Mortal Kombat Review

[Saelune]

So, what you brake somones limbs or rip out their organs and it dosent hamper them at all? you stab somone in the brain or shatter their spine, and they still wont die until their hp runs out?

edit: i get that it wants to be over the top and fun cool looking fights, but i feel that i would have a hard time ignoring this.

Almost every shooter ever. Why can you run around after being shot more than once?
What MK does with surviving wounds is far from new, and its about fun, not realism. Mortal Kombat never pretended to be realistic.

 

[Rad Party God]

This is one of those occasions where I really want to have a console just for this game (I don't think I'll want a PS3 anymore).

At the very least, it would be awesome if it's ported to the PC. One can dream.

 

[ace_of_something]

I dont like when reviews get plot wrong. Raiden did not recieve a vision of what happens if Earthrealm loses the 10th tournament. It shows what happens if everything happens as the previous 7 MKs showed. The opening scene is the end of Mortal Kombat: Armaggeddon aka MK7.
Raiden just THINKS it is about the tournament.

You realize they don't say that because it SPOILS the story, right?

 

[Saelune]

I dont like when reviews get plot wrong. Raiden did not recieve a vision of what happens if Earthrealm loses the 10th tournament. It shows what happens if everything happens as the previous 7 MKs showed. The opening scene is the end of Mortal Kombat: Armaggeddon aka MK7.
Raiden just THINKS it is about the tournament.

You realize they don't say that because it SPOILS the story, right?

No. It doesnt. It was a stated fact way before it came out, and if you played MK1-7 you would know that. AND the opening movie of story mode shows the end results of Armaggeddon. It is only a spoiler for new people. I assure you, there are some major spoilers I could give that even as a huge MK fan was surprised by.

 

[ace_of_something]

I dont like when reviews get plot wrong. Raiden did not recieve a vision of what happens if Earthrealm loses the 10th tournament. It shows what happens if everything happens as the previous 7 MKs showed. The opening scene is the end of Mortal Kombat: Armaggeddon aka MK7.
Raiden just THINKS it is about the tournament.

You realize they don't say that because it SPOILS the story, right?

No. It doesnt. It was a stated fact way before it came out, and if you played MK1-7 you would know that. AND the opening movie of story mode shows the end results of Armaggeddon. It is only a spoiler for new people. I assure you, there are some major spoilers I could give that even as a huge MK fan was surprised by.

So your logic is that if you read reviews beforehand and played all the other games it doesn't spoil?
It doesn't specifically say in the opening cutscene that the events occurring are after Armageddon all you see is ol' funny hat being beaten up. It also DEFINITELY does not say what 'he must win' means and up until a certain point in the story it's reasonable for anyone who hasn't played much MK to think that 'he must win' means exactly what Raiden thinks it does.

 

[Saelune]

I dont like when reviews get plot wrong. Raiden did not recieve a vision of what happens if Earthrealm loses the 10th tournament. It shows what happens if everything happens as the previous 7 MKs showed. The opening scene is the end of Mortal Kombat: Armaggeddon aka MK7.
Raiden just THINKS it is about the tournament.

You realize they don't say that because it SPOILS the story, right?

No. It doesnt. It was a stated fact way before it came out, and if you played MK1-7 you would know that. AND the opening movie of story mode shows the end results of Armaggeddon. It is only a spoiler for new people. I assure you, there are some major spoilers I could give that even as a huge MK fan was surprised by.

So your logic is that if you read reviews beforehand and played all the other games it doesn't spoil?
It doesn't specifically say in the opening cutscene that the events occurring are after Armageddon all you see is ol' funny hat being beaten up. It also DEFINITELY does not say what 'he must win' means and up until a certain point in the story it's reasonable for anyone who hasn't played much MK to think that 'he must win' means exactly what Raiden thinks it does.

Actually I did not even know who he meants, nor did I say who now that I know or even suggest it. And it is not wrong to assume people know what happens in a series. Hell, people who jump late into a series often require spoilers or else its all confusing babble.

 

[Eldarion]

I thought it was a bit weird that a woman was reviewing the game.

Uh, why? Admittedly, my fighting game tastes tend more toward the Guilty Gear/Blazblue realm,

As someone who loves the crap out of guilty gear/blazblue I got to ask, how does this game compare?

I'm looking to get into other fighters but the last one I tried (street fighter 4) was a disappointment.

 

[sumanoskae]

snip

Strangely enough though, the vast majority of the blood and gore are cut off in story mode. There aren't even fatalities in that, because they need the characters alive.

I'm perplexed by that, they managed to work Fatalities into Shaolin Monks. It'd be a an opportunity to educate us on the basics

 

[AgentBJ09]

Babalities, animalities, and friendships embarassing? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU??

Who knows? I'm surprised most folks forget that those were Midway's methods of appealing to the fans/making fun of the controversy around the Mortal Kombat name. I still applaud them for making fun of the nay-sayers like that.

Agreed on the God-forsaken fatalities. In training, yeah cool. In actual fights, my character just dances around a bit then throws a simple punch. Why won't you fucking work, dammit?!

You have to be fast. You input those commands too slowly, or in the wrong location, you won't get anything. Try holding down Block while you input your directions, then let go before the action button press if you have trouble.

No. It doesnt. It was a stated fact way before it came out, and if you played MK1-7 you would know that. AND the opening movie of story mode shows the end results of Armaggeddon. It is only a spoiler for new people. I assure you, there are some major spoilers I could give that even as a huge MK fan was surprised by.

So your logic is that if you read reviews beforehand and played all the other games it doesn't spoil?
It doesn't specifically say in the opening cutscene that the events occurring are after Armageddon all you see is ol' funny hat being beaten up. It also DEFINITELY does not say what 'he must win' means and up until a certain point in the story it's reasonable for anyone who hasn't played much MK to think that 'he must win' means exactly what Raiden thinks it does.

I have to disagree on your argument, ace. That fight takes place atop the Armageddon pyramid, with the panning camera shots showing everyone besides Shao Khan and Raiden dead around it. Sure, going in blind you wouldn't know what that was, but here's my counter for that argument.

- Any gamer with even minutes of spare time can research the Mortal Kombat series, and find out what happened up to that point, and get some idea of why things are going to hell so hard. Also, since this Mortal Kombat is a reboot, you're not really spoiling much by looking up the stories of the old games.

I've done this with other series I jumped into late, such as Fallout and Morrowind, even when I plan to play those games later on. It's not a deal-breaker to not research things like this, but knowing that the series has a long history, if I was new to MK, and heard that this game was a reboot, I would surly want to know what had happened and why upon seeing this opening.

 

[Tim_Buoy]

I really enjoy this game. It's actually the first fighter game I've played with any continuity, and it's great. It's quite easy to just pick up a controller and start playing. The story mode is a good amount of fun. My only problem are the 1v2 fights which can be ridiculous.

god this a thousands times i loathed the goro kintaro fight

 

[ace_of_something]

I have to disagree on your argument, ace. That fight takes place atop the Armageddon pyramid, with the panning camera shots showing everyone besides Shao Khan and Raiden dead around it. Sure, going in blind you wouldn't know what that was, but here's my counter for that argument.

- Any gamer with even minutes of spare time can research the Mortal Kombat series, and find out what happened up to that point, and get some idea of why things are going to hell so hard. Also, since this Mortal Kombat is a reboot, you're not really spoiling much by looking up the stories of the old games.

I've done this with other series I jumped into late, such as Fallout and Morrowind, even when I plan to play those games later on. It's not a deal-breaker to not research things like this, but knowing that the series has a long history, if I was new to MK, and heard that this game was a reboot, I would surly want to know what had happened and why upon seeing this opening.

I guess I'm old. If I want to get into a series I tend to almost always start at the beginning.
Though in a fighting game series that would be silly. So perhaps you're right. My only qualm was with the 'but raiden only THINKS...' part of the above Saelune's post.
They need to remake/use the same concept as Shaolin Monks. That was hella fun to play with my old roomie.

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

Actually looks very good, I think I just might go out and g-- oh right, Australia. I forget that my fragile convict mind is just one violent videogame away from snapping into a murderous rage.

Well that's a pain, it sounds like it exceeded expectations.

 

[AgentBJ09]

I guess I'm old. If I want to get into a series I tend to almost always start at the beginning.
Though in a fighting game series that would be silly. So perhaps you're right. My only qualm was with the 'but raiden only THINKS...' part of the above Saelune's post.
They need to remake/use the same concept as Shaolin Monks. That was hella fun to play with my old roomie.

Technically speaking, I can understand why Raiden had the misconception: He received those visions during the tenth tournament from the first game. He had no idea what was going on, even if the player did.

Still, Shaolin Monks was a spectacular game. I miss that thing, and I want it for my 360, even if Deadly Alliance doesn't work on it.

 

[Trogdor1138]

I'm waiting for my copy, it's an a covert mission through the Australian borders at the moment and should be here shortly.

First game I've been genuinely hyped for and buying on launch since... Metal Gear Solid 3 I believe. It's been looking like it's everything I was hoping for. I didn't think the Mortal Kombat series would ever be this good again and I'm really glad it's come back to pop culture and has new products being made. Sure the newer 3D games weren't bad, but they just never clicked properly to me and it always felt like they were lacking.

 

[The Wooster]

As someone who loves the crap out of guilty gear/blazblue I got to ask, how does this game compare?

I'm looking to get into other fighters but the last one I tried (street fighter 4) was a disappointment.

It's probably closer to Street Fighter than it is BB but it's still an awesome game. Best game in the series by a country mile and, if the character designs were better (ugh. Sonya) and the controls were a little friendlier to non-MK sticks it'd be damn near perfect.

That being said, while I much prefer MK's button input over street fighter (not a 360 in sight thank god) the presence of a block button in a 2d fighter is and has always been, dumb.

 

[Zeroththeking]

By the way Susan, Sub-Zero's move makes him crush the liver. Just letting you know (Wiki is my friend)

And my friend brought over the game. It took 12 times to beat Shao Kahn, since he is broken as hell in story mode (I'm not sure in versus). The X moves are easy to do, which is enjoyable. And the One v Two matches are hell. But the game is fun, and I'm not even good at fighter games. I can't even do Juri's special, which pisses me the hell off >.<

 

[crimsonshrouds]

the video supplement is messed up for me. i hear her but the video just cuts out. It has been doing this for all reviews but other vids such as zp are fine.

 

[Orange Monkey]

Oh Susan, I've missed your reviews, always so entertaining I might pick this up for summer so me and the boyfriend can work through our issues with bloody, bloody violence.

 

[Yossarian1507]

There are a few unbalanced characters online. I find Smoke, Scorpion and even Sub-Zero really cheap. The first two more than the third. They are the noob characters of the game with really really really easy moves. Sub-Zero just pisses me off because his play style is so easy to get abused against. An in all, it's good. Also, be prepared to face very very very cheap players in ranked games, they will do anything to win. I/e spam one move.

Oh, that's obvious in on-line games. Believe me, I spent some time playing games like BlazBlue on-line, and I fought my share of Jin's spamming Ice Car over and over again. Fortunately, even the cheap moves have the way to get around them, so a little training and those spammers will become an easy W.

 

[CoL0sS]

Very good rewiew. End made me laugh
I'm not a big fan of fighter games (cause I suck at them), but I always had a soft spot for Mortal Kombat. I tried it and I can honestly say that after a few years of devs not really knowing what to do with the series, this one finally sets things straight. It's accessible enough for noobs like me, while experienced players can still kick my ass with a single combo Fatalities are easier to pull off, since you can pause the game and check proper button sequence, Krypt is back, challenge tower is fun and laughs are guaranteed.

Now If I only had a dollar for every time I said "Aaaaaaawwww, damn that's nas-AAAAAAAAAWWWWW MAAAAAAN" I could probably buy the game immediately. But I'll have to wait until the price drops