Your True Opinon On... (#1): Mortal Kombat

[Clonehunter]

Grabble Grabble Hello.

For no paticular reason at all over the course of the next few months or so, or perhaps moreso whenever I feel like it, I will be conducting a series of five or so threads asking for your true gamer opinons on several popular or unpopular game franchises.

Yep. For no reason whatsoever. Just to do it. Because I'm curious. I believe most of us/you here are well rounded gamers correct? Correct me if wrong if you all you have ever played is Doom or whatever.

Anyways, today's *shifts eyes* topic is: MORTAL KOMBAT

If none of you here have ever played an MK game, well, fucking shame on you faggot. Let's not forget that along with Doom, MK was one of those violent games Lieberman was all up in arms about. Besides, what other games featured moves like Kano's infamous Heart Ri Fatality, or Sub-Zero's spine ripper? Who doesn't recognize our yellow ninja friend Scorpion? Let's not forget Raiden, the guy who many times appeared right on the side of the machine! Raiden, god of lightning fingers! MK also for a bit captivated our friends at id most surely. Since the game's debut, many MK titles have been produced, such as a number of direct sequels like Mortal Kombat 2 and 3 and Trilogy, as well as the arena spin-offs like Deception and Armageddon. And then of course the newest Mortal Kombat taking a number of characters from MK 1 through UMK3. There were a few other ones too like Mythologies, Shaolin Knights, the DC Universe Crossover, and the very under-recieved MK: Advance. There was also the PSP title (Which I'm looking for) Unchained. So, opinopns of this bloody franchise?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I have played a number of the MK games, *almost* all of them. I've played all of the originals minus MK3, and I've also played Advance, Deception, and Armageddon (Maybe not *almost* all, but a number of them). I played Mortal Kombat rather recently for PC, mostly as Scorpion, probably one of my favorites next to MK3's Stryker. Classic characters, classic whatever. The digistized actors don't look as good as they do in later games, but good enough. I've played MK2 for both PC and the Arcade version. One key memory I have with MK2 is that it was the first MK game I played. It was in an Arcade, with a friend, and he was buying. We played maybe three matches, I was Johnny Cage, and I just whooped his ass all three times. I just loved it. I still remember winning the rounds and Cage would sit back and fling his glasses on and smile. It was probaby the coolest game I had ever seen up to that point in an Arcade (Well, a ROller Skate rink actually). I haven't been to that place in a while, so I don't know if they still have it or not. I hope they do. More recently I've played the DOS version, as Baraka mostly. I find it hard to use fatalities, and the blood looks kinda wierd (Especially Baraka's slice and dice move as I call it.).

I have not played MK3 yet, or UMK3, but I have played the similar Mortal Kombat Advance, which I also own. It is as difficult as hell, but it is also probably the most addicting and best looking GBA game I have. I just wish I had some friends to play against with. I've been looking for MKT for Playstation, but instead found the glitchy PC verson instead on the internet. Well, it is nice to see all of the characters together like this. The backgrounds are also all really cool and well animated. THe actors and characters also look rather nice. However, similar to MKA, even on the easiest difficulty setting, this game gets really hard, as the other guy starts throwing big combos on you. More recently, I have bought Deception, and so far it's pretty coolo. The over the top blood is hilarious and the new costumes are kinda cool, and the 3D versions of the classic costumes look pretty sweet. However, I'm not especially a uge fan of all the new characters like Kobra and and the rest or the Smoke-Noob combo. Those could've been two seperate guys. Bo Ra Chai is the only interesting New guy in my eyes as well. Armagedden, while it has a all of the characters, and Kreat-A-Fighter, the lack of real Fatalities and the Button Masher performance makes this game a little bland. Many of the new make-ups of characters also just don't look as good as classic incarnations. So, that's what I have too say.

Mortal Kombat (PC) - 8/10
Mortal Kombat II (PC) - 7/10
Mortal Kombat II Arcade - 8/10
Mortal Kombat Trilogy (PC) -6/10
Mortal Kombat Advance - 7/10
Mortal Kombat Deception - 7.5/10
Mortal Kombat Armageddon - 5.5/10

[lupinx-Kassman]

The only mortal kombat game I ever owned was deception. I know it wasn't the best in the series, but I found it pretty fun. Unfortunately, I don't think many people liked it (I had a hard time getting friends to play it with me, yet guitar hero was a cinch...ugh.)

[Du Mhan Yhu]

I liked MK Deception alot to be honest.

[cbronson]

I've played all of the old, classic, original or whatever you may call it, up to MK4, on the SuperNES, MegaDrive and the PSX. Actually, I never even owned a SNES and neither the MD; used to play at my friends' and neighbours'. And the only "unusual" MK I played was that one with Sub-Zero, kind of a platformer, can't remember the name...

I agree, it is a classic game and most gamers will recognize the characters. I think it was innovative and original, despite some people saying otherwise.

Well, bottom line "my true opinion" is (at least for the old games): great games, spent a lot of hours playing, they're totally worth it, and I would buy them again.

[Mithran Denizen]

While the OP is kind of rambling and tl;dr, I've followed the MK series through the years somewhat, and I enjoyed most of the entries. My introduction to the original game was via the Sega Genesis, as I was never much of an arcade guy.

Though I preferred Primal Rage for fighting on that system, Mortal Kombat was fun enough that I eventually bought or rented most of the other games in the series. I never really got into the non-fighting game spin-offs (MK:Sub-Zero, Shaolin Monks, etc.), and some of the games really missed the mark in my opinion (MK4, Deadly Alliance, and MK versus DC, mainly) but Deception is probably my favorite, after the original.

Although I haven't checked out the newest installment, what little I've heard about it has been generally positive.

[Sharessa]

I honestly never liked any fighter games. I was always up against my friends who would memorize all the moves while I had never played so I got my ass handed to me. I ended up learning how to be an expert button masher, but it still felt really unrewarding. Honestly, Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter both seemed rather meh, but technically speaking a lot better than a lot of fighters I played but can't even remember the names of.

I can't remember what MK games I played and how much I liked them, because honestly they all blended together for me. I'm fairly sure I played 1-3, though. I did sort of like the movie.

Fighter games I kind of did like were Killer Instinct because of the combos, campiness and soundtrack; Soul Calibur because it was forgiving to button mashers; Eternal Champions because of the crazy-ass finishing moves and storyline (despite it being harder than all fuck); and One Must Fall because of the customizable robots. Honestly, Smash Bros. is the only fighter game I actually like, because it's easy to figure out moves and there are all sorts of extra stuff to keep it from getting stale.

[Mr. Freeze]

The earlier Mortal Kombat games had a cheesy, crazy appeal to my then-8-year-old self. But from there, the clunky controls, boring new characters, gimmicky modes, and the afterthought story started to wear me out. I stopped playing after Deadly Alliance.

This being said, MK9 is fucking awesome. Easily my favorite game in the series, and I'm very excited over the prospect of the oncoming DLC in a few months or so.

[fraggle]

It's just another beat-em up to me. I'm sure it's great to people who like that genre, but I never really caught the appeal of them myself.

[Technician]

The first three where good, but I feel the rest of the games were a downward spiral of shit.

I'm not big into the fighting franchise.

[Quasar]

The home console ports of MK3 for SNES and Genesis together hold the title for most bug-ridden hackish shitty home ports of an arcade game ever. The kind of shit that both can pull in response to even normal expectable input is utterly remarkable, but especially on the SNES version. Look up some Youtube vids to find out what I mean.

[Clonehunter]

Danarchy said:

Fighter games I kind of did like were Killer Instinct because of the combos, campiness and soundtrack;

I never was able to stomach that game very well. I found the controls a bit clunky and the characters looked kinda uninspired. Velociraptor, Bone soldier from Jason and the Arganouts, The Human Torch, etc...

[geo]

Mortal Kombat (PC) - 4/10 (replayability - 2)
Mortal Kombat II SNES - 8/10 (replayability - 8)
Mortal Kombat II Arcade - 6/10
Mortal Kombat 3 - 8/10 (replayability - 10)
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 - 10/10 (replayability - 10)
Mortal Kombat Trilogy -9.5/10 (replayability - 10)
Mortal Kombat 4 - 9/10 (I like it for some reason) (replayability - 8)
Mortal Kombat Advance - 2/10 (replayability - 0)
Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance - 9/10 (replayability - 10)
Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance GBA - 6/10 (replayability - 4)
Mortal Kombat Tournament GBA - 6/10 (replayability - 4)
Mortal Kombat Deception - 10/10 (replayability - 10)
Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks - 7/10 (replayability - 5)
Mortal Kombat Armageddon - 7.5/10 (replayability - 5)

[Quast]

Mortal Kombat is a shitty fighter game series attempting to continue to suck at the teat of the idea that it became famous because of 'blood' and 'fatalities' in an era where such things were risque. It has had the opportunity to evolve from it's simplistic origins and has failed to do so.

[Clonehunter]

Simplicity is what made it fun. Much like Doom. It's simple, and fun.

But it's your opinion of course.

[Technician]

Quast said:

Mortal Kombat is a shitty fighter game series attempting to continue to suck at the teat of the idea that it became famous because of 'blood' and 'fatalities' in an era where such things were risque. It has had the opportunity to evolve from it's simplistic origins and has failed to do so.

To be fair, the first game, setting aside the gore, was a solid fighting game. I'd take Street Fighter II over it any day, but it was still a solid title.

[Xeros612]

I've played bits and pieces of some of the early MK games (specifically one on the SNES), and I can't say I was too impressed. Maybe I didn't play it enough, or was too set in playing Killer Instinct on the SNES, but it wasn't all that interesting. (Side note: massive lightning/thunder strike just now, shook the whole bloody house.)

Looking at the series now, it seems like just another side scrolling fighter game with lots of blood and gore for shock value and/or "omg gore SO COOL" reaction. It's also got so many bloody sequels I have to wonder why the whole "milking the series dry" outrage that CoD gets isn't being blasted out there. (Similarly, where's that outrage over Final Fantasy or any other "million sequels" series? Or maybe it's just not as loud an outrage.)

[The Lag]

clunky controls.
i played the first one in the arcade and on the genesis but i haven't cared since.
i haven't touched any of them after the first.

[Quast]

Technician said:

To be fair, the first game, setting aside the gore, was a solid fighting game.

HAHA No it wasn't. Not even a chance. Remember, it's competition was street fighter 2 at that point in time.

MK 1 had iirc 7 fighters, all had the same attacks that did the same damage save for 2 or 3 'special moves' and no combos and no nothing, except blood and fatalities.

The same was true of MK2 and then by the 3rd game they decided to add crappy combos.

[Aliotroph?]

Fighting games suck. The older I get the more the idea sucks. The gory fatalities were the only cool part when we were kids anyway.

[geo]

I thought MK had far easier controls than any other fighter. Street Fighter 2 felt so bulky, clunky and slow. MK was basic, all fighters were the same with different special moves... until MKDA which introduced different fighting styles and people didn't like it.

MK lost all originality after MK3. Then it became like Streetfighter 2 with rehashes. Then MK4 was just MK1-2. Jarek was Kano. Tanya was Kitana. Shinnok was Shang Tsung only he didn't morph, just stole moves.

MKDA started to have Killer Instinct rip off characters.
- Li Mei = Kim Wu
- Kenshi = blind Jago
- Darius = Fulgore

Heck Ashrah was just Raiden. I was shocked they had Raiden in Ashrah's game.

Now they're going back to old school... which they should do, since those are the only characters people care about.

The fatalities used to be quick and shocking, then when they went to MKDA it was like they were long and drawn out like you need to see them once and that's it. Ever play Shaolin Monks? I wanted to skip the fatalities they took so fucking long to do the simplest thing!

[Mithran Denizen]

Aliotroph? said:

Fighting games suck. The older I get the more the idea sucks.

Despite standing by everything in my previous post, I have to agree with this sentiment for the most part. These days, the only time I'll bother sitting down to play a fighter is when friends or family are playing socially; it's essentially the only video game genre that anybody in my social circle has any interest in (aside from sports games -- yuck).

I can still have fun with them now and then, and MK's fairly simplistic gameplay is easy enough to grasp that it's not a chore, but as time goes on, the whole genre just seems ever more stale and derivative.

My shitty reflexes might have something to do with this disdain too, I guess.

[hex11]

I was never much into fighting games, with two notable exceptions:

Barbarian (Palace Software) - ported to many 8-bit systems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarian:_The_Ultimate_Warrior
I played the hell of this in the 80's. It's challenging and has a wonderful atmosphere, even down to the little details like how the snakes on the side of the screen animate when someone gets hit, or the little goblin that shows up and hauls off the dead fighter's body (and he actually kicks the head like a football after someone gets decapitated). The backgrouds were exquisite at the time, and the music really had the swords & sorcery theme down. I used to sometimes load it up just to hear the music. :)

One Must Fall 2097 (Epic Megagames) - DOS only
This is a big mecha fighting game, where you can choose your pilot (each have different stats/abilities) and the class of mecha you're going to use (lots of choices here). Each arena has its own theme, music, and environmental hazards. Unlike Barbarian (which is just 100% hard), this one has difficulty settings, and the higher ones require a lot of skill and reflexes. BTW, this was released as freeware. You can get it from here:
http://www.reloaded.org/download/One-Must-Fall-2097/136/
I also played the hell out of this one in the 90's, but now it doesn't run so well in DOSBox (but I use an old laptop...) One interesting twist about this game: it's setup like a televised event, and after each bad fight the commentator makes snide remarks about how much you got your ass kicked. ;)

[Mr. T]

The original MK was fun, MK2 was amazing and the apex of the series. MK3 failed it big time. No Scorpion? Graphics that look like they are from MK1? WTF? UMK3 was OK, but just seemed like an afterthought. I enjoyed MK4 and haven't played any of the games after that.

[geo]

A lot of fighting games have to feel fresh to be fun. Like Street Fighter 4, everyone loved it and still does. Everyone looked forward to SUPER Street Fighter 4... then it came out and everyone yawned.

Same thing with MK Deadly Alliance and MK Deception then MK Armageddon. Fighting games peak quick with something new or even a return to old so it feels new.

I can't think of someone who liked Killer Instinct Gold to Killer Instinct. Heck Dead or Alive 2 feels better than DOA3.

Soul Calibur 1 was hailed as a masterpiece for whatever reason, but Soul Caliber 2 which was more of the same really turned people off.

[Bucket]

I had MK for the original Game Boy. It was pretty fun.

[Jodwin]

I've played MK 1, 2 and 4. From the fighting games that I've played I'd rate it the third worst franchise ("beaten" only by Body Blows and Tekken). I don't care about the graphics, the gore (which looks cheesy as hell) or the digitized actors. The biggest issue for me is the extremely similar and boring-to-play characters. Mortal Kombat is probably the worst major fighting game franchise in this aspect, with the gameplay being extremely generic and always the same regardless of who you're playing as or against whom you're playing.

It's nothing like Melty Blood which has much faster gameplay and in which the fights can play very differently based on the characters in play.

[printz]

I played Mortal Kombat 1 for SNES and my impressions were:

- repetitive music which was nothing like the techno-metal from the films and the TV series
- mundane characters who could shoot fireballs; Raiden who wasn't any more powerful than the others
- old and white-haired Shang Tsung
- anticlimactic boss.

I liked Mortal Kombat more for its movies, including Annihilation, which was cool enough. I can say I am looking forward for the upcoming film.

[gggmork]

referring to sega genesis versions:
The 1 player gameplay is inferior to street fighter, placing more emphasis on the shallow selling point of gore. Repeated leg sweeps and similar repetitive simple moves are often the best tactic. Finishing moves are too hard to remember, usually requiring an annoying cheat sheet.

[Kelzam]

Ultimate MK3 and MK Trilogy tie pretty hard for me as being the peak of the franchise in it's 2D days. I didn't care for the original MK3 much at all. Ultimate MK3 came pretty close to getting right the things that were missing that made MK3 seem bland and less exciting than MK2, while Trilogy hit the nail on the head but at the same time displeased me with the playability of the boss characters, and the sheer amount of -alities at that point. However, at that point they introduced Noob Saibot as a playable character with his own move set that was completely bad ass, as well as Rain.

Post 2D, Deception was the hilight of the struggle to make MK work right in 3D. The stages were pretty great, and while I couldn't personally give a shit about the new characters introduced in Deadly Alliance or Deception, at this point they really stepped into the realm of some awesome plot twisting and giving each character a better purpose and background, and making them unique. I'm a huge fan of where they took Ermac and Noob Saibot's stories.

I have yet to play the new Mortal Kombat, but other than the kids trying to be cool and bash on it so they can be cool in their own eyes themselves, I've heard nothing but good things about it and that warms my heart being a huge MK fan. Unfortunately I've ran into some story spoilers but plan to try and avoid/forget them until I can get a current gen console to play it on the beginning of June.

[DoomUK]

Technician said:

The first three where good, but I feel the rest of the games were a downward spiral of shit.

Basically sums up my feelings.

I've played the majority of MK games on most platforms, including the original arcade versions of course.

MK Trilogy felt like a rushed cash-in, with the MK1 and 2 sprites looking out of place in the MK3 engine. Too much effort was involved in making a new game based on MK3/UMK3 with a shitload of "new" characters and stages, obviously. MK4 should have been 2D, not a 2D fighter desperately trying to fit in with the 3D crowd (similar to the syndrome that Street Fighter EX suffered from). Deadly Alliance and Deception left zero impression on me; subsequently I never even bothered with Armageddon.

I still haven't got round to playing Mortal Kombat (9) yet, and it's likely I'll never get to play it unless it's released on the PC.