Mortal Kombat
The story begins during the final battle of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon(7), with the entire cast of characters dead at the hands of one another and having lost the final battle to emperor Shao Khan. Raiden uses his amulet to cast a spell sending knowledge of all things to come to his past self at the opening of the ninth tournament (Mortal Kombat 1). Raiden's goal is to alter history in hopes of creating a better future. This plot device serves as a very clever and creative way for the franchise to receive a much needed reboot while keeping it as an element within the storyline.
Similar to the story style of Mortal Kombat Vs DC, there are several chapters, each having 5 acts which consist of one and one, and sometimes two on one battles. You control a different character in each chapter of the story. The intermittent points between battles takes place in the forms of cut scenes which help progress the story quite well and never get dull or boring. All of the familiar characters return in this instalment, so long time fans won't be missing any of their favorites. The appearances of several characters are clearly inspired by the first Mortal Kombat movie, which is a nice throwback for long time fans of the franchise.
The story unfolds itself in a very entertaining way, it's quite possibly the best Mortal Kombat story told to date. You'll find yourself getting attached to certain personalities and anxious to see how the conclusion unfolds. The story mode is structured in such a way that upon completion of the story mode, newcomers who may have been previously unfamiliar with the universe or characters will possess just as much knowledge as a long time fan.
Visually this is the best Mortal Kombat in the franchise, particularly the return of many stages from the original trilogy return with improved graphics. You'll recognize popular areas such as "The Pit" and "Goro's lair" redone in beautiful HD glory. In addition to the stages from previous games all of the familiar moves return, as well as a useful combo system keeping things fresh. The controls are very beginner friendly, without removing familiar techniques from returning veterans. Fighting animations are smooth, and character models look sharp, more noticeable then anything what stands out are the environments surrounding the characters.
Saying this title has more depth than previous Mortal Kombats is an understatement. Saying this title might have the most depth in any fighting game ever is a more accurate statement. There are TONS of unlocks via "The Krypt", a first person graveyard where players can walk around and choose to spend their "Kombat Koins" on numbered tombstones to unlock hidden prizes such as alternate outfits, concept art and fatalities. Kombat koins are earned through various methods including completing the story mode, as well as progress in other modes. Being that players will spend the majority of their time fighting, the krypt is a nice change of pace. After unlocking content in the krypt, players can then activate it via "Nekropolis", a Mortal Kombat shrine that keeps track of unlocked "kontent" and bios.
The game sports various modes aside from story mode. There is "Ladder", it is the classic Mortal Kombat mode, where players progress through a series of fighters until eventually facing the boss. There's tag ladder where you choose two characters to face off against increasingly hard AI opponents. Test your luck, might, sight and strike all return as mini games packing achievements and rewards for clearing them. There is also challenge tower, a mode where you progress by meeting specific offensive or defensive requirements during combat. The training mode provides a useful tutorial to brush players up on the basics, as well as a fatality tutorial, practice, and tag team practice.
This game allows up to 4 players local, and 2 can play via xbox live against other tag teams. The tag team matches are reminiscent of dead or alive in execution; combos can be chained into a tag and continued with the legal character. Reserved characters can also be called in to do a quick tag assist during battles. At the default difficulty the AI can be challenging, although at times like any AI they can be cheap, but with a little common sense and good reflexes, the game never makes itself feel or seem impossible. For a fighting game this story mode is LONG, easily over 8 hours, and some of the harder fights can easily extend that if lady luck isn't on your side, and that's just story mode, there's tons extra mode and things to do, which brings us to our last mode, Xbox live.
No need to panic, lets get it out of the way, yes it has spectator mode! No the online does NOT suck. :) Mirroring the single player, just in the online alone, you'll find tons of things to do. So lets go through a few.
There's ranked matches, pretty self explanatory, you search for an opponent close to your rank and fight for position. You can choose between 1 on 1 ranked and tag ranked. Next up is player match, like ranked match, player match has 1v1 and tag, but it also has King of the hill mode. King of the hill mode is an 8 player lobby complete with spectator mode. I find myself thirsting for a fighting game that understands that we're not just gamers, we're also FANS of the game, being as that may, as a fan, I like to see characters in action that may not necessarily be my style, that I would never pick. Yet there's still a level of enjoyment to watching other fights, even the opportunity to pick up a few new offensive and defensive tricks! So for this mode I am very grateful.
Visually you see your avatars in the lobby waiting as the match unfolds via theater screen, it can also be toggled to full screen with the back button. All of these modes in player matches can also be done in private match mode. Another method of playing on xbox live is in actual chat-rooms you can join, each packed with up to 100 players, here announcements are posted regarding winning streaks and victories, players have the option to openly challenge anyone in the room, and the challenged player has the option to accept or decline. User statistics and leader-boards are kept track off across all xbox live mediums.
Overall Mortal Kombat is highly impressive. This title has raised the bar on what we should expect from a current gen fighting game. The production value shows in the title, and it lacks no features. It’s nice not to get short changed on a fighting game, it has happened a few times lately. They treated the franchise and its fan base with the highest levels of respect possible, and delivered on all grounds.
In an age when people toss fighting games at us with minimal options and expect us to be grateful and just allow the title to get by on popularity, it feels good to see that some companies still go all out. Some companies understand the consideration behind a spectator mode, it's nice not to have to wait for "SUPER" Mortal Kombat to get some of the features we expect from a current gen fighting game. Nowadays it's good when you can look at a title and say to yourself, money well spent, with confidence! And if you're craving that feeling in a fighting game, then my friends, look no further, Mortal Kombat is here!
