character to see all the endings.
This time around, Mortal Kombat creators came with the goods and have their fans’ best interests at heart.
Solid downloadable content is already available in the form of Classic Costumes and a new character and new DLC will be readily available all summer long every other week or so. Xbox 360 has a bargain priced season pass for this content as well.
The MK team is here to make up for past transgressions and they are doing it right.
They will continue to support those who purchased this game for as long as they can.
Check this interview from MK creator, Ed Boon to see for yourself:
As you can clearly see, he is putting his heart and soul into this game and will not disappoint fans of the series; he also has surprises in store for the near future, which has me panting in anticipation.
The game is available for a cool $40 at most retailers and is totally worth every penny.
I have the PS3 and 360 versions, the online is a bit of an annoyance on both (fuck you, Gamespy), but if content, errr, Kontent is your thing, go with the PS3 version which has an additional character, God of War’s Kratos as well as his own stage and that stage’s own background fatalities.
He’s a bit overpowered, but cool as Hell, nonetheless.
If you have any doubts due to past let downs or old expectations of this game, or maybe a bad taste in your mouth from this series from years ago, I beg you to give it a chance (or a second chance), it stands on it’s own in style and fun, you will at least see it isn’t anything like it’s terrible prequels and can be enjoyed by players of all skill levels, though, becoming a master Kombatant is what makes this game worthwhile.
Don’t jump in with your Street Fighter comparisons, because this game is a huge jump away from that series, though, by no means any less of a fighter.
Also, don’t think the MK Kraze has ended there, an ongoing web series titled “MK: Legacy” is currently available and is a series which takes the MK world and tosses it into a world of realism and updates it to reflect the current times and trends going on now.
I watched all eight of the episodes available thus far and I was very impressed by these short films, two of which starred Michael Jai White, a friend of MTR as well as star of numerous Martial Arts action films.
Also star of one of the funniest films out, Black Dynamite.
I only wish this series would generate enough steam to have another MK movie hit the big screen, even if it was all of these webisodes rolled up into one giant ball of awesome, it would totally be worth it.
Catch the webisodes here, and enjoy, these things are amazing, the newest episode is number 8, and Episode 9 will debut during the San Diego Comic Con in July:
It has begun…..again.
Related articles
- 1st Impression: Mortal Kombat: Legacy: Episode 1 (mytakeradio.com)
- Street Fighter & MMA are closer than we all know. (mytakeradio.com)
