Mortal Kombat : Komplete Edition

Title: Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition
Platform Played On: Xbox 360
Release Date: April 19, 2011 
Date Played: July 2012
Time Played: 40+ Hours
Completed (Y/N): Yes
Score: 5/5




Opinion:
As far as I am concerned, the last good Mortal Kombat came came out 17 years ago under the name Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Since that time we have seen Midway (developer) take 6 attempts to revitalize interest in the franchise. It took 17 years and acquisition of Midway by Warner Brothers for the Mortal Kombat Franchise to finally make a comeback.

Mortal Kombat 4 attempted to make the move to 3d, it had polygonal characters and stages. It played and looked terrible, it is most likely the worst game in the franchise. After MK4 Midway released a couple of adventure games set in the MK universe, but none of them were particularly memorable, and some were outright terrible (MK: Special Forces). But it was not until 2002 that Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance was released on the Play Station 2, Xbox and GameCube. From this point forth, Midway dropped the numbering on the games, but Deadly Alliance is number five. It was followed by MK: Deception (2004) and MK: Armageddon (2006). Which are sixth and seventh installments of Mortal Kombat.

The problem with all of the PS2 titles (Deadly Alliance, Deception and Armageddon) is that they were making the game too complicated. Instead of focusing on individual characters now you had needless stage weapons and crazy amount of fighting styles, switching between which slowed down the action and overwhelmed the player. On top of learning the character you had to pick and specialize in a particular fighting style, which was just too much. Perhaps good on paper these mechanics did not make the games fun. In addition to over-complication Midway was adding new characters left and right, Bo Rai Cho, an obnoxious fat guy, Frost, female Sub-Zero and many others. While new characters are cool, most people want to fight as series' classics, against  other classic fighters. And addition of so many characters all the time made each one matter less and less. While the actual fighting was alright, the engine was not great and the presentation and the art style chosen for the characters left a lot to be desired.

Armageddon was a complete travesty. While offering every single character ever released in Mortal Kombat,  unforgivable shortcuts were made, the Fatalities were replaced with a silly combo that is the same with every fighter. A lot of the characters shared moves and stances. By the time Armageddon was released the engine was more than 4 years old and with Xbox 360 around the corner it looked kind of terrible. In my opinion instead of releasing 3 games Midway should have trimmed the crap and released one game combining the best features of these 3 games.

Fast forward a few years, and we get Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (2008). This game is considered to be number eight in the franchise and is the first to be made utilizing Unreal Engine 3 on the next generation Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles. While it played and looked better than any MK game since MK3 it was lacking a few things. Because of the partnership with DC Comics the Fatalities were either removed or dumbed down. The character selection was very limited, and most importantly to someone like me it was not appealing at all to play as the comic book super heroes. Between those things and the poor choice of character art styles I had no desire to play it, and so I didnt.

This brings us to 2011, Midway is acquired (in 2009) by Warner Brothers, and the shocking announcement that the Mortal Kombat franchise was getting a reboot had me giddy in anticipation. With my fingers crossed I was hoping for a miracle. And let me tell you, it was a miracle!

The reboot, simply known as Mortal Kombat threw away all of the crap that Mortal Kombat game picked up over the years. No more side-stepping, no more stupid fighting styles, no more mostly new characters and no more crappy art style. Mortal Kombat is the perfect compilation of all of our favorite fighters with all of their signature moves fighting in familiar to everyone locations.

For all intents and purposes this Mortal Kombat is a modern day recreation of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 plus much more awesomeness. It features all of the coolest characters, each with unique fatalities, moves, stances, as well as finishing poses. All of the characters feel unique and look gorgeous in 1080p and are a pleasure to fighting with.

Some new mechanics make an appearance in Mortal Kombat, most notably the "X-Ray". It is a bar you fill up by being hit or doing combos, when executed it unleashes a devastating attack (blockable) fracturing your enemy's bones and potentially turning the tide of battle.  Whats awesome is that each character's execution of the X-ray attack is unique, and while gruesome it is awesome to watch.

Outside of the standard ladder in which you fight in the tournament in attempt to make your way to Shao Khan there is a "Story Mode". It covers the events from the first to third games in the series (basically the only time period anyone cares about), and it is very well executed campaign. It seamlessly goes from scenes to combat and it allows you to play as most of the characters in the game doing several battles as each.

Mortal Kombat games are always jam packed with modes and unlockables, and this game is no exception. In addition to the Krypt with several hundreds of unlockables you can play through the Challenge Tower, which presents you with various conditions that need to be met in order to move on. Some of these are extremely creative, while others are just crazy, like for example fighting the match with no head or arms (they literally fall off), and you only have your feet to do the bruising.

A year later, in 2012 Mortal Kombat (2011) was re-released as Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition. It is the same game plus all of the DLC released in the year since it's launch. This is definitely the definitive version to get.

Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition is the best Mortal Kombat I have ever played, and is the most I have ever been into a fighting game since UMK3 in 1995. Warner Brothers did exactly what they needed to do with the franchise. They went back to the roots and while weeding out all of the fluff Mortal Kombat gathered over the years they managed to focus on what made the series great, while at the same time adding cool new mechanics. The art direction is once again appealing (first time since UMK3) and the fighting is once again fun. On top of making an excellent fighting game they managed to create the best campaign mode anyone has ever seen in a fighting game.

As far as I am concerned Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition is the best fighting game ever made. It is a must play for everyone. Thank you Ed Boon for finally turning the franchise around! I can not wait for the sequel.
 

Mileena X-Ray