Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Almost, but not quite"

Mortal Kombat 9 can be compared to Duke Nukem Forever. 2 series that spawned great games from Midway, but went on to fall from their thrones. Now reboots are in order. While Duke Nukem Forever failed, Mortal Kombat succeeded. The question is, how does it hold up against other current gen fighters? To start, the story mode is surprisingly immersive and the cinematic cutscenes look fantastic and do a great job of telling the tale of Mortal Kombat. In fact, everything looks great about this game, including the return of the ever so popular gore that the series is famous for. So along with looks and story, it also does a great job staying true to the roots of the series. Where it slips is controls. The controls are unresponsive and stiff. Also, most of the combos are too complex for casual fans to memorize. If you really want to be good at this game, you'll need to play it at least once a week. I find this to be a problem considering that after you finish the story the game can get repetitive, unless you are playing with a friend. The multiplayer is a lot of fun, and the new tag team system works as it should. Really the biggest flaw with this game is the controls. Also, it would have been nice to see more playable characters. Some characters make playable appearances in the challenge tower but are not usable in multiplayer, such as cyber reptile, who I would love to be able to play as whenever I would like. I'll never understand why the developers made this decision. Nonetheless, this game is a solid reboot that hardcore fans of the series will adore, while casual fans will still enjoy. Are there better fighters out there? Yes. But are there better Mortal Kombats? That's a maybe. I'd recommend this game only for hardcore fans.