Well, let me start by saying that I'm having fun typing this with basically one hand. I'm having some issues with one of the fingers on my left hand, so I taped two of them together. But then, G4 is running a marathon of Ninja Warrior, so I'm still happy.
Anyway, I just wanted to throw a few things out. I'm sure we're all aware of the PSN problems by now. Sony is at last trying to make good. Too little too late? We will see. At least the Department of Homeland Security is looking into the breach now. Phew! I feel a lot better now.
On to brass tacks...
The biggest reason I'm writing this is a little game called Mortal Kombat. Long story short, if you have any fond memories of Mortal Kombat from your childhood, you should play this game. This iteration of the series, or reboot as they've called it, is basically the model of how a game series gets back to it's roots while still updating to make itself modern.
MK was hugely successful when it was on a 2D plane. When the N64 debuted, nearly every 2D game franchise was trying to move to the 3D space. MK had some success there, but it never really appealed to me so I got out of it. Moving to 3D fighting took away from the core frenetic gameplay that I had come to enjoy at that point. However, the new reboot brings that back in all of its glory and it is beautiful.
Because of my typing handicap, I will keep this brief. As I stated, the new Mortal Kombat is what a franchise reboot should be. It returns to the core of what made Mortal Kombat a sensation in the 90's while cutting out a lot of the crap (or Krap, in this case). The graphics are gorgeous (until you get really close), and the new X-Ray attacks are so satisfying. The story mode is fun and epic, though some of the writing and voice acting is a bit questionable. I haven't played online just yet, but I'm sure it's a blast. Ultimately, Mortal Kombat returns to what made it popular but still kept a lot of modern conventions like online play, 3D models and tag teams.
If you love fighting games, Mortal Kombat in particular, or just like to see people beat the living Krap out of each other, then go out and at the VERY least rent this game. You won't be disappointed.
The official Atomic Gnome score: 8.75/10
And for the record, Johnny Cage may be a "weapons-grade retard" but for some reason I can play him pretty well. So, he may be my go-to guy. Just saying.
Okay, I'll bite... what made Mortal Kombat so popular in the first place? What did it do (or not do) that was so successful while countless competing games failed?
ReplyDeleteMK was definitely not my cup of tea. Just sticking to fighting games, I preferred Street Fighter II to MK, Cyborg Justice to SF2, and all of them only served the ends of distracting me from my first love, Toejam & Earl.