Mortal Kombat

This has been long waited for, a Mortal Kombat game that finally goes back to it's old roots to what made Mortal Kombat one of the best beat'em up games ever created; well... the time has come!

Hmm well where do I begin...

Story Mode:
The story of Mortal Kombat begins from the ending of Mortal Kombat Armageddon (PS2), where everyone apart from Shao-Khan & Raiden have been completed annihilated, during this last battle Raiden is clearly overwhelmed and starts to chant a spell which would send a warning message to his past-tense self to try to alter the outcome.

In story mode there are 16 chapters you have to battle out with various classic characters while it rewrites the entire Mortal Kombat story, this mode is packed with a great story-line that will keep you hooked up to the very end and of course some very challenging matches to face; this mode will make you a better player as the battles can get harder and harder, it did take me a while to complete but in the end I did it and my god did I enjoy it.

Arcade Ladder Mode:
If you've played MK before then you will know EXACTLY what this is, but for those who don't well basically you have a ladder which you climb up where you battle different combatants, as you go up the difficulty gets slightly harder from the difficulty you chose which makes it more challenging and fun, until you reach the top where you have to beat the evil emperor 'Shao Kahn', upon beating this evil enemy, you will unlock an ending to the character chosen and an alternate costume!
(To use the new costumes, you must go to the 'Nekropolis' in the 'Extras' menu and click on the character you just completed the arcade with, you will then get a message saying you have unlocked a new alt costume; when selecting your fighter, press start instead of 'X' to choose which costume you want to use!)

There are however different kinds of ladders within this game which I thought was fantastic:
* 1 vs 1 Ladder; You pick one person to versus against the computer who plays as one character.
* 2 vs 2 Ladder; This is a tag team ladder which is great fun and challenging, you get to pick two characters to play as to versus the computer who also has two players, although don'y think that when you get to the boss you will be able to steam-roll them, their life bar takes less damage when hitting them!
* 2 player 2 vs 2 Ladder!; Yep that's right, you and one of your mates can play together against the computer! Me and my friend had a lot of fun with this mode!

Then you have other modes like the challenge tower which has 300 challenges for you to complete ranging from simple versus matches, too 2 versus 2 or even a handicap match where you have one character that needs to defeat two or more! This tower is extremely fun and will take some time to complete, you can retake challenges you've already done if you want to do them again.

Test your luck is a great addition to have to the game where you mix up the gameplay a bit, the feels could go in your favour and give you extra damage bonuses, or it could go the opposite and flip the screen upside down or randomly darken the screen so you can't see what you're doing, this mode was indeed very enjoyable!

Doing all these modes will get you Koins where you can spend them at the Krypt to unlock special concept arts, soundtracks, and secret fatalities + more.

If you are struggling with moves or fatalities, then why not head over to the training mode where you can try out some combo's on a dummy character, or why not try the all new fatality trainer where it will show you where to stand and what commands to put in, so next time when you beat someone with your favourite character, you can finish them properly!

Now I should really talk about the actual gameplay; personally I thought it really felt like a Mortal Kombat game, it's finally back to the old 2D-plane fighting style it should of always stayed at. Characters have their own uniqueness to them, some do feel over-powered at times, however once you've played with/against them for awhile you will start to realise they are actually pretty balanced and have their weaknesses for example:
Scorpion is a moderate speed fighter with teleport attacks, he's really good when you catch people off-guard.
Johnny Cage on the other hand has no teleport attacks and can seem vulnerable at times, however his attacks are extremely fast and very offensive.
Kabal is one of the fastest moving characters but lacks in offensive moves and teleports, use his speed to your advantage!

Characters have their own unique little combo's you can use, which don't seem that long (3 - 4 commands) however these if done correctly can follow up into a special move where you can sometimes lead them into another combo, after some practice you'll get the hand of these no time.

You also have a special meter where you can enhance you special moves to make them more powerful or effective (ie; scorpions throws two spears instead of one), this does take up one bar so keep that in mind when saving up for an X-Ray.

X-Ray moves are a new addition to the Mortal Kombat franchise, these are powerful moves that can do a lot of damage, link them at the end of a combo for some devastating results! Some people may think these are over powered, however if you misuse these attacks you are not only left with an empty special bar, but you will be left very vulnerable for a short period of time, so use wisely!

Overall, it's a fantastic game that really feels like what Mortal Kombat should have always been like, so it gets top marks from me!

Well, JapanMan's review sums it all up nicely but I just wanted to add my thoughts on the game anyway.
I was a Mortal Kombat fan back in the early 90s from 1 through to Trilogy but never liked the rest...Until now.

The game feels very much like those original MK games, only without the Broken movies, and Cheap AI tactics of pre-empting your button presses.
On the whole, it's a very balanced fighter and of the 20+ characters i feel they each have their uses and none of greatly over-powered. Some are easier to use than others but once you get the buttons down they are all pretty close.
I also really like the choice of characters. With over 60 to pick from I feel they chose all of the best, and main characters. I'm particularly happy they did add Smoke, as he was always my favourite. Worth noting too that, unlike the originals each character really has their own playing style and move list unlike in the originals were Reptile was basically just a green Sub-Zero. Here, all the main ninjas are in (except Rain) but are all very unique.

This game is very violent, although you do unlock the option to turn the blood and gore off if you wish.

Story Mode is a very nice addition and is a lot deeper and more expansive than I expected. I'd estimate it could be about 6-8 hours long depending on how good you are. Not bad for a fighting game!

4 player offline tag matches are great fun if you have some friends around, or just stick to 2v2 against the Ai or 1v1 etc.
There are a lot of game modes on offer, and a load of extra content to unlock in the Krypt.
Again, this is all more than I expected.

The beauty of this is that these things are all in addition to the actual fighting mechanics being brilliant, rather than fancy features on a poor game.

The attention to detail in the backgrounds and stages is as good as it comes. The subway level for instance has trains passing by and above you which sends paper flying across the screen and if you have surround sound on it can get quite immersive.
The stages themselves are mostly the old classic ones with some extras. It's a good idea to play through story mode 1st and you'll see where each stage fits in to the plot.

1 thing I always loved about MK is the depth in the characters Bios and back stories, all of which is on display here and even played out in hours of cut scenes which are brilliantly done.

The X-Ray attacks are a nice touch, although learning not to use them is the best way to save for multiple powerful attacks or combo breaking etc. But if you have it ready and you're opponent is nearing death it's a nice way to finish them off!
Fatalaties are possibly the most brutal I've seen too - helped of course by the brilliant graphics.

Also, 3 of my friends pre-ordered this game just from the demo and neither were MK fans and all think the full game is great. The demo does it no justice really, as always.

This is the best fighting game I've ever played and as high as my expectations of it were from numerous footage and the demo, it has surpassed them all considerably.

For years fans of the original mortal kombat games have asked for that old school gaming fun but with up to date graphics and a few new additions, well the fans got what they wanted. This game goes back to the 2D fighting system and the fatalities make a welcome return as well as a couple of new fighting techniques to add a lot of strategy.
This game is full of different modes and extra unlockable content to keep you coming back and decapitating you're friends again and again.

There are three main single player modes, story, challenge tower and ladder mode.
Story mode starts with a cutscene from the end of mortal kombat Armageddon as Raiden is about to be killed by Shao khan, just before Shaokhan finishes him off Raiden sends a message back in time to his past self telling him that the event leading up should be changed. So you then begin the story mode at the first Mortal Kombat tournament and you play through all the events of The first 3 mortal kombat games.
You play through the story cycling through a large number of characters in the MK roster, throughout the story you will play as 16 out of the 27 different characters but you do not choose them, which is good as you get to spend time with a lot of the playable characters but as soon as you get familiar with one you get moved onto the next.
My only problem with the story mode is the number of times where you will be put into a fight where it is you against 2 opponents. If they defeat you once then they win the round but you must defeat both of them to win and they can swap around as many times as they like, although as much as it annoys me it is extremely satisfying when I beat them.

The second single player mode is challenge tower, you are put in a fight with a pre-set character and opponent and are given specific instruction to win such as; no blocking, you only Have legs or survive for 60 seconds without take any damage.

The other main single player mode is ladder, players of the previous MK fans will know this; you must 9 opponents one after another to be able to fight Shao Khan and become MK champion. This mode has a lot of replay value, some characters have hidden fights that will not be unlocked with other characters and there are characters specific unlocks when you win the tournament giving you reason to play through ladder mode with every playable fighter.
There are 3 types of ladder mode: 1 VS 1, 2 VS 2 or 2 players VS 2
2 players VS 2 is by far the most enjoyable as it allows you and a friend to take on the computer.

With each fight that you win you are given currency which can be spent in the Krypt, this is a store like area where you spend your currency on new outfits, music and notes that the game developers made.

Like I said previously this game has a lot of new features, the best new feature in my opinion is the new X-ray moves. You are given a meter in every fight and as you give and take damage this meter will fill up. There are 3 levels to this meter, at level 1 you can spend it on increasing the damage of a normal attack, level 2 means you can stop your opponents combo at any time and level 3 allows you to perform an X-ray attacks; a series of moves that when performed are shown like an X- ray photo and you can see the body parts break as the attack if performed. Be careful though once you use any of these your meter goes back to being empty and you must fill it up again.

This game is not a flawless victory though, as you would expect from a MK game there are some characters that are overpowered and some that feel very weak. Characters like scorpion, Noob, Shang Tsung and Quan Chi are extremely frustrating to fight and when you play as them you feel like you can't be touched but that is how mortal kombat will always be.
While fatalities are back they don't feel satisfying to pull of, I remember playing the originals and when someone did a fatality it was a huge achievement and they were praised for it, now it feels too easy. The fatalities aren't that shocking as well, the vast majority of fatalities are beheadings, to me seeing someone having their head kicked off and then seeing their head being pulled off isn't shocking anymore but maybe that is because people have become desensitised to this kind of stuff.

Overall this is a game that fans of the original Mortal Kombat games will praise highly and people new to the games will not feel lost as the story caters to them.