Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Best in series"

If you like 2D fighting games, then Mortal Kombat is the game for you. Although, if you're not that hardcore a player, you might wanna leave it on its shelf.

Mortal Kombat has always been one of the tougher fighting games, due to the enemy AI, which unlike other games, are more focused on reacting to your input. This means that the higher the difficulty, the quicker your opponent reacts, which means that you need to react almost instantly with an appropriate technique.

After a while, it gets easier and easier, but it can get quite frustrating in the beginning, especially when you play story mode and it pairs up two opponents against you.

On that note, the game features a two-versus-two versus option, as well as a two-versus-two arcade option. A 2-vs-2 match is in a way similar to that of Tekken Tag Tournament, except that they take it a step further. When you switch between characters, you can spend a bar of energy to use a devastating entry, leaving your opponent lying in the dust. You can also get your team-mate to pop in and briefly attack your adversary with what is usually a ranged attack.

Other than that, the kombat is fairly simple. The 4 buttons on A,X,B and Y controls the different limbs of your fighter, the RB button does a grab and the RT button can be held in order to block. When blocking you still lose life when your opponent hits you, so it is not possible to just drag out time that way.
Doing a combo, you need to know your way around your controller and think fast. You need to press the button sequence quickly in order to succeed. Then there is special moves, which usually involves a superhuman or supernatural ability, like stealing souls or blast off balls of elemental energy. They are easy to use and add quite a nice touch to the gameplay, which is where Mortal Kombat find a lot of its strength.

In versus mode, when you've defeated your opponent, you will get a short timeframe to pull off a fatality, showing off some of the most violent, but creative action and bloody gore known to man. There are also stage fatalities, as well as babalities, turning your adversary into a baby-version of him- or herself, with a unique, comical animation.

Another kombat feature available, which is new and just as enjoyable as the fatalities, are the x-ray attacks. They can be used after your super meter is full, and if they hit your opponent, you see a short, yet brutal animation of your character, badly mistreating his adversary, in slow-motion, along with an x-ray zoom, so we can see all the wonderful damage that are being applied to the poor victims bones.

The story mode is quite enjoyable. It combines the plots of MK1, MK2 and MK3 (with a few changes) and is made up of 16 chapters, where you play a new character in each plot. Unfortunately, you don't get to play as all characters, and not at all as one of the bad guys. The story is very intense however and you get a deep insight into each characters personality as well as conflict between good and evil. I will not spoil the ending, but it leaves off a very intense cliffhanger, that makes one excited about the next game.

Once you are done with the story, there is still plenty to do, including a new feature called "The Challenge Tower" which has 300 intense mini-games and fights with special rules. These mini-games and rules can also be enjoyed without the challenge tower, in versus mode. Other than that there is of course ladder mode, which is sort of Mortal Kombat's take on arcade mode. You pick a fighter and a difficulty, and then you battle your way through 10 challengers, the last 3 being boss battles. Once you've defeated the last boss, Shao Kahn, you unlock a little drawn, picture-based movie with narration, for the character with whom you did it.

The boss battles in Mortal Kombat does however leave a bad taste in your mouth. The boss battles requires a different kind of strategy because they don't always flinch when you hit them and damage a whole lot more. All the boss battles, especially the ones with Shao Kahn (the big bad,) requires that you find a trick that works and keep spamming it until he is dead. This completely ruins the epic feel that a boss battle should have, as well as making one grow weary of them because of their dull and repetitive playthroughs.

Both story mode and doing well in ladder kombat will earn you koins, which you can then spend on artwork, as well as extra fatalities and character costumes that'll put you in awe.

But there is of course also multiplayer functions. The simple, local versus mode is quite enjoyable, and you can even take on a team-ladder with your friend, which is a very enjoyable feature.

The online play is very nice, apart from the bad stability. There is often a lot of lag to be found, which can ruin the whole experience, but if you can overlook that, multiplayer is very nice. Are you an Xbox360 user however, will you probably be less enthused about the fact that not only do you have to pay microsoft to be a gold member, but you also need to pay 800 microsoft points in order to get an online pass, which enables said feature.

The roster consist of 27 characters (+Kratos from God of War, if you have the PS3 version,) but there is also 4 DLC characters to be had, with two of them being available by July. Each and every character have their own combos, special moves & fatalities, as well as a distinct, unique feel to them. The character detail is stunning and you can't help but fall in love with each and every one of them.

All in all, Mortal Kombat is a great game, with a lot of unique characters and fun, yet, difficult battles. The boss battles and the online multiplayer are huge letdowns, but they kind of make up for it with a lot of fun mini-games and unlockables. It takes tons of time to complete, so if quantity is of any importance, you are spending your money well.