While the core game remains good to this day, this is a lazy port with some issues.
'MKII' took everything the original 'Mortal Kombat' did, made it better, and added more of it. It introduced the 'Babality' and 'Friendship' finishing moves. It had several new characters, which were all very cool to use. It added a few new ways to finish your opponent off in style with level specific fatalities. And the game had great visuals for the time of it's release (1993). In my opinion, 2D fighting games don't get much better than 'Mortal Kombat II'.
Everything I said in the previous paragraph pertains to the original arcade version. So how does this PS3 version compare? For the most part, it holds up very nicely. Surprisingly, the core game hasn't aged too badly and is still fun to play. It also still looks great considering how long ago it was first released. Yes, the single-player still blows and the CPU is cheap beyond words (especially Shao Kahn). The issues with this port, however, start rearing their ugly heads from the minute that you get to the main menu.
To say the menus in this game are lazy piles of dogcrap, would be an understatement. They are very simple, ugly, and have the worst sound I have heard in a long time. Every time you move to a different selection on a menu, you have to hear this loud & annoying "PING" noise. Of course, this reeks of pure laziness on the part of 'Digtal Eclipse', who ported the game over to the PS3.
This version also has other annoying issues with online play (too much lag, no voice chat, ancient and lazy game set-up, leaderboards that make no sense, etc.) which is a HUGE disappointment since this is the main draw of the game. Nobody buys a 'MK' game just to beat on the CPU. You buy it to play other people over the internet, which makes it annoying that this game has issues that never should have made it past the QA process.
One big issue I had with the game is the lack of precision while using the Dual Shock controller. Of course, this seems to be a problem every time I play any classic 2D fighting game re-made for the consoles. Playing one of these games on the Xbox 360 is even worse, due to the hideous d-pad. It's just frustrating when you get pummled because a move that should have saved you, didn't work because of the controller. This is not really the developers fault, as there is just no substitute for an arcade stick in these games. This isn't a game-breaker, but it is annoying nonetheless.
Not that I was expecting it (especially when the game is only $5), but it would have been nice if they could have thrown in some bells and whistles about the history of the game or something. There is none of that here. In fact, there are no extras whatsoever.
'Mortal Kombat II' remains my favorite fighting game of all time. Just playing it again makes me miss the days of 2D fighting games and the arcade experience. What's disappointing is the way 'Digital Eclipse' handled this port. This is a lazy rush-job that is unacceptable, especially when you consider how good the actual game is. If you are just looking to play 'MKII' again, this is worth the $5. But if you are looking for more of a 'collector's edition' type of thing, then you will be disappointed.