Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Amazing"

Good:
- Revamped fighting system
- Satisfying and brutal combat
- Surprisingly interesting story
- Tons of content
- Fun for beginners and experts alike

Bad:
- Unbelievably cheap, frustrating bosses
- A few unbalanced characters
- Online connections need some fixing

Mortal Kombat returns to its glory days, with all the gore, guts, and mayhem you love. While it still isn't perfect, this new Mortal Kombat is the best fighting game this year, and the best in the series.

Story-wise, Mortal Kombat actually begins at the end of the last game, Armageddon. Basically, the world is over, the good guys lost. But the thunder god Raiden sends a message to his former self, hoping to prevent the disastrous future.

From here, Mortal Kombat recollects the characters and scenarios from the first three titles in the series. Meaning no more puking attacks and farting fatalities, no more lame characters who are meaningless, no more confusing story, and back to the stuff old fans care about.

Gameplay is vastly improved over earlier titles, leading to a game that feels more deep, and rewarding, than past Mortal Kombats. Some characters still feel weak, or overpowered, but not to the extreme points of the older games. Boss characters, on the other hand, are ridiculous. There is no way you can beat some without "spamming" or figuring out some cheap trick, which is fine, because they are cheaper! Beside that, multiplayer and versus modes work well, as long as the servers aren't having trouble.

The content in this game is enormous. There are hundreds of unlockables throughout, including artwork, music, secret fatalities, and alternate costumes. The story mode will take anywhere from 5 to 7 hours, depending on how good you are. Then there are tributes, easter eggs, and hidden features; The amount of time you can spend on this game is insane.

Overall, Mortal Kombat is a worthy, and fantastic reboot to a phenomenon of a series. Calling it a must play title would be an understatement.