Last weekend, when I thought I would be catching up on my Halo Lore and playing Halo 3, I ended up playing the reboot of Mortal Kombat. Known also as “MK9” – this Mortal Kombat game retold the story of the tournament I loved to sneak off to play as a kid. Those quarters that went in to the arcade cabinet, trying to get as far as I could before my mom finished her trip around the mall. I was always more of a Street Fighter II buff, but Mortal Kombat had a draw to it that few other games did. Even the young geek in me loved the digitized actor sprites that made the characters so realistic for the time. Mortal Kombat had it all.
Over the years the series got more and more strange, and introduced and endless stream of characters. This game brings it back to the core – but still has a few surprises. What I wasn’t expecting was the story mode, which I enjoyed without shame. It tells the a story of Raiden coaching the Earth Realm Kombatants through the tournament. Liu Kang wins the tournament, but the story is only about a third of the way finished there. Little did I realize that the story was going to be several hours worth of fights – lucky for me it was a weekend and I played it through in one sitting!
As usual, I’m several months late to the party, but I wanted to share what was a fun experience. If you skipped all of the Mortal Kombat games since maybe Mortal Kombat 4, well, then you probably didn’t miss much – I don’t feel like I did. A few references are made to other games and even the movies here and there, a nice nod to the people that have been with the series through thick and thin. Overall I’m glad I found this recently and picked it up – I found it enjoyable. If you’re an adult gamer with a tinge of nostalgia for the series you won’t be let down.
. What a treat. That moment where you find the recording in Jenkin’s helmet camera and discover the flood? The moment where a game that was just beginning to get painfully repetitive in its level design, suddenly becomes frantic as you try to escape the flood that are chasing you; the moment you first step out of the pelican to gaze upward at this ring-world you’re on; the moment when Cortana picks a fight with 343 Guilty Spark – each a classic moment in Halo history.
is released, and the