Mortal Kombat - A long wait, and still waiting...

Hey friend,

So the reviews are in, and supposedly Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment managed to pull Mortal Kombat back to a respectable fighter.  The demo was promising, I was glad it was brought back to the 2D Fighter genre, as 3D has not been kind to the franchise.  Gone are the stance-dancing and weapon-swaps, the multi-tier stages and the slide-show presentation.

Instead, we have a game that seems to balance the idea of being a competitive e-sport style fighter, mixed in with one of the better told (Not necessarily written) stories among fighting games, a small mix of mini-games, a long series of challenges, a free-flowing combo system, and of course, the gore.

I have been debating if I should pick this game up.  Mortal Kombat's reboot seems to be going on with a full head of steam, and considering the large selection of fighters which I believe are from the first three installments, there are several characters I would love a second chance at.

So why am I so hesitant to pick it up?

Well, quite frankly, I'm having a hard time seeing Mortal Kombat as much more than a spectacle generator.  Don't get me wrong, there are loads of games that have tried to do what Mortal Kombat has made a reputation on, and not half as well, but MK hasn't managed to convince me that it is worth full price.

A simple example of this is the Krypt unlocks.  It seems simply to be a way to extend the hours you would play to get your coins just to get new costumes, concept art, fatalities, etc.  It's artificially extending it's own life by throwing in a grinding process to gain more content, but it's not a reward for it, it seems more like a system designed to make you jump through hoops at nausium.

I guess the reality is, does the X-Rays of shattered bones and punctured arteries, the fatalities of decapitations after decapitations, and the dismemberments that all resort in the same limbs being cut in the same way with the same goofy stumps really add up to being worth that full retail price?

When I was a kid, I would have said 'Fuck Yeah!'.  As an adult, I really cant say it is.  Portal 2 is out, LA Noir is just on the horizon, and we're waiting for big news from Nintendo at E3.

Then again, every time I walk by game rack at my retailer, I can hear that distant call -

"Come 'ere!"  :)

Until next time,

- D-Pad Duke