The DS version of UMK will ruin your memories of what was a classic brutal 2D brawler.
There are 2 games on offer in this pack, one of them a puzzle game that will hold your interest for 30 minutes if you're a huge puzzle game fan, and probably 10 minutes for anyone else. It's a poor attempt to mimic the classic Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo on the PSX, minus of course the fun factor. Matching blocks of the same colour results in them disappearing, your opponent recieving more blocks and your miniature MK character on the top screen delivering blows to the other player. It's slow paced, ugly and doesn't change at all according to your character. To make such a simple concept work (one that's been done hundreds of times before) should be a sinch, instead the developers even managed to butcher that.
Seeing as Puzzle Kombat is basically a freebie thrown in to (ahem) sweeten the deal, it's lack of appeal could easily be overlooked if the fighting game itself had been well executed. Unfortunately, it isn't. It's certainly close to the worst looking MK title to date, the majority of backgrounds bland and uninspired. The characters are slightly better, but overall the visuals fail to impress. The sound quality isn't great either, the DS really showing it's limitations.
Again, this would be forgivable if the gameplay was solid. It isn't. This is primarily due to UMK's biggest fault: the ridiculously over the top difficulty. I truly wonder if anyone is capable of finishing this game on any difficulty setting, as the last few characters 9 times out of 10 will thrash you either flawlessly or taking 1 or 2 hits in total. It makes for an extremely uunsatisfactory and frustrating experience when you are not given a snowball's hope in hell of progressing in order to unlock new characters etc. There is talk of the online experience being much better, and it may well be, but when I buy a game I expect it to offer a decent and rewarding single player experience, anything else being a bonus.
In UMK's defense, it's not quite all bad. There is a large character roster and the first few opponents at least are beatable. despite all the flaws, the overall Mortal Kombat feel remains somewhat intact. It's still satisfying to harpoon someone as Scorpion, or to freeze them with Sub-Zero before delivering a shattering uppercut. And then of course there are several ways to finish your opponent if you do win, including fatalities, babalities, animalities and friendships. These are still as amusing as ever, and the commands are even conveniently displayed on the top screen. You need to be lightning quick though, as your foe will very often collapse before you can accurately input the command.
The fact that they got some of these things right just makes it all the more a shame that they failed to nail the elements that really matter, namely an overall enjoyable experience that keeps you coming back. A few hours is the most you'll be likely to spend on UMK DS, as any more than that could be as painful as some the fatalities you'll unleash on your opponents.
Visuals: 6
Audio: 6
Gameplay: 5
Replay Value: 4
OVERALL: 5