Get over here! MK is back and bloodier than ever
Format: PS3, Xbox 360 (version played) Dev: NetherRealm Studios Pub: Warner Bros. Out: 21/04/11 Players: 1-4, 2-8 online
This is the moment many fighting fans and gamers alike have been waiting for. The ninth and newest instalment of a brutal series is on shelves now. Of course, it can only be the iconic Mortal Kombat!
The series history dates back nearly twenty years – better left untouched you might think, but where would be the fun in that? The story opens after the events of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon where all the fighters’ corpses are littered on the battleground with vultures pecking at a once in a blue moon meal, with only veteran combatants Raiden and Shao Kahn fighting for the defence of Earth realm. As Shao Kahn is about to deliver the final blow to end Raiden’s days, he casts a spell to communicate with his past self to alter the tournament’s history in an attempt to save Earth realm.
From the outset, there is an instant distinction between this and all its predecessors. The developers have reinvented the graphics by keeping the popular 2D planes but polishing them off with 3D fighters. So if anyone asks, I guess you could say it’s a 2.5D game. The moves are slick and along with its cartoonish nature, I think a mix of 2D and 3D was definitely the right choice by the developers as it creates a unique on-screen presence which highlights the actions of the characters.
You could say this is the Justice League of the gaming world as the story is more in depth than ever before. There are very little loading screens between fights, which means less toilet and snack breaks, and more beat-’em-up action. The cutscenes really do drive the plot forward and you begin to create a rapport with the characters you play as, through its richness and story detail. This could be one of 27 playable characters which you have at your fingertips (three unplayable bosses), which are primarily drawn from the first three Mortal Kombat games.
Unlike other instalments in the series, there are four attack buttons, each representing a limb. A newly introduced ‘super meter’, which can be charged up by landing hits on your opponent, and the combo meter, which eventually leads up to a special x-ray move, cinematically shown with slow-motion action and x- ray vision, as organs and bones shattered after delivering a crushing combo. Gruesome, but effective. Don’t worry if you’re new to the series, as there’s an intensive training introduction which sets you on your path to becoming a deadly combatant.
Aside from the deep storyline, you have the options of testing your skills on the arcade modes where you can go co-op with a friend and pull off some eye-watering tag combos. If you’re the lonely type, you can enter Challenge Tower, which brandishes a variety of 300 challenges, and upon completion you’ll receive a major reward.
Best of all, Mortal Kombat signs off with its signature piece and fan favourite. Fatalities are back, and with the new stomach-turning detail, it’s as if it now garners a ballroom gown, as they look simply breathtaking and all too realistic. The brutality really does show. If you’re still sat there thinking: “this isn’t enough violence for me,” I’ve got one thing to say to you. Not even serial killers spill this many pints of blood.
Aaron Stevens
Tags: fighting, mortal kombat, multiplayer, warner bros
