Mortal Kombat Game Review

I grew up playing fighting games. From Justice League Task Force and Street Fighter 2 on the Super Nintendo, to Fighters Destiny on the N64-- it was a great genre back then. With the coming of the last and current generation of consoles, I couldn't help but notice that fighting games have failed to evolve to a standard that their respective specifications have allowed them to. With the exception of Super Smash Bros, fighting games have done nothing but move onto a broken 3D plane and improve a bit graphically. However, when I saw some of the gameplay from the development of Mortal Kombat last year, I was instantly curious if this new installment to the series would add what was lacking to all the fighting games of the past decade. I hope to unravel just that in this game review.

When Mortal Kombat came into the spotlight, the developers had made it clear that this new game would serve as a tribute to the original MK series first released in 1992; it would be brought back to the 2D plane and embrace the brutality that that previous games in the series strayed away from. Mortal Kombat stayed true to their mission statement-- over-the-top fatalities are back, which will leave you in excitement or disgust (depending on your perception of 'bad taste'). All of the stages are remakes from the first three games as well, and some of these stages also have their own fatalities that play off of the surrounding environment. There is also an extensive character list, with future DLC confirmed.


Mortal Kombat's gameplay is excellent. The characters are very well balanced and easy to learn. The game runs at a slower pace to put the idea of strategy back into fighting games, instead of thoughtless combo spamming. The controls are simple, and all the basic moves are almost identical from character to character. Blocking is easy to do, but doing so fills up your opponents super meter, allowing them to pull of an x-ray move-- a brutal visual that cracks bones and shows internal damage. These x-ray moves are enough for giving a character a good edge or comeback, but doesn't over empower them in ensuring a victory. Something that will also surprise many people is that this game has an actual story mode. It seamlessly flows from cutscene to fight, which is already a significant step up for every fighting game on the market. There is also a fun challenge tower to add replayablity to the single player modes, as well as 'The Krypt' to unlock alternative costumes and secondary fatalities with 'koins' you are awarded from winning fights. Lastly, Mortal Kombat includes a new tag team mode, which puts two characters against two others. This is refreshing to see, but is something that should also be expected in a fighting game.

The online component to Mortal Kombat works very well. There is a ranked, unranked, and a new King of the Hill mode. In King of the Hill, two players go head to head while spectators view and rate the match. The winner stays on, and the next spectator online tries to take the spot as king. It is a nice alternative to classic online play, but I would not join a room with more than four or five people-- you will find yourself watching matches a lot more often than actually fighting in them.

My only complaint is the lack of a quick play mode, and the cheap trick the publishers included for online play. In order to deter used game sales, there is a code to play online inside of every new game. If you buy the game used, you have to pay an additional $10 or so to get an online code in order to have access to this part of the game. As sad as it is, publishers and developers are starting to pull these kinds of things off more often, and will eventually be common in digital entertainment.

Did Mortal Kombat fix fighting games?
Yes! Well, kind of. It gives us what we should all expect from a fighting game: a lengthy story, accessibility, and single player replayability. However, it doesn't offer too much new components to the genre-- instead it just took a step backwards and reinvented what worked back in the days of the classic fighters. Regardless, it is a great game, and I can't wait to challenge one of my friends to Mortal Kombat.