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Mortal Kombat Review
Dobrý den, vítejte ToriJ's videohře Recenze. Mortal Kombat, one of the most violent games of its generation, taking arcades by storm all around the world. Games like these brought about the 'mature' ratings we have upon us today, providing a whole new measure of entertainment for those older gamers (and let's face it the youngsters are going to get them anyway) and people who likes a little more blood and gore in their games. While it may not seem like much now, at the time this was a huge deal, so much in fact that Nintendo basically got shat on for taking out the game's main selling point. Genesis is guilty of doing the same thing, but you can at least put in a code to enable the blood and uncensored fatalities. By Mortal Kombat II it was a non-issue for both platforms, so needless to say we won.
The game starts off with a text display talking about codes. In case you couldn't figure it out yet this is where you're supposed to enable the blood cheat. After that we make our way to the title screen where unlike Street Fighter II we just have the main game and options, a third menu appears only if you enable cheats which is separate from the blood cheat code on the text display.
Mortal Kombat doesn't have a lot in way of characters, but each one is memorable in their own way, and they're probably guilty of the most awesome lazy character design in the fact they recolor the ninjas to make a second character, and the rest was history. There's also a secret hidden character named Reptile, who would become a playable character in the sequel, that you can fight provided you know what to do. No, I'm not going to tell you how to do it. Of course, we also have the Mortal Kombat champion Goro, and Shang Tsung who acts as the boss characters in the game. This is also the only time you see Shang Tsung as an old guy, at least until Shaolin Monks.
Despite primarily being a fighter, the game actually has a lot of story to it. Liu Kang is there to represent his temple, the Order of Light. Sonya Blade is there to catch wanted fugitive Kano, Johnny Cage is there to show the world he isn't a fake, Sub-Zero is there to assassinate Shang Tsung, Scorpion is there to assassinate Sub-Zero, and Raiden is there because... he's a god. And as we all know gods can do what they want. Shang Tsung and Goro represent Outworld led by Shao Kahn. They have already won nine Mortal Kombat tournaments and if they win this one then Shao Kahn will be able to cross over into our world and invade. So... we can't let Outworld win. Now that we have all that out of the way, how about you take a guess at which character I'm going to be. Go on, guess.
Like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat has a total of two rounds with a third round only being played if a draw occurs. Unlike Street Fighter, is all the blood that pours out of you with each and every punch. Are these guys wearing blood packs or what? The game deals with more realistic looking sprites (hence the controversy) and is a little more grounded in what you can do. As grounded as a game where people who can shoot ice and electricity out of their bare hands can be.
Fatalities are the most gruesome moves you can perform, and the hardest to get down correctly. At the end of the fight when you hear the infamous “FINISH HIM!” line, you need to press the right combination of buttons just fast enough to perform the fatality. You have things like ripping out someone's spine, tearing out their heart, etc. There are even some stage fatalities like the Pit where you can uppercut someone off the bridge and down into the spikes below.
Every couple of fights you get a mini game where you break an object put in front of you for more points. It's actually harder than it looks because you think you're supposed to just get the meter up to the red line, but some times that's not enough. The empty space on the right indicates that you can do this with two players, another thing that Street Fighter did though not as obvious. After playing Street Fighter II and coming to this I can really see just how much Street Fighter has inspired and influenced this and many other fighting games to come.
Once you faced everyone on the roster you'll come across three endurance fights. These are basically handicap matches between two randomly selected fighters. Beat the first fighter and the second instantly take their place and any damage inflicted on you sticks. This acts as pretty good filler since the character roster is so tiny to begin with, setting you up to get ready for the two big battles near the end.
There isn't much more to say. Mortal Kombat is a pretty straightforward game that's both fun and challenging to play. If you're a fan of fighting games, or a fan of Mortal Kombat and hasn't checked out where it all started yet, then I would recommend this game for you. If you never played a fighting game in your life I'm not too sure how it'd work as an introduction, I think Street Fighter II would probably be a better introduction and then go from there. This is ToriJ signing off.
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A good game. It felt a little stiff and awkward even then, but it was still really enjoyable.
I think it created such a unique atmosphere. The story really played into it more than most other fighters I was used to.
