It has begun once again where Earth’s mighty warriors must stop a great evil from ruling and to prevent a future foretold. If it was your soul on the line, would you be willing to throwdown with the forces of evil to stop your world from true damnation? I hope you are prepared to protect Earth from Shang Tsung and the deadly Emperor Shao Khan with his legion of adversaries! I welcome you to Mortal Kombat!

This revamped version of Mortal Kombat starts off with everyone dead and the only one left alive is Raiden, who is being tossed around by Shao Khan. It would seem that Earth realm failed and all hope is lost until Raiden sends images of the future to his past self as a warning of things to come. The approach by the creators of revamping the story with a “second chance time paradox” move is a bit risky but it actually made sense. I understand it was their way to retell the story and give more insight on a lot of characters especially introducing the human forms of Smoke, Cyrax, and Sektor. The game’s story mode goes through certain characters story in different chapters.  For example you start Chapter One as Johnny Cage and move through the story as him until you need to move onto another part of the story and switch to another character. This way of storytelling is a total improvement from past MK titles.

There are many different categories of gameplay; Fight Mode, Story Mode, Challenge Tower, Training, Multiplayer, and Extras. A new feature “Test Your Strike” (under the Challenge Tower and Fight mode) is a game where you have to break certain blocks and if successfully done you will be awarded coins. The down side is you have to beat specific modes in the Challenge Tower to unlock more test modes. The Challenge Tower is great and it is exactly what it says it is, each level is a different challenge with a different character, challenge, or skill tested. The Test Your Luck mode uses a slot machine that starts up at the beginning of the match. A player spins the slot machine where random perks/handicaps are selected. This feature alters the gameplay and once selected the players just go at it!

The fight mechanics in this game are totally revamped as they should be.  The fight mechanics of Mortal Kombat has evolved since Mortal Kombat 3. I am glad that they kept it for this long and it has been improved with great chain attacks and a decent juggle system that is not over powered. The newest feature is the 3-level “special” meter at the bottom of the screen. The first level enhances your powers, second level gives you a combo breaker and the last feature allows you to do an X-ray move. The X-ray move is a new and welcomed addition to the MK fight mechanic and brings a whole new look and feel to the fight as you pound on your opponent. The body damage animation is a great. Seeing your character and your opponent deal a lot of damage onto one another and seeing the results with cuts, ripped clothes and blood flowing out of wounds is much appreciated.

The creepiest and coolest locations are the Krypt and Nekropolis. These two areas are where the game unlockables will be acquired. The Nekropolis holds all the character bios, stats and also viewable 3D modesl of each character as well as their damage models. The Krypt is creepy since they chose to go with graves and have items bursting out of bodies as well as having bodies being tortured to death to unleash other unlocks. It is creepy but the rewards from the stages are worth going through Fight mode.

The multiplayer has been revamped with a new spectator mode. The Xbox 360 version, allows you and a group of other people to have their Avatars watching the match in a stadium. The avatars will be able to move freely and do cheers or haggle the characters fighting on the stadium screen. The PS3 feature will have something similar but using pre-made avatars of MK characters. Another of the party mode is called King of the Hill, this mode brings back the old school arcade feel. I found it cool that it runs at sixty frames per second, fully rendered animation and with no lag during multiplayer.

I have to say honestly after playing for more than 6 hours and still not half way done there is not much I can see wrong with the game. If I had anything negative to say about the game it would have to be the story mode. It does not give you a choice to follow only one character, it is extremely linear and it switches up between different fighters in each chapter. On the positive side I like it because the linear story does make it feel like I am in a Mortal Kombat movie. Another small gripe is that the arcade stick that comes with the special edition is a bit weird but that is a about it.

I am going to say that this game is a sure “BUY”! It has been a while since we had a decent Mortal Kombat game and I have to state with much appreciation that they really listened to the fan outcries. The storyline fits well within the new MK universe and with all the replay value this is a fighting game you will not be disappointed with. The game will be released this Tuesday on the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. The European version will be released later on April 21st. Thank you all for stopping and I hope to see you on the battlefield when the game releases!

Features:
Players: 1 – 2 player local and online
ESRB: Rated M for Mature
Genre: Fighting
Engine: Unreal Engine 3
Developer: NetherRealm Studios
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment