WeView: Mortal Kombat

Cards on the table here, I adore the Mortal Kombat series as a whole. Sure, it’s had its issues over the years but it’s one of only two series that have stuck with me since my early days of gaming on the Master System, the other being Sonic. Everything else seems to have faded away (although if someone made a new California Games I’d be over the moon), but not Ed Boon’s baby, it’s always had enough of a fanbase to keep going.

I was a little nervous when it was announced that Mortal Kombat would be rebooting with the ninth title in the series, this often seems like a last ditch effort to keep a franchise’s head above water. Fortunately NetherRealm proved me completely wrong, and 2011’s Mortal Kombat really is fantastic. Not only does the fighting still feel a little silly and very distinctly Mortal Kombat, but the game’s story mode is head and shoulders above the rest of the fighting genre.

Of course I can’t talk about a fighting game without throwing in a word from our resident expert, Isaac. Fortunately he wrote our review, where he gave the game a more than respectable 9/10. Here’s just a taste of what he had to say:

Mortal Kombat brings new life to an old franchise that has been around for nearly two decades. The gameplay is by far the best in the series, the visuals are as detailed and gory as ever, and the presentation is second to none. This game changes the way we look at fighting games from a single player perspective. It’s proof that the fighting game genre can have an engaging story that’s well thought out and worthwhile. There is no reason to accept halfhearted, non-existent efforts anymore. The developers of other fighting franchises will need to step up their game just to match what Mortal Kombat has to offer. If it wasn’t for the inconsistent netcode, this would have been a flawless victory.

So that’s what we had to say about the game, now it’s time to throw open the gates and hear what you think of it. Remember, we’ve moved away from the forum system for the moment. If you feel like taking part just drop your thoughts in the comments below.

Once you’ve got your opinion written up remember to rate it on the Buy It, Bargain Bin It, Rent It, Avoid It scale so that we can gather them all up, do a bit of counting and give you the communities verdict on Mortal Kombat. As always the deadline’s Sunday afternoon if you want to have your opinion included in the Verdict post on Monday.

Thanks to Dan Lee and ElPablo79 for suggesting this game to me on Twitter.

17 Comments

  1. Still need to get this game! Hopefully a ‘complete’ edition will come out soon with all the DLC.

    • If there is one I might have to wait for it too, but then SoulCaliber looks good too!

    • I don’t think it’s worth them doing a ‘complete’ edition if i am honest, as the only DLC i can recall is a few additonal characters (4 or 5?).

      The fact is that they can probably make more money with people picking up the standard edition & picking up additional characters if they feel like it, than if they put money into creating a ‘complete’ edition where the only change is a few more characters.

      & don’t forget that they can gain additional revenue if someone picks it up pre-owned too, as the game has an online pass.

      I could be wrong of course, but i don’t think that we’ll see a complete edition.

  2. After the series losing its way a bit the latest Mortal Kombat was a great return to what made the series great. No unneccessary gimmicks, just an old school 2d brawler in a 3d view. The story reboot was also well done and I look forward to the next installment.

  3. I rented the game and found it to be a welcome return to the franhcise roots. Excellent fun if you have a pal to play with but I did hit a brick wall in the single player campaign when they started firing two fighters at you per match. RENT!

  4. Right let’s see…..
    BUY IT
    ’nuff said

    Mortal Kombat is back and the characters are fantastic. I love it and the arcade was fun to see every characters ending. The Challenge Tower awesome and quite hard but I will nail it (eventually) The best thing about fighting online, if they spam moves you can counter attack. Every character has the abality to counter attack. X-Ray Vision was cool a nice new touch in the game which is fresh. The Fatalities are back loving it. Bloody and gory what more could you want!!!

    Please if you do decide to buy it (You should) join the Mortal Kombat King of the Hill Meets which will be a weekly meet very soon (starting next week =P)
    I will show you all my awesome skill moves which will end as FLAWLESS VICTORY.

    *puts on Scorpion costume, throws spear towards the MK9 game of the shelf*
    BUY IT!

  5. Had never played a Mortal Kombat game before. Was interested by the hype around this and so decided to try out the demo. I really enjoyed it and found it really easy and fun to play considering I was not a fan of fighting games and usually did not get on with them.

    I decided to buy the game to play the ful thing and had so much fun with it. The story mode was exciting and interesting and kept me entertained and wanting to go back to it.

    the other modes are great fun as well and give you something to do that it is a little bit different.
    unfortunately I have neglected the game and moved in before I got everything out of it that I wanted so it is definitely a game I would go back to and enjoy al over again.

    Most definitely a Buy It from me.

  6. I bought it, it was the first time i ever bought a fighting game (excluding the WWE games – go on, laugh). stupidly, i bought it because the fatalities and special moves looked amazing, so when it came to playing it, i was terrible. i finished the story mode on medium, but never went back to it. If i could turn back time, i would RENT it.

  7. Was there a need for a reboot of the MK franchise? I was a big fan of the old Mortal Kombat games, they were brilliant, with a bit of comedy. A gory, brilliant, actually quite funny franchise. Then, NetherRealm announced the reboot. The gameplay had the fresh, fast feel of the originals. I 100% give this a BUY IT! Prepare for some awesome memories, and a whole lot of reminiscence!

    • “Was there a need for a reboot of the MK franchise?”

      Indeed there was – The last few before this one were awful.

  8. Mortal Kombat is the kind of game that appeals to the Homer Simpson in all of us. If watching a man being punched in the crotch makes you titter like a schoolgirl, then this takes things to then next logical step by tearing him in half afterwards. Both disgusting and hilarious, with tight controls and a hefty singleplayer portion, it is well worth a BUY IT.

  9. With MK looking at the Street Fighter revamp for inspiration, I had high hopes. After being pretty swish at all previous Kombat outings I expected a similar fluid style. To me it feels wooden and slightly forced. But persist and it starts to come good. It has to be judged on its own merit and its only when you see it for what it is, when you begin to appreciate the work put in. Not for the faint hearted but a great game all the same. Shouldt cost more than a twenty now whether preowned or not. BUY IT.

  10. Having played the original Mortal Kombats along with some of the ones on PS2 and also MK vs DC, this is most definitely my joint favourite with Mortal Kombat 3 (which I just plain loved on my old Megadrive). Admittedly when I tried the demo it just didn’t click with me but after reading some positive word on this site, and a bargain £20 price some time back, I took the plunge. It turns out to be a surprisingly deep fighter with a lot of gaming options too. I agree with Tuffcub, to get the best out of this, it is an experience best shared with a friend. Single player is good enough, a decent enough story mode, the tower mode is typical Mortal Kombat although the challenge mode provides a lot of fun (and challenge, unsurprisingly). Multiplayer wise, you can have up to four people playing, doing a tag team style fight which works well. The 2 player modes have provided the most fun as you can tackle both the usual one on one fights or even tower mode. The best addition is the Test Your Luck mode were you can have between 3 and 7 fruit machine style reels spin and select game altering effects. One of you may have increased strength, can’t use specials, even no-armed kombat (see what I did there?!. There’s loads of variety, plenty of fighters, loads to unlock which all wraps around a deep fighting game. BUY IT

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