Guess who?
All of the characters from those early MK games return, in a roster some 27 strong - make that 28 if you happen to have purchased the PS3 version featuring God of War’s Kratos as a bonus character. Each has his or her signature special moves as a matter of course, but also additional combos unique to this version. Then there are the brand new ‘X-ray’ moves which deal out massive damage in classically over-the-top fashion, but more on those later.
Going out in drag
After a few practice fights, just to see if Scorpion still says “Get over here!”, the guy who yells “Toasty” after an uppercut still sporadically appears and those fatalities are as unflinchingly gruesome as ever - they are - I opted for the story mode, the genre not exactly being renowned for its storytelling after all.
Happily, NetherRealm, the studio formerly known as Midway Games Chicago, has created what is essentially an interactive movie, the entire canon of Mortal Kombat’s original three games told over 16 chapters, each chapter dedicated to a particular character. Sure, it’s as hammy as anything produced for cinemas under the franchises’ name, but it’s not without its charms and the new visual engine depicts all those classic backdrops superbly.
Say, 'freeze'
Series stalwarts might also be pleased to learn that the narrative isn’t quite a regurgitation of past games either, rather featuring an alternative timeline in which – upon learning of Earthrealm’s impending defeat – Raiden looks to change the future. For fans, the moments of note don’t end there either: you’ll see warriors Cryax and Sektor in human form – before their transformation into cyber ninjas – and the origins of Kabal, for example.
Next page: The special one
COMMENTS
"Someone just watched the royal wedding coverage"
This gem posted only on page 4!
Someone just watched the royal wedding coverage
That was priceless.
sidestepping
I'm sure you were (are?) able to do this in Tekken.
Havnt played it in a few years, so i may be mistaken. One of the things that annoyed me was that the game could descend into a circling match.
Strafing?
Actually, they've tried it several times.
Mortal Kombat 3 was the first attempt, along with I believe the early Soul Edge games.
It didn't end well.
Unfortunately what makes for more realism in terms of combat makes for pretty crap gameplay.
Half the delight is watching someone unleash the 500 hit Mega Combo of Doom!, but if the opponent can simply sidestep and watch it explode past them, then kick them in the back, well.
Also, it tends to be really hard to do two player 3D properly. For single player, you can put the camera behind the player, so you plan attacks over the shoulder and can line things up right. For two players on one screen though, the camera has to be purely side on to keep things even, and that makes judging depth really hard, especially for joe average.
@JDX
Yeah, that gets me too. When I was doing karate, I started with shotokan. But my last instructor (before I quit due to lack of free time) changed from pure shotokan to a goju-influenced version (called seijenkai, from a top bloke called Harry Cook) which very much focussed on getting off the line. So you don't go backwards and block, you get the hell out of the way and strike.
For fighting games where many characters' special moves involve a straightforward charge, the ability to sidestep would be a major innovation in the genre. I'm amazed that no-one has added this yet, considering it's been in FPSes for at least 15 years. ISTR Descent was the first game to add this, before iD added it to the original Doom engine for Heretic/Hexen.
