Background - Mortal Kombat gameplay has changed so many times over the years. First it started as a 2D fighter using live actors as their models. The scene would cut the actors in and having them fight each other. Mortal Kombat began a new genre of video games since MK was a different style of fighting that was more adult-oriented. MK had a dark story filled with death and murder. This tradition continued throughout all the games, but each release after Mortal Kombat 3 attempted a new format, but most gamers would maintain that these attempts were failures. With the 4th version, they stepped into the 3D realm. The 3D format continued until MK vs. DC. In this version they tried to make the game less violent and lost a substantial part of the audience. The latest version returns back to the original 2D roots with a 3D engine.



1. Gameplay

a. Characters:
Many of the beloved MK characters are back in this one. Scorpin, Sub-Zero, Smoke, Noob Saibot and Reptile are a few of the returned players.

b. Commands:
This game plays exactly how you would expect a MK game to play. It doesn’t quite have the juggling abilites as Marvel vs. Capcom, but it has all the style of an MK game. The commands are simply to use, but tough to master. This is a perfect strategy for fighting games. The simplicity attracts the casual crowd and yet, challenges the hardcore group. You can pull out some amazing combos. You can even increase the damage from the combos when you mix in character specials, or setting you up for a longer based combo. The fighting in this game is great. The new x-ray mode makes things all the better. It can quickly revert transform your game since it does a lot of damage. Not only that but it looks sweet as well.

2. Story:
The story is this game is interesting too. It begins with Raiden in the envisioned future environment of the first 3 MK games. He sends a message to his past self in order to prevent Shau Kahn from killing everyone and taking over Earth Realm. You play along using different characters and fighting battles in order to prevent this from happening. The way they introduce characters is well thought out and how they turn into the ones that you know and love.

3. Sound and Visuals:

a. Sound - The music in this game leaves something to be desired. While it isnt near the worst that I have heard, but alas, that is not why you play an MK game. The fighting noises and character sounds are what get a players heart going. When the sounds are authentic, the game seems so much more engaging. Cringing at some of the fatalities because of the sound is what helps make this game so much fun. So, though the music is lackluster, the game sounds more than make up for it.

b. Art - The graphics in this game are amazing. They have rendered three different textures. One texture captures the normal qualities of the characters. Another captures the muscle tone for each of the characters and the final one represents the skeletal structure of all them. When you cause a fatality or an x-ray attack you can sometimes see the skeletal structure of each character (all the time with x-ray attacks). The normal textures look really good. They fit the MK universe and attacks flow well. The backgrounds look amazing and are really well rendered. They are animated and interesting to watch. They don't take away from the fighting though. It is nice to look at, but they don’t distract the player from the overall experience.



4. Replayability - Just for the sheer fun of fighting opponents, causing fatalities or just messing around on the challenge mode-- this game has you coming back for more. This game has a lot of features to keep you coming back. In addition, the cliffhanger ending suggests that they could add DLC to continue the story mode. That would assure to have many of us going back and playing it again and again. I have played this game for many hours and plan to put in more.



5. Overall - This is hands-down the best Mortal Kombat I have ever played. The moves are fun, the bosses are hard (really, really cheap though), and the X-Ray mode doesn't really get old. Although, I have not played it online (I would probably get destroyed) it seems like it would be a fun thing to do. You have Co-op so you and a friend can go 2v2 against computers or people using a tag system. You can also do combos to lead into that tag system. The only thing that really frustrated me was the boss battles. They added in a type of "boss armor", that negates some of your attacks (they won't get stunned or stumble). It is annoying to say the least because they can attack you right after that. They also can do pretty heavy damage to your characters with every attack. It is a really rough fight and you have to be super cheap in order to beat them.

*TL:DR*
This is a great fighting game. Much like Marvel vs. Capcom 3, I expect to see this game included in tournaments (probably with the gore turned off so many people can watch). It is really fun to play and amazing to watch. If you enjoy the MK series , like fighting games or if you just want a good, well- rounded, challenging fighting game-- I suggest you pick this game up. I thoroughly enjoyed this one and am still playing it.