As a personal fan of the series, I've been following NetherRealm's reboot of the Mortal Kombat franchise. The latest entries have been a little strange to say the least; 3D in particular hasn't been very kind to the series. In fact, I've barely even bothered to play any entry since Mortal Kombat 3. I'm not saying all of them have been bad, but they're just not what made Mortal Kombat so great (and kontroversial) that I wanted to play it for hours on end.
Thankfully, the reboot brings Mortal Kombat back to where it all began, as a solid 2D fighter with memorable karacters doing horrific, gruesome things to each other. Gameplay appears solid, adding more of what we love (like more fatalities, enhanced moves, bone shattering X-Ray attackes, tag team, etc.) and kreative new game modes that actually fit with the game's style offer a ton of reason to keep koming back for more. For example, the Challenge Tower offers a mind boggling 300 challenges to komplete, while the "Test Your Luck" mode adds modifiers to your match with sometimes hilarious results.
PS3 definitely has the upper hand here. Not only do they get God of War's Kratos as a playable karacter (awesome!), but they also get stereoscopic 3D support. If you have a 3DTV, there's no komparison; go for the PS3 version over the XBOX 360 if you have both konsoles. Just recently they've brought Mortal Kombat to the Playstation Vita, so if you'd prefer your Kombat fix on the go, it's a near perfect port for the mobile space.
Video game kritics around the web are getting their reviews out. Let's see what they had to say...
Reviews around the web
"... Mortal Kombat is a great game. It’s not the most polished fighter out there, but it has a distinct flavor and it’ll be a hit at gamer get-togethers. I’ll leave you with some friendly advice: show your friends Noob Saibot’s default Fatality. It’s amazing." - Ryan Clements, IGN
"This is the best Mortal Kombat yet. It didn’t blow my mind to the degree that Mortal Kombat 2 and 3 did back in the day, but when it comes down to the gameplay and longevity tied to it, this new entry towers above its 2D lineage." - Andrew Reiner, Game Informer
"To put it simply, Mortal Kombat represents 19 years of history distilled in a disk. If you are looking to replicate the gaming experience of the original – without having to put up with its 8-bit graphics – this is the closest you can get, without actually playing it." - Jack Dowling, Shadowlocked
"All in all, Mortal Kombat has achieved something that I never thought I'd see in my lifetime: a fighting game that has more than enough single player content to keep casual players involved, with a gameplay system that can satisfy even the most hardcore fighting game fans. NetherRealm Studios' dedication and attention to detail on all fronts shows that they are much more in tune with what gamers look for when purchasing a new game more so than any other fighting game developer out there." - Neidel Crisan, 1UP
"With all that content, an in-depth Story mode, and a wide range of modes to play through, Mortal Kombat is one of the most complete fighting games around--not to mention one of the bloodiest. " - Gamespot
"Take the camp of the original, stir in modern technology and a pinch of self-awareness, and you have the videogame equivalent of a grindhouse matinée." - Kill Screen Daily
