THE VISUALS

There was a time long ago called 1997, in this time long passed, Mortal Kombat 4 was released and could be enjoyed on the Nintendo 64. Mortal Kombat 4 was fun and the new three-dimensional game play was well integrated and retained the spirit of Mortal Kombat. Unfortunately every Mortal Kombat game that followed with this new three-dimensional trend really sucked and felt like every other fighting game ever made to me. The number of “like” elements included outweighed the games originality and almost ruined the series. Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe brought the series back to a 2D game plane while retaining the polygonal graphics and it worked. Unfortunately Batman fighting Superman in a Mortal Kombat game is stupid and that game was an embarrassing pile of sh#@. Mortal Kombat is back to basics here and it is good, the characters are brought to life with an artful hand that combines the classic feel of the old games with contemporary additions that keep them from looking dated. The character models are stylistic and reach a perfect balance of cartoon excellence and realism that keeps the game from ever looking too disgustingly violent or too kiddy friendly. The backgrounds on the other hand are unmatched and are easily the best I have ever seen in a fighting game, there is so much going on behind your battle you’ll have to pause just to take it all in. The classic stages of Mortal Kombat return and look better than ever, remember that bridge over the pit of spikes? Yea its here.

THE SOUND

The punches, kicks, combos and fatalities of Mortal Kombat all sound as good and bone crunch satisfying as they ever have. The voice talent is excellent, intentionally campy and hilarious. Characters such as Raid-en sound rightfully wise and sage like, while Johnny Cage sounds like the total ass he should be. Classic additions like the famous “toasty” following a particularly sick uppercut will appear as well. The sound track is well done, its not as memorable as the Dragon Age score but it does the trick with the right combination of Techno, drums and even some classic metal tracks.

THE GAMEPLAY

Mortal Kombat has reinvented itself and to great success. The new focus of Mortal Kombat is balance within a system deep enough to support serious competitive play. The game combines three elements to create a combat flow that is both inviting and deep. Street Fighter has always been built around rolls; rolling the joystick or buttons back or forward or in variations of a circle, Mortal Kombat is about tapping (moves such as punch, punch, forward+kick and punch) moves are less difficult than they sound. If you are a street fighter veteran it will take some getting used to but will quickly become second nature. The essence of fighting is combos and special attacks, every character has about five or six combos that usually consist of no more than a quick four button sequence that provide for a cool looking attack that cannot be stopped with a block. On top of the basic combo attacks each fighter has several unique special attacks that define that particular fighters combat strategy, for example Shang Tsung utilizes fire balls that he can summon from almost any direction to keep his enemy in the air and vulnerable to his devastating combos. Real Mortal Kombat masters will quickly learn to string a combo into a special or vice versa to maximize damage and opportunity.