Story
Ed Boon has gone on the record recently to say that the storyline of the MK universe has gotten more hokey and off the rails with every addition. While the games have just become new ways to implement shock value with crazy new ways to shake your opponent loose of the mortal coil, the story that had potential to be truly memorable just got zanier and zanier.
Mortal Kombat is trying to make amends for this to their fans by rebooting the franchise, but in a very unique way. The story of the newest title takes place right after the huge melee in the opening cinematic of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. Every character of the MK universe is laying dead and mutilated with carrion beats picking at the bodies… oh yeah heads up, this is possibly the goriest game you’re going to find on the market right now, at least it’s the goriest game I’ve popped into my console.
Anyways.
A final battle is taking place atop a large structure, with Raiden, God of Thunder and the protector of the Earth, battling against the evil emperor, Shao Khan. In a twist usually unusual in games, but fairly commonplace in MK titles, evil has won, and with Raiden’s dying moments he sends a message out into the cosmos; who is the recipient of this message? Why, himself from the past, naturally.
Yup, we’re starting right back at the very first Mortal Kombat tournament. Raiden tries to piece together the blurry images and tries to figure out how to prevent Khan from winning and taking over our realm. the story is boken into chapters representing each character, some prominent from that outing in the MK universe, others on characters who were behind the scenes.
I like this layout of the story as it provides back story for the characters both new and old. The story retells how the main characters Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade and Liu Kang came together at the tournament, as well as providing insight into the origins of less prominent characters like Cyrax and Sektor. The story flows smoothly into and out of the fights that will come with the characters’ stories. All in all the narrative is well done as the game takes the player on a retelling of the first three MK games, providing focus on the story we already know while re-writing MK history to save the future.
Gameplay
Mortal Kombat games are fairly notorious for implementing a lot of new mechanics in every game, sometimes adding so much that it actually takes away from the experience rather than enhance it; it’s a franchise that has been very guilty of trying to fix what isn’t broken. Mortal Kombat has cut the trimming and frills and has left gamers with a solid fighter. The controls are very streamlined and any gamer, hardcore or casual, can have a lot of fun playing the game without having to remember a dozen different parameters of instances that likely won’t even happen. This has made the game flow a lot better as the simplicity makes the action very quick and many times leaves the gamer feeling like they’re taking part in a martial arts movie rather than a video game.
A new gameplay element is the potential for tag battles. Online and offline play just got a little more strategic as gamers can team up with a friend or control two characters to make twice the action. These tag elements add a great new way to enjoy, and get frustrated by, the game as the game, despite the simplified controls, still can’t be simply controlled by button mashing without some sense of strategy.
Online play has received a very nice makeover with online matches and tournaments being easy to make by anyone, and the viewing lobby, where players waiting for their turn watch the matches and can cheer and boo accordingly to how they feel the match is going; on a side note there’s an animation where a spectator holds up a skunk to show their disapproval, it doesn’t sound that funny but I always giggle when I see it.
Finally, my favourite new implementation in the game engine, aside from it returning to its 2D roots, is the new combo engine. One of my greatest weaknesses in fighting games is my inability to memorize every control input for special moves and combination attacks. NetherRealms has tried something innovative in making a free-form style combo system, where the player can create combos on the fly, making gameplay even more strategic and fun.
Graphics
The game consistently runs at 60 frames per second, giving fluid motion to the action, again giving the game a feel like a kung fu movie rather than a video game. Equally impressive is that the game keeps up the frame rate while boasting fairly impressive graphics. Character models and environments look terrific, and each character has been given a very nice makeover to make them, for the most part, look a bit more realistic to their original presentations.
One downside of the game’s graphics are the faces. The characters are pretty ugly, as their faces looks like something that would be found in a previous generation console, but it’s a minor detail that, at the end of the day, in no way effects the game negatively.
Sound
You’re going to want to crank up the sound on this one. The music is terrific. With new audio pieces and revitalized songs that are traditional to MK, the musical composition of this game is a perfect blend of wat one would expect from a MK game and movie.
The voice acting and sound effects are also pretty slick. The actors themselves give average presentations on the whole, but some of the actors really put a god amount of effort into their role in order to bring their characters to life; major voice actors that come to mind are the ones portraying Johnny Cage, the second Sub Zero and Cyrax. Fighting games don’t require stellar voice actors to move the story along, but the extra effort shows that NetherRealm is taking this reboot seriously and wants the narrative to feel like less of a joke than it has in the past.
The sound effects are also very finely tuned, as every crunch and snap is expertly done and gives the player a real surge every time they hear these sounds.
What I liked
Finely tuned development for key and lesser characters alike, and true capturing of their personalities. Very fast combo system and a game engine that makes this game a legit brawler rather than just a gore-fest. And the skunk, love the skunk.
What I would change
Character faces are pretty ugly and every female character is dressed in outfits that definitely supports fan service over function; I can appreciate a little fan service, but having almost every female character’s main outfit be basically a thong unitard starts to make the experience feel like exploitation.
Final Thoughts
If you’re a Mortal Kombat fan, you’ve already picked up this game, but it boasts enough features and mechanics to bring in new players to the fold. If you want a fast and free flowing brawler that will be a great purchase for casual and hardcore gamers alike, then pick this title up, you’ll be pleased you did.
