To fans, MK3 was a descent game but did not surpass expectations. To the average gamer, it was utter crap.
Although the graphics were a great improvement, I must say, the arenas did not seem to be very interesting. Although the fighting stages did fit accurately with the story of MK3, but it didn't give gamers (well, at least me) the great feeling of a tournament battle to save earth. Sure, MK3 was not intended to be tournament style, but it made MK3 not really have a style. Just a sloppy battle.
The sound effects were okay, but on a specific note; I loved the freezing sound effect for Sub-Zero in MK2, but in MK3 it didn't sound as cool. Other sound effects were fine, and they were realistic when the needed to be. The music was cool, and it fit the stages accordingly. Although the stages weren't my favorite the music was great.
Cast of characters and their looks… they sucked. I've never seen a group of uglier mother truckers. Although some fans have grown to love and accept some of the new characters (Kabal, Stryker, 3 Cyborgs, etc etc) I thought the cast looked terrible. If you look at the transition from MK1 to MK2 to MK3, between MK2 and MK3 you just have to ask "what the hell happened to the character designs?" It's like they hired somebody totally new to design them, which is not necessarily case – which is sad. Just look at what they did to Sub-Zero. He looks like an ass clown, and worst of all, he looks too American compared to MK2. Although I've grown up to like the 3 cyborgs, at the time they just seemed not to fit with the original scenario of MK. I suppose they tried too hard to modernize everyone.
The fatalities were okay; they did not have the same affect towards me and many other people who enjoyed them in MK2. The realism was destroyed when you started seeing 3 skulls and 12 arms result from an explosion when only one person dies. Stupid things like that, where the MK Team tried to make it "more violent." They obviously failed miserably. Worst of all, they made Friendships more stupid than they already were but without humor. Babalities were funny the first time (in MK2) but by now they are really retarded. Animalities looked stupid… they are stupid. It was a dumb idea and executed terribly. The stage fatalities weren't that great compared to MK2, especially the Pit 3 which didn't make too much sense, at least not the way they depicted how it "works."
The game play is smoother than MK2 and "dial-a-combos" were introduced giving characters different and unique attacks. The style of kicking and punching was unique to each character as if they have their own unique martial arts. This makes it look a lot better than MK2. BUT they all have the same setup – HP LP LK HK etc etc. Although it doesn't put emphasis on mastering a character, it allows for easy transition to learn every character.
Overall, I was not pleased with MK3. Some of fans' favorite characters disappeared from MK2 and did not make a return. Too many new and ugly characters, terrible fatalities and other finishers, boring stages (for the most part), and nothing drastically done to the game play aside from combos and the ability to run. It could not compete with new fighting games and it lost favor due to the fall of the arcade market.