Mortal Kombat comes back with a 'Toasty' victory in fighting game history.
Personally, I have been a fan of Mortal Kombat for years. I have always enjoyed exceptionally violent video games, such as survival horror and more excitingly Mortal Kombat. I have played every single game lacking the Sub Zero sub-story, granted I've never been a good enough fighter until the 3-D fighters. That being said, we all know the previous Mortal Kombat game was a big let down to hard core Mortal Kombat fans, that game being Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe. But thankfully that game has come to pass, now we have this Mortal Kombat game as you will see it is definitely worth the money. With that said, we shall now begin the review.
Story:
Unlike the previous Mortal Kombat games, Mortal Kombat 9 or 2011, whichever you wish to call it has an in-depth storyline that konnects to Mortal Kombat Armageddon. The game begins at the end of Mortal Kombat Armageddon, everyone but Raiden and Shao Kahn are dead and Shao Kahn is winning over Raiden. Riaden realizing what had happened and what he must do sends his spirit and memories into the past to his self during the events of Mortal Kombat. From there he attempts to prevent the future from taking place at any and all kosts. Sometimes things happening that he never intended to happen.
The game takes you through the storyline of the first three games, playing through each of the good guys and some of the neutral guys eyes through 16 chapters as the story reanimates itself in amazing ways. The game doesn't end there, on top of the Story-mode there is also a Ladder mode that allows you to fight through 10 battles and upon beating it you get to relive some of the non-canonical endings for the characters that you played as. That being said, the story of Mortal Kombat 2011 definitely outdoes its predecessors in every shape, way, and form.
Game-play:
The game-play of Mortal Kombat 2011 has made significant improvement from the previous three Mortal Kombat games, which is saying something considering the game went back to its roots. The game has improved in almost every aspect of game-play, from the move list to the specialized aspects of the game modes. I will cover each aspect here in this section and explain in great detail what I like and dislike about each one of them. So, without further adieu...
We shall start with the most obvious of improvements to this game, the character roster. Being that the game goes back in the storyline to only cover the first three games of the series, it is only natural that you only see characters that have appeared in the first three games. Which means a good chunk of those characters who just randomly appeared, like Shujinko and Daegon, who absolutely made no sense, are not there. To me that is quite an improvement considering that I am a storyline buff, and I specifically seem to recall -not- seeing Shujinko at all during the rise of Onaga in Deadly Alliance.
Secondly, We shall go over the improvements of the moves list that you can access to learn how to play your character. The list has improved a great deal since the old games, coming to include not only special moves, but all the combinations that the character can actually do by combining the buttons used to attack. This is a huge improvement because before this people had to figure out all the combinations, sure its not an elitists form of learning, but a point of learning none of the less. The move lists have also improved to have Tag Kombos, and Tag Specials, which come in handy when you are fighting a Tag battle, it takes quite some getting used to, but it is a great improvement.
Another improvement to the move list is that it has now come to show how to do the fatalities. Fatalities as any avid Mortal Kombat fan would know, are the gruesome moves that a person can use to completely obliterate their opponent at the end of a fight when the announcer calls to 'Finish Him/Her'. I will go into more details on the improvements of fatalities below, But the move list now shows them. That being said the move list has made significant improvement from the previous Mortal Kombat games, and makes it easier for someone to learn and become a great Kombatant in the Mortal Kombat Universe.
Third, I will cover the improvements to the Fatalities in this game. As I mentioned before every Mortal Kombat buff knows that Fatalities are what usually makes Mortal Kombat different from any other fighting game. This game is no different, as it introduces new and inventive ways to brutalize your opponent in ways that only Charlie Manson could come up with. In this game they introduce a First Fatality, a Second Fatality, a Stage Fatality, and a Babality. The first one is accessible from the beginning, The second and Stage fatality is only accessible once unlocked from the krypt, and the Babality is a hidden specialized feature that you can only unlock by knowing how to do it.
One of my largest problems in Mortal Kombat up until the 3D games was that the games fatalities were almost impossible to know, or even do with their large combination of buttons that you had to do before being able to trigger it. Basically if you made one mistake you'd be unable to have time to do the fatality before the opponent's fatality timer ran out. Luckily they have changed that in the most recent addition to Mortal Kombat, Most fatalities are only three or four buttons long with a attack button combined to them, which is amazing as it makes it easier to learn the fatalities instead of making them impossibly hard or impossibly easy (I'm looking at you Armageddon).
Now we get to the best part of the fatalities, I bet you are wondering after the Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe fiasco, 'How could they come back after such a horrible display of fatalities and 'Heroic Brutalities'?'. Well fans of Mortal Kombat, I give you the way they came back, the fatalities are as gory and bloody as ever, ranging from incinerating your victim to cutting off their heads, to even disemboweling them. Ed Boon really outdid himself when he made these fatalities as they are definitely better then anything else seen before. Some fatalities you can even reminisce as they are the fatalities from the old Mortal Kombat games, like Kano's Eat Your Heart Out. Overall the fatalities are beautifully done and expertly executed, Personally I find them one of the best parts about Mortal Kombat 2011.
Fourthly, We shall cover the additional attacks that have been brought up in this game, which will be covered in three sections. Starting with the X-Rays, then moving on to the Tag Moves, to Super Special Moves (I nickname them 'EX-Moves' because I'm a street fighter nerd). The improvements to the fighting in the game I have, since the beginning of hearing this, been a little iffy on. But once I played the game, I have nothing but good stuff to say about it.
As said we are going to start with X-Ray's, The X-Ray move is where you press a certain button combination after gaining up your momentum bar or Super bar, whatever you wish to call it, and release a specialized X-Ray move where you do some massive damage to your opponents body. The best part about this is that not only does it do some massive damage but it forms an X-Ray view of the damage done when you slam into an enemy showing the damage to the bones and such. These X-Ray moves can also be combined into combo's if you know how to do it and over all make the game much more challenging and interesting then I first perceived it to be.
Next, We shall cover the Tag Moves, Tag moves are specialized moves that you can use when in Tag Mode (Which is covered in greater detail in the final section of the Game-play section.) These moves are a specialized combination of buttons that will allow your characters to either switch out and attack, or attack then go back into the hole to await being called back out. Like the X-Ray moves, these moves are what make the Tag mode much more challenging then the single fight modes as it makes you think harder and react more to the opponents attacks.
Finally, We will cover the 'EX-Moves' and as a special also cover in this same section the Breaker move. Ex-Moves are buffed up versions of the special moves that you can release when your Super Bar, or Momentum Bar depending on how you see it, reaches the first way point in its ascension. once you reach this point you do the combination and press the guard button at the same time as pressing the final button to release a Ex-Move, which as state is a much stronger and sometimes multi-hit version of the original special move.
The next way point AFTER the EX area, is the Breaker Area. Breaker takes two slots of the momentum bar, instead of simply one. The breaker is used by pressing the guard button and pushing towards the attack at a certain time to activate the breaker. The breaker then breaks the combo or the attack knocking your opponent away from you. This comes in major handy if you know how to time it correctly and release it just right to give you the advantage in the battle.
Finally, we shall cover each of the game modes that have been shown in this game ranging from the Ladder Mode, all the way to Xbox Live compatibility. Mortal Kombat has always had this thing about really only having a good Arcade mode, now they have introduced several more intuitive ways to spend your time in the game. So lets get started shall we?
I'll start this section off by covering the Ladder Mode, which is basically a fancier name for Arcade Mode. As per previous Mortal Kombat games, you choose a single character to fight through a series of best of three matches against ten different computerized characters. These characters in this one however are predetermined by the character that you personally choose, allowing you to experience somewhat of a storyline with the characters. Eventually you rise up through the ranks and take on two of the -hardest- characters in this game.
Goro and Shao Kahn are back people, and they are by no means easy like their previous incarnations. They have been given specialized attacks that will allow them to be immune to flinching while that attack is being done. Which means you have to now actually think before just running up with your war cry and attacking them. Among the invincibility attacks your opponent also has EX-Moves and X-Ray moves which do amazing damage to you no matter which character you are.
Along with Single Ladder Mode, there is a secondary Ladder mode known as Tag Ladder, or Tag Fighting. Tag Fighting is where, as the name states, you choose two characters to fight against two other characters in Ladder mode up until Shang Tsung whom you fight Alone, azlong with Goro and Shao Kahn who also fight alone. Upon winning you experience whomever you finished Shao Kahn with's non-canonical ending. As mentioned above with the Tag Matches you have to watch out for the other characters when they bring in their characters for special tag moves, This makes it a tad bit more challenging then a Single Ladder mode.
The next addition to this game is the 'Test Your...' series which consists of four different specialized mini-games that you can play and unlock advanced versions of in Challenge mode and then under the fight section once unlocked. We'll start with the first one which is Test Your Luck, The test your luck mini-game is basically a game where you play slots to decide what kind of fight you'll have to fight next. Like my first Slot was Mileena with quick uppercut recovery, there are several more like this as well, however you'll have to find out about those on your own.
Next, You relive one of the previous Test Your... which is Test your Might, Test your might is a mini-game where you press the buttons to bring the bar above a certain area and then you press the signature button which slams the characters hand down upon the boards and if you passed the certain place on the bar in time then you will slam through the boards and break them clean in half succeeding in the Test Your Might Mini-game. Its not as fun as the rest of the game but over all the mini-games do give you something to do.
Next, They introduce the Test Your Sight mini-game which induces you to use your sight to follow a tricky and complicated spinning game. They place the ball under one of three heads and spin the head around other heads until it stops. Once stopped you have to find the ball, if you didn't pay attention the game will win as you will not know where the ball is, if you did its a rather easy mini-game and you will find the ball for some easy Mortal Kombat Koins. this one like Test Your Might isn't exactly fun to play as it causes you to use your brain more so then others, but it does over all give you something to do.
Finally, They introduce the Test Your Strike mini-game, which is like test your might, except instead of going over a bar you have to get in-between a certain two spots on the bar to strike just far enough to reach a certain block in the middle of several outlaying blocks. This game is genuinely just like Test your Strike so I won't get to far into it.
The next mode on the list is the Story Mode, Which as I explained above allows you to play through the story and gain a lot of koins as well as experience said story. I won't go to in-depth into ijt as I've already covered the basic outline of the story. So lets just move on to one of the best new additions.. The Challenge Tower
The Challenge Tower introduces an almost never ending tower of several challenges that you must complete, each challenge is played in fives or sixes by a certain character the game chooses for you. This allows you to learn each character while at the same time completing challenges, Some challenges are rather easy, while other challenges are rather difficult. However, with patience and focus the challenges can all be completed. This being said, unlike other Mortal Kombat games, This addition is one of the star attractions in my opinion to this game.
Next, is the training mode. The training mode for the most part is self explanatory however, there are a few new additions that I wish to go over in this review. The first addition being the Fatality Training, where you go in and choose a character, which allows you then to go in and train to use their fatality. This allows a person to learn and master their fatalities for gruesome conquest online or on the Ladders. Next, Is the Tag Training which much like Fatality Training will allow you to learn specialized Tag moves for the tag teams that you are playing as, and as said before will allow you to learn and master their tag moves for conquest online or on the Ladders.
Finally, I will talk about X-Box Live/PSN play. As everyone knows X-Box Live/PSN is a way to play online with your friends and such, and as such the ability to do so comes with a laggy price at times. The Online capabilities of the game is split into three different game modes; 1V1, Tag Match, and King of the Hill. I have already covered the basics of 1V1 and Tag Match so I'll focus on the last one, King of the Hill.
King of the Hill is a game mode where you can gather up to eight players and compete in fights one on one and gain what is called 'Respect'. Respect you can gain through fighting people in King of the Hill who then rate you on a zero to ten, ten being the best and zero being the worst. The game in a total is pretty fun as it allows people to observe your matches and as well as you get to gain something out of playing it which is as stated, respect.
Graphics:
The graphics have made a worthy and strong comeback I will be going over two aspects of the graphics in this game starting with the characters and their moves, and ending with the stages of the games. Graphics for a long time in Mortal Kombat games have been realistic beyond compare, which has honestly been a big turn off for me, and when they reached the 3D era of Mortal Kombat the game began feeling more like a game. This made me more interested in Mortal Kombat, and with this game they find that perfect balance between Realism and Video Games allowing them to be amazing.
The characters and their moves have been redone and remastered to look exceptionally better then they did in Armageddon and much better then they looked in MK VS DCU. The characters moves are set to perfectly look like they are almost real. The moves, for example Scorpions Flames of Hell move (V