Mortal Kombat
Developer: NetherRealms Studios
Publisher: Waner Bros. Interactive
Genre: Fighting game
Platform: Playstation, Xbox360
Release date: April 19, 2011 (North America) April 21, 2011 (Europe)
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Mortal Kombat (or Mortal Kombat 9 to fans) is a return to the basics. All the things that made you fall in love with the MK series is back and in true form!
“The story begins after the events of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, where almost all the fighters are dead, leaving only Raiden and Shao Kahn. Defeated and about to be dealt the final blow, Raiden uses his last attempt to cast a spell on his amulet, now shattered, to contact his past self and quote "He Must Win!" before he is killed.
During the events of the first game's tournament, hosted by Shang Tsung, the Raiden from that era possesses visions of the events from the future; he notices his amulet has cracked, signaling troubling times ahead.”
STORY MODE! What an amazing way to explain the plot in a fighting game! You have to play as different characters throughout a five-hour story that unveils the new and I’m guessing true story of Mortal Kombat. I don’t want to give away anything but I guarantee that what you remember of the MK storylines gets changed in some “HOLY CRAP” moments. This is a clever way to reboot the series and giving it a fresh (and solid) plotline.
Gameplay is so freakin’ awesome! Solidly balanced and loads of fun, with modes galore!
They added a cool new aspect to the game which is the X-ray bar, or Super bar. As you attack and get attacked your Super bar increases. With every level it goes up you can perform enhanced versions of your regular special moves by pressing the block button simultaneously with the last button input you use to perform the move in the first place. If you decide to hold off and not do that you can also use it as a counter move (or a Breaker as they call it in the game). When you seem to be getting the beating of a lifetime you can interrupt the melee with a move that knocks the opponent away from you giving you time to think things through. The final piece to the Super bar puzzle is the X-ray move. This move (if you let the meter fill up completely) will allow you to pull off a mid game fatality-like series of hits that actually shows an X-ray of your opponent’s body showing damage.
In single player mode you are given Story Mode (which you already know about), Arcade Ladder, Tag Team Ladder and Challenge Tower. Arcade Ladder mode is the arcade mode that when you beat the game with a character you get a personal “what if” ending. Tag Team Ladder is the same as Arcade Ladder except you get to use two characters in a swap out at any time style combat. Challenge Tower is a series of various tasks that you pull off to gain coins. These coins can be earned in just about every mode in the game. This leads to the Krypt where you use the coins and unlock art, costumes, and new fatalities.
The graphics and sound in this game is stunning especially since they seemed to have taken the Unreal Technology graphics they used for Mortal Kombat vs DC and added more detail. With the sound you can hear every single crack and crunch especially when you perform the X-ray specials! Lots of awesome in one fighting game!
A really impressive feature they added was the training and tutorials. You can practice the gameplay with the computer walking you through the basic moves carefully, all the way up to fatality practice so that you can learn how to really embarrass your friends.
In the multiplayer modes you are given the Arcade Ladder and the Tag Team Ladder whether you want to do a local two-player match or if you want to take it online. The online also has very little to almost no online lagging/slowdown in the game.
This game is everything that you would want in a Mortal Kombat game by taking all the great parts of Mortal Kombat 1, 2 and 3 while putting it in great 3D graphics and new interesting gimmicks with 2D gameplay.
My only gripe with the game is Shao Khan in Story mode. I promise you that you will want to throw your controller out of frustration after a few tries. Trust me. With that I can say I give this game a 5 out of 5, no matter how cheap Shao Khan is. If you don’t have it yet, and you call yourself a MK fan; do yourself a huge favor and get this game!!
