Mortal Kombat. It was one of the original fighting games that helped define the genre. Whether you think it sucks or not, there's no denying that. Armageddon, released on the Xbox, PS2, then the Wii a year later, appeared to be the end of the beloved franchise. Here to turn the franchise around is the new Mortal Kombat.
             

Mortal Kombat. It was one of the original fighting games that helped define the genre. Whether you think it sucks or not, there's no denying that. Armageddon, released on the Xbox, PS2, then the Wii a year later, appeared to be the end of the beloved franchise. Here to turn the franchise around is the new Mortal Kombat.


Story:

The new Mortal Kombat is a continuation of Armageddon. The game kicks off at the end of Armageddon. Shao Kahn defeated Blaze, a god with infinite power. Blaze's power transferred to Shao Kahn, thus making him more powerful than anyone - or anything - else in the games universe. Raiden, being Earthrealms last defender, takes on Shao Kahn. Being brutally defeated, Raiden sends messages to his past self. Small snipets of the future, along with a powerful message - "He must win." This move effectively takes the series back to the beginning, with Raiden trying to make sense out of these visions.


Gameplay:

This installment features one of the most balanced roasters I've seen in a fighting game. That said, some characters are better than others, but it is, without a doubt, one of the most balanced roasters I've seen. That said, I've only played a few fighting games. You have fan favorites such as Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Ermac and Raiden.
Each character has their own unique fighting style. Characters still fall into the basic groups, such as ranged, grappler, rushdown, turtle, etc.. This game is NOT like Street Fighter, the other fight game I play. The game does not encourage you to constantly use your specials, but rather use them frequently. You need to combo, either using the basic combos in the move list, or going to an online site like testyourmight.com.
There are a few basic types of attack. You have forward punch, back punch, forward kick, and back kick. There's also a grab button, which does 12% of damage. Grabs break through guards, but they can be cancelled fairly easily by just pressing an attack button. There's also block, a tag button (for tag combat, which switches in your partner), and a button to change your stance from facing away from the screen to towards. I kid you not, there's a button for that.
On top of that, there's a new thing called a special meter. It has 3 segments that fill up as you get beat down, as you perform specials, or as you do melee attacks to guarding enemies. At segment 1, you can use an enhanced attack. You do a special attack, but it's more powerful and may have different properties. With 2 segments, you can use a breaker. Basically, you can break out of a combo with this by holding the block button and a direction on the d-pad/stick. Last but not least, with 3 segments, you can perform your ultimate attack. It's called an X-Ray attack. If it hits, it does 33% of damage. It involves your character dealing multiple attacks where, after each attack, it shows the bones of your enemy breaking.

Bad things:

Just like with all fighting games, people can be cheap and unfair. Example - Sheeva, a female Shokan (think Goro), has the ability to jump straight up in the air and appear above you, instantly dealing a decent deal of damage. You can't block it. People will spam it to win.
As for story, I only have one complaint -

All-in-all, I give Mortal Kombat a 9.25 out of 10. It's a great game with minor flaws. It's easy to play, regardless of whether you use an arcade stick or not. If you do get an arcade stick to play MK with, I'd recommend the ones made by PDP. It costs 130USD (US dollars), and, if you're going to invest a large amount of time into this game, I would recommend it. It comes with the joystick and buttons that were used in the Mortal Kombat arcade cabinets back in the day. The buttons are in an X-format, which is great for this game, as block is the center button. Believe me when I say that blocking is important. You could also wait until August 31st and get the Klassic Arcade Stick, which looks exactly like the MK1 arcade controls and comes with a download code for the Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection that includes MK1, 2, and Ultimate MK3.
This has been a review by Rasenganfan2, better known as Rasen. https://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/thread.php?id=27397&page=0

Very good review. I've been eager to get this game since I am a fan of Mortal Kombat, but alas, I haz no money. Once I do get it, I will kick major ass at it.

vizwiz123 : Heh, I'm sure. Are you getting the 360 version by chance? I would love to fight you, assuming you have a mic.

Rasenganfan2 : My Xbox 360 broke, so I'll have to get the PS3 version.

 Sad panda is sad.

Well yeah, Sheeva's jump-stomp move can be a pain, but its always gonna try to home in on you, so the best thing to do is to move further away from her as soon as she goes up. Learned that fighting Goro and Kintaro in story mode.

But yeah, the review is pretty good

I love that game though I have one question to ask you... Why do you have a link to this thread at the bottom of your review? Lol cause we are already there...