Mortal Kombat is back to kick your ass, and you will enjoy every second of it.

User Rating: 9 | Mortal Kombat PS3
So, I bought the new mortal kombat for the ps3 and let me tell you I absolutely LOVE this game. That's how much I LOVE it, I have to spell LOVE with all capital letters. See now that's LOVE.
Anyways, I have played every MK game (except 4) in the arcade and on the home systems. I loved the first two, three was ok including ultimate and gold, deception forward were just not that great. But I bought them, each and every one hoping for a MK game that would bring back that feeling of power and amazement that I had for the beginning of the series. As a fan of the series I followed the production of this game since it was announced and what I, as a lot of people, thought, was meh another mortal kombat game I'm not interested. Though being a longtime fan, I read the updates and got a little more excited when I heard that it was going to be a 2D fighter and not another 3D one. Then everything changed when I viewed the first trailer...as I watched the footage I began to have hope that this Mortal Kombat game might be the one to renew my faith in the MK series, as I continued to watch I was brought back to my childhood when I saw many of my favorite fighters and fighting locations updated with modern graphics. So I decided then and there that this game must be bought when it came out before I read any reviews so that I, and only I, would decide if this game was worth it. Let me tell you faithful reader, it was so worth the 40 dollars I spent (I had a gift card) to get this game. I bought it on the Wednesday after it came out and I did not put it down for weeks after. This game has everything that I could have wanted in a Mortal Kombat game.
The story mode is a lot of fun and yes, it is frustrating at times but when you lose you will start to formulate strategies on what works and what gets the crap beat out of you. As I would lose against bosses I would notice that almost everytime I re-fought them I would take away a little more health or last a little longer before I went down and when I would finally emerge victorious the victories were very sweet indeed. In terms of the story itself I have always been a fan of the mortal kombat mythos and this story was a fun retelling of the first three MK stories with a few twists. I was never bored in my playthrough of the story mode and am looking forward to playing it again. The Ladder mode is straight up nostalgia for me. Everytime I play this mode I look back fondly playing MKI, II and III in the arcades and on the snes and genesis. I have a lot of fun in this mode learning a new character that I have never played prior and earning coins...I mean koins.
Boon and company bring back the krypt from, I believe it was MK deception, with some updates. While I do enjoy the graphical style and how it has different areas each with a different feel to them it is difficult to navigate. I kind of wish that there was a more structured layout and you could see more than 2 or 3 headstones or bodies or prisoners at a time because I only buy items more than 1200 koins because that's how I roll and it is difficult to find everything when I can only see a couple items at a time. That is pretty much the worst thing I can find to say about it though.
The challenge tower is just that, a challenge. There are tons of different challenges with a lot if not all of the characters I am only on floor 130 so I don't know how far it goes but so far I am having a blast with it. It asks you to do crazy tasks like defeat the opponent when you do 25% less damage or you can only use specials or my personal favorite (so far) the world is turned upside down.
One of the most crucial parts of any fighting game are the controls, and I think that it is strange that the guys at netherealm decided to take away the usual quarter circle motions that street fighter and MK used to use for simple fireballs, nets, or other special moves to a simpler down toward punch combination. It not bad really, just different and as I said simpler. The responsiveness in the controls is absolutely flawless in my opinion, I have never felt like I have taken unfair damage or a loss because of the controls.
The sound effects from MK 1 & 2 are some of my most beloved childhood memories. From the announcer saying fight and scorpion wins...Fatality (because scorpion is my favorite) and the creepy laugh when you uppercut someone, and the sounds of the uppercut blasting through the arcade cabinets speakers, man those were good times. Now fast forward to MK 9 and all of that is back and all the sounds that I grew up with are much more intense. The punch of the bass when you uppercut someone and all the voices and crunching of bones coming through your speakers will make you wince the first time your opponent breaks one of your arms, or stabs you in the face with an xray attack. The sound effects and music in this game set the mood of the game perfectly and I can only describe them with one word, brutal.
I absolutely LOVE this game and aside from the computer cheating and being cheap sometimes (which is par for all the MK games I have ever played) and the Krypt needing a little more structure and order, this game is a must buy for any fan of the series and definitely has revitalized the mortal kombat franchise. Now pardon me I have to go back and climb the challenge tower.